Territorial aggression?

[PhylumCnidaria]

I have an ocellaris clown in my tank that is well established and has a territory, but I also have a yellow watchman goby that came out of his burrow to explore and was playing in my wave maker, when my ocellaris clown suddenly darted after it and chased it down to the point where it was nearly jumping out of the tank. Is this territorial agression? If so, what should i do about it?

[Sniperhank]

It is exactly that.
As for what can be done, you already did that during the move...rearrange the rocks.

[PhylumCnidaria]

Well, the watchman goby is hiding under the rock again with the tiger pistol shrimp

[Sniperhank]

Originally Posted by PhylumCnidaria

Well, the watchman goby is hiding under the rock again with the tiger pistol shrimp

That would be closer to normal behavior.

[PhylumCnidaria]

The coral beauty and clown are interacting peacefully

[savannafish]

My clownie is so aggressive she’s killed 2 fish and attacked the snail I added today :/ I’ve netted her, separated her and rearranged the rocks many times. I honestly had no clue they were I guess kinda naturally aggressive???

[Sniperhank]

It’s been a while...how big is the tank and what all is in it?

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

It’s been a while...how big is the tank and what all is in it?

It’s a 20 gal. I started off with just two clownfish and a snail back in January. Everything was going good for the first 3 months so I added a pipefish (pipefish and clownies r kept in the same tank at the store so I knew it was ok to put them together). It was a small pipefish, I believe it was a blue striped? I don’t really remember. The slightly bigger clownie of the pair always picked on the other fish and it got to the point where I woke up and the pipefish was half eaten...3 months later I came home from school and the other clownfish was half eaten. I feed the fish 2-3 times a day so it’s not like they’re not fed lol. I should’ve just returned the aggressive clownie but she seems to be doing ok by herself. It’s been a month and a half by herself and I started to see some algae bloom so I bought a snail and I’ve been looking into getting some coral (which I believe u have seen) so I added a snail and a small Xenia yesterday afternoon. I acclimated everything and as soon as I stuck my hand in the water,holding the snail, to put it on a rock the freaking clownfish bit Onto the foot of the snail and started pulling!!! I’ve tried pretty much everything to stop this clownfish it’s even immune to me literally slapping the tank to get it to stop attacking fish it hasn’t bothered the coral at all and as of this morning it’s stayed away from the snail so hopefully everything will be ok lol

[savannafish]

I forgot to mention the original snail died bc it fell off a rock in the middle of the night, wasn’t able to flip over and died, it was a turbo. Happed months ago tho

[Sniperhank]

Well pipefish require specialized systems like sea horses, but that is besides the point at this point.
The tank is still dealing with aggression and there are most likely nitrates continuing to rise.
This tank will most likely just be one for the clowns. If the one remaining won’t take another mate, then it is just a jerk that you’ll have to either live by himself or need returned. The tank just isn’t big enough for it.

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Well pipefish require specialized systems like sea horses, but that is besides the point at this point.
The tank is still dealing with aggression and there are most likely nitrates continuing to rise.
This tank will most likely just be one for the clowns. If the one remaining won’t take another mate, then it is just a jerk that you’ll have to either live by himself or need returned. The tank just isn’t big enough for it.

Nitrates are at 0 I just tested last night. She’s just naturally aggressive. I am eventually going to return her back to the store to get my seahorses back...I will just warm them how nasty she is lol