overly aggressive clown fish?

I've had 2 true percula clown fish and an anenome in my 45 gallon tank for about a month now. Recently my bigger fish (the female) has been very aggressive twards my male fish. Grabing him by the mouth and shaking. Now my male clownfish constantly hides in the rocks. And if he dares to come out the female instantly attacks. I know that some fighting is normal. But should my fish be terrizing my other one soo much? I checked the levels and they are fine.

 

Not sure, sounds as though she may have rejected him as a mate.

 

I hope that's not the case what do I do if that is what's going on

 

You may need to take the male out. If he eats it may be OK. You will need someone who has kept clowns to give you a better idea of what to expect.

 

He comes out to eat when I feed them. But then the female chases him until he hides again

 

As long as he is not breathing at the surface, tattered fins or not eating at this point I would try and give them more time.

If it continues past another week I would try and move some of the rock around that will distract her for awhile, a week at most.

Females clowns can turn on males for reasons not known to us. She may perceive him as an undesirable mate or he may not be showing enough submissive posturing for her.

Often times they work it out, but if she is so aggressive she is inflicting obvious injury you may have to remove him.

Good luck.

 

Agree on taking him out. The only other thing I can offer is my own one-time experience with having a mated pair of clowns, mine were Ocellaris-- After a few months together, the female started treating the male exactly like yours. She finally chased him out of the tank one day; I found him on the floor when I got home from work, and the female never did show any signs of missing him.

If your tank is covered, she may bully him until he stops eating and dies...

 

Man.. females can be vicious. Poor little guy hopefully he doesn't have a low self esteem after :/ but really I hope that she stops bullying him, you could ask the LFS to just trade you another clown

 

Mine did this for a long time. Leave him in...It may take a year, yes a year for them to really love each other. My female would take my male by his belly and shake him. She would push him into rocks, corners and corals. He even had torn fins. Give it time and leave him in, this is nature. You will see them happy in time.

 

Strange thing about mine, they loved me. Really, when I was working in the tank, they would swim into my hand and never ever bite. Now my Mom's on the other hand, they are VERY aggressive. They bite very hard. They hate scrapers and hands in the tank.