Please help! Fighting captive bred clownfish!

Todgela · 12/09/2013, 04:46 AM

Hi everyone,

Really hoping you can all share your wisdom with us and help our aquatic family!

We have 2x captive bred ocellaris orange clownfish (Juggles & Squirt) and 2x captive bred black and white ocellaris clownfish (MJ & Herald).
Juggles and Squirt are babies and are much smaller than MJ & Herald.
They were all one big happy family, with Juggles & Squirt sleeping together by the heater and MJ & Herald on the other side (MJ and Herald seem to definitely be a true pair, not 100% certain on Juggles & Squirt).

Last night, Herald started to turn on squirt.
Tonight when we got home from work, Juggles & Squirt have been hiding in the bottom of the tank in the rock. Everytime they come out, MJ & Herald attack them. Juggles did come out for food but I had to hand feed Squirt.

Can anyone please provide any advice on how to stop this?

Thanks in advance eveyone!

Kentech5 · 12/09/2013, 05:11 AM

Don't think you can. General consensus is 1 pair of clowns to a tank. Clowns are damsels and will defend territory from other clowns fiercely. That's not to say that people haven't managed it but it's usually in a pretty large tank.

IanWR · 12/09/2013, 05:14 AM

Remove 2 of the clowns. They are very territorial. I think that's just the way it goes. Sorry.

- Ian

Spyderturbo007 · 12/09/2013, 07:53 AM

As the others stated, one pair of clowns per tank. If you don't remove one pair, sooner or later, you will only have two as the other two will be killed.

Vadafallon · 12/09/2013, 09:54 AM

My 2 clowns will not let any other fish in the tank. I am getting rid of them so i can actually stock my tank. I love the look and maybe one would be better, but paired up they become comeplete A Holes.

Bd670 · 12/09/2013, 11:38 AM

My clowns were a couple of thugs, they wouldn't allow any other fish with them

Todgela · 12/09/2013, 07:17 PM

Thanks everyone for your advice!

Sounds like we may need to sadly find two of our little guys a new home.
They were okay this morning when we woke up - sleeping together by the heater so I will keep an eye on them today.
Unfortunately, our aquarium assured us they would all get along great as long as we had even numbers, which turns out not to be the case..

Thanks again everyone - much appreciated

JAnwyl · 12/10/2013, 02:44 AM

As others have stated.

Biggest becomes female second biggest becomes male when one dies juvenile becomes male and male becomes female.

Because other pair is different breed they may have just moved up to male or female. Other pair of clowns find that threatening and don't play nice.

Also removing Juggles & Squirt and getting small black and white clowns (in hopes they stay juveniles) can cause problems cause there is not really a way to tell if they've gotten sex organs yet.

snorvich · 12/10/2013, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todgela

Thanks everyone for your advice!

Sounds like we may need to sadly find two of our little guys a new home.
They were okay this morning when we woke up - sleeping together by the heater so I will keep an eye on them today.
Unfortunately, our aquarium assured us they would all get along great as long as we had even numbers, which turns out not to be the case..

Thanks again everyone - much appreciated

Who ever provided the advice that "even numbers would be fine" should be removed from the list providing information going forward as they clearly have no clue.

12/09/2013, 04:46 AM	#1
Todgela Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 3	Please help! Fighting captive bred clownfish! Hi everyone, Really hoping you can all share your wisdom with us and help our aquatic family! We have 2x captive bred ocellaris orange clownfish (Juggles & Squirt) and 2x captive bred black and white ocellaris clownfish (MJ & Herald). Juggles and Squirt are babies and are much smaller than MJ & Herald. They were all one big happy family, with Juggles & Squirt sleeping together by the heater and MJ & Herald on the other side (MJ and Herald seem to definitely be a true pair, not 100% certain on Juggles & Squirt). Last night, Herald started to turn on squirt. Tonight when we got home from work, Juggles & Squirt have been hiding in the bottom of the tank in the rock. Everytime they come out, MJ & Herald attack them. Juggles did come out for food but I had to hand feed Squirt. Can anyone please provide any advice on how to stop this? Thanks in advance eveyone! Last edited by Todgela; 12/09/2013 at 04:48 AM. Reason: Spelling error

12/09/2013, 05:11 AM	#2
Kentech5 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Hudson Falls, NY Posts: 368	Don't think you can. General consensus is 1 pair of clowns to a tank. Clowns are damsels and will defend territory from other clowns fiercely. That's not to say that people haven't managed it but it's usually in a pretty large tank.

12/09/2013, 05:14 AM	#3
IanWR Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: SK, Canada Posts: 214	Remove 2 of the clowns. They are very territorial. I think that's just the way it goes. Sorry. - Ian

12/09/2013, 07:53 AM	#4
Spyderturbo007 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: PA Posts: 2,564	As the others stated, one pair of clowns per tank. If you don't remove one pair, sooner or later, you will only have two as the other two will be killed.

12/09/2013, 09:54 AM	#5
Vadafallon Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 974	My 2 clowns will not let any other fish in the tank. I am getting rid of them so i can actually stock my tank. I love the look and maybe one would be better, but paired up they become comeplete A Holes.

12/09/2013, 11:38 AM	#6
Bd670 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 57	My clowns were a couple of thugs, they wouldn't allow any other fish with them

12/09/2013, 07:17 PM	#7
Todgela Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 3	Thanks everyone for your advice! Sounds like we may need to sadly find two of our little guys a new home. They were okay this morning when we woke up - sleeping together by the heater so I will keep an eye on them today. Unfortunately, our aquarium assured us they would all get along great as long as we had even numbers, which turns out not to be the case.. Thanks again everyone - much appreciated

12/10/2013, 02:44 AM	#8
JAnwyl Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: El Dorado Hills, CA Posts: 239	As others have stated. Biggest becomes female second biggest becomes male when one dies juvenile becomes male and male becomes female. Because other pair is different breed they may have just moved up to male or female. Other pair of clowns find that threatening and don't play nice. Also removing Juggles & Squirt and getting small black and white clowns (in hopes they stay juveniles) can cause problems cause there is not really a way to tell if they've gotten sex organs yet.