Mad Maroon Clown

Steven Pfister · 03/28/2006, 09:05 PM

The last couple days my maroon clown keeps knocking over certain rocks and corals in my tank. I set them back up and he comes along and knocks them over again. He never acted like this before. He seems to also be chasing my other fish more than he ever has. Anyone have any ideas on why he is doing this? Never had a problem with him before. Thanks

msn711 · 03/28/2006, 09:16 PM

All of that is pretty comon with maroon clowns. They can be very territorial and obsessive about redecorating. They are also the most aggressive of all clowns. You might as well let her do the decorating. If she's knocking over corals, you might as well put them somewhere else in the tank; otherwise, she'll just keep knocking them over.

BLANKENSHIP76 · 03/28/2006, 09:35 PM

My was little@(&*^%^@ I was glad when I got rid of it, he knocked over corals that were glued to rocks, it was horrible.

chip721 · 03/28/2006, 09:51 PM

I have a Maroon pair. If I put anything too close to their anemone, the female let's me know by head butting it away. I also have a Cinnamon pair. The female was tossing some of my SPS corals like a trained seal at Sea World. I moved them and RBTA to a tank with almost nothing but lr, zooanthids, and mushrooms -- where she set about rearranging things there too. I watched her move a fist size piece of rock like it was nothing. Fearing she'd break the glass, I just let her do the aquascaping until she was content and left it alone.

SumoBlenny · 03/28/2006, 09:59 PM

My maroon constantly re-arranges my tank. She divides the sand into two huge right and left mounds with her home in the middle. I always have to use mounting cement when I add new corals to my tank. How old is your clown? He may be acting this way because he is reaching sexual maturity.

ACBlinky · 03/28/2006, 10:25 PM

Normal, though annoying, clown behaviour from what I've read. Other than cementing things down (and even that may not work) or othewise accomodating them, there's not much you can do.

My pair of panda saddlebacks are maturing, and over the last week they've started chasing their tankmates and throwing hermits around; they actually killed one of my gobies this afternoon while I was at work. They head-butt the snails, bite their reflections in the glass and lunge at me when I go near the tank. Horrid as they are, I really like them - so much so that I've started a FO tank just for them. They'll have some nice rock caves, a few big, hardy hermits and snails and a tank to themselves where they can be as nasty as they like and no one else will suffer

03/28/2006, 09:05 PM	#1
Steven Pfister Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Franklin, WI Posts: 120	Mad Maroon Clown The last couple days my maroon clown keeps knocking over certain rocks and corals in my tank. I set them back up and he comes along and knocks them over again. He never acted like this before. He seems to also be chasing my other fish more than he ever has. Anyone have any ideas on why he is doing this? Never had a problem with him before. Thanks

03/28/2006, 09:59 PM	#5
SumoBlenny Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Arizona Posts: 69	My maroon constantly re-arranges my tank. She divides the sand into two huge right and left mounds with her home in the middle. I always have to use mounting cement when I add new corals to my tank. How old is your clown? He may be acting this way because he is reaching sexual maturity. __________________ I thought I loved shopping for clothes but then I found zoas! Current Tank Info: 125 Gallon, Acans, Toadstools, Palythoa, Sun Polyps, Zoanthids

03/28/2006, 10:25 PM	#6
ACBlinky Premium Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Peterborough, ON, Canada Posts: 4,954 Blog Entries: 20	Normal, though annoying, clown behaviour from what I've read. Other than cementing things down (and even that may not work) or othewise accomodating them, there's not much you can do. My pair of panda saddlebacks are maturing, and over the last week they've started chasing their tankmates and throwing hermits around; they actually killed one of my gobies this afternoon while I was at work. They head-butt the snails, bite their reflections in the glass and lunge at me when I go near the tank. Horrid as they are, I really like them - so much so that I've started a FO tank just for them. They'll have some nice rock caves, a few big, hardy hermits and snails and a tank to themselves where they can be as nasty as they like and no one else will suffer __________________ "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea." - Isak Dinesen Current Tank Info: 150g mixed reef, 30g sump/refugium, LED lighting, 100lbs LR, coral beauty, flame angel, blue & yellow tangs, gobies, damsels, 6-line wrasse, lawnmower blenny, dottyback, clown pair, rabbitfish, shrimp, crabs, CUC.

03/28/2006, 09:16 PM	#2
msn711 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Reynoldsburg, OH Posts: 974	All of that is pretty comon with maroon clowns. They can be very territorial and obsessive about redecorating. They are also the most aggressive of all clowns. You might as well let her do the decorating. If she's knocking over corals, you might as well put them somewhere else in the tank; otherwise, she'll just keep knocking them over.

03/28/2006, 09:35 PM	#3
BLANKENSHIP76 Moved On Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 827	My was little@(&*^%^@ I was glad when I got rid of it, he knocked over corals that were glued to rocks, it was horrible.

03/28/2006, 09:51 PM	#4
chip721 Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Alexandria, Virginia Posts: 1,260	I have a Maroon pair. If I put anything too close to their anemone, the female let's me know by head butting it away. I also have a Cinnamon pair. The female was tossing some of my SPS corals like a trained seal at Sea World. I moved them and RBTA to a tank with almost nothing but lr, zooanthids, and mushrooms -- where she set about rearranging things there too. I watched her move a fist size piece of rock like it was nothing. Fearing she'd break the glass, I just let her do the aquascaping until she was content and left it alone.