Clownfish question

[sleeper417]

Hey All,

I've three tank raised ocellaris that're roughly 1 1/2 inches long each along with a yellow tang, blue tang, 2x black saddle back clownfish, flame angelfish, 2x damsels, neon goby, lawnmower blenny, and a fire shrimp.

So here's the question. One of my ocellaris is acting kind of strange with the rest of the tank mates. He's banned from entering the right side of the tank where I've two anemones that houses the ocellaris and black saddle backs during the day time. The two dominants of the household will chase him to roughly the middle of the tank. However, at night he's allowed to sleep in the anemone with the ocellaris. Any reason for this?

The smaller of the two black saddle backs will also swim out to him every 5 minutes or so and swim next to him and they'll bump each other in a "friendly" manner and the black saddleback will swim back after a minute or two of this.

I find this guy to be quite entertaining, but would like to know the reason why.

[Jaybird]

not sure, but you must have a huge tank!

The saddles are a lot more aggressive than the ocellaris, so they may be defending their territory during the day and for some reason not doing the same at night.

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

that is very strange. and waiting on the reply..how big is your tank?

[melosu58]

They are just being clowns. They are trying to determine the pecking order.

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

Melosu what does that mean?

[mfdrookie516]

Originally Posted by Sharkbait_Ls1

that is very strange. and waiting on the reply..how big is your tank?

if its the tank listed under "my tanks" on their post, its approximately 65 us gallons...

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

Originally Posted by mfdrookie516

if its the tank listed under "my tanks" on their post, its approximately 65 us gallons...

Oh sorry I didn't see that. Thankyou!

[abrahamavelar]

well i think the tank might be 2 small for all of those clowns, i have 2 black clowns and they seem fine but somebody here told me that you are not supposed to mix different kinds of clowns or they will fight, also i might be crazy but my neighbor has a 75 gal tank like mine and he has 2 pairs o clowns one pair of black and one of oc's and they never fight it might be that they are tank raised and i heard that they are nicer

[thincat]

With 5 clowns in a ~65g tank you will have territorial fights and even some deaths as they get older.

[abrahamavelar]

true and if they happen to get along fine for awhile which ive seen they will kill some during mating season ive seen it too

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by Sharkbait_Ls1

Melosu what does that mean?

They are just trying to figure out the order of dominance. Who`s the boss and who`s not.