Any Idea what these guys are doing?

Ok I have a few questions and need some advice. These are percula clowns, I’m talking about. We were told are very easy going and not very aggressive. I got a new clown for my son before he had dental surgery. Our present clown is 1.5 in long and 1 in tall. We‘ve had it for about 2 weeks, we had it in a tank with a Coral Banded Shrimp (CBS) until the night before the new clown arrived. From what I’ve read the larger clown would be the d. female. And that a clown this size (1 ½ in L x 1 in T) should already be sexed. So I special ordered the smallest clown that the lfs could get so I shouldn’t have a problem with putting them together. It came in while I was in Lexington for his surgery. Well my husband did everything to get it into the tank (an air stone, 2 hour drip acclimating regulated with a valve, and then floated for 30 min), .
Well our bigger clown and the smaller clown started swimming around together. The bigger clown then proceeded to back it’s tail fin up to the little one. After a while the clowns started just swimming around.
Now the trouble started the big clown stated grabbing the smaller clown’s fins. Before he could get it out of the tank, the bigger clown killed the little one. So now we have a 4 yr old in pain and begging for another “nemo”.
I just want my son to be happy, so I went to the lfs today to get another clown. I've got a new breedery too, with a lid. I put the new clown in it for a few hours and then released it into the main tank(18 gal Isolation tank),because the bigger clown was paying no attention to it. Well they started swimming on their sides and shivering at each other. They almost looked like they were schooling and even swimming in and out of the rocks that the bigger clown has been sleeping in. This went on for about 30 min then the bigger clown hit the smaller one. I recaught the smaller on and put it back in the breedery.
What did we do wrong? Any suggestions will be welcomed.
This is a pic of the bigger clown.

 

Many clowns are very bossy with new fish

HI,
I have seen problems with new tankmates with larger clowns , they do better when added in a group the same size .
Many saltwater fish don't want to share a tank with new fish.
I ve had Clarki kill smaller clarki added to a established tank.
Be sure there's plenty of places to hide and they will work out a pecking order, the stress may make the new fish more suseptable to ICH.
Good Luck.
Hope it works out for you.
Doug

 

Best to add them as juveniles and all at once. Once one gains control of a tank you run the risk of this behavior happening. If you want to try to breed(create a pair) I would either return the one you have now and purchase 4-5 juveniles and hope for a pairing off. The other thing you could do if you still want to keep the clown you have now is to again purchase 4-5 clowns and put them in all at once, at night as the strength in numbers scenario should help to reduce the boisterous behavior displayed by the dominant clown!!
Good luck!

 

too right Reefer. Some LFS in the area sell very nice "pairs" for a bit more money. They claim to have a stronger likely hood of breeding. I know my clarki was doing well with the percula until I added an anemone. Now the clarki charges anything that comes within 8 inches of his new home. the percula is out in the cold until a really nice looking BTA comes in at the LFs. Good luck Susie.

 

What do you mean by "hit the smaller one"???

 

It hit it by swimming up to it and jerking the upper part of it's body into the side of the smaller fish.

 

From the sounds of it you might have just separated a pair in the making, well maybe pair inst the word how about we call it playmates for now. If there was going to be a problem it would have been just like the first time, unfortunately you just never know till its over.

As far as percula clowns not being aggressive, well thats the first i have ever heard that. They are the least aggressive of the clowns but the can be very nasty also.

When ever adding clowns to a tanks that already has clowns in it it is recommended that you either but a clown that is either much smaller or much larger that the existing clown.

I also recommend that before adding the new one you rearrange the tank if at all possible, remove any structure that the original clown considers it's "territory" this will confuse the original and give the new one a chance to stake out its area.

As long as the bigger clown isn't biting and attacking the little one they should be okay. by rubbing its flank against the other the bigger one is actually exhibiting what I would consider a "hey little guy wanna play" behavior. I personally would try it again and let them go and see what happens, just be prepared to rescue the new one again....

 

They were sold to me as a. percula clowns. I’ll post a picture of the new one. They both have 10 spines, counting from the start of the front dorsal fin to the start of the back dorsal fin. Am I counting in the right place? The new clown was the smallest in the tank and their were 2 bigger in with it. I kept the new clown in a breedery all night and day, kept the lights off. We removed both fish and rearranged the tank. They seem to be doing fine now, no fighting , just swimming around together and shivering. Thanks for the help.

New Clown size 1 in L x 3/4 in T

Old Clown size 1 1/2 in L x 1 in T