Fighting clowns!?!

Kinda weird... I thought my clowns were a mated pair. The guy that I bought them off of said they never left each other's side for over a year. I put them in my tank and they stay side by side for over 8 weeks... then they went to completely seperated sides of the tank for the last week!! Weird. Maybe it's because all of the room and no other tankmates (1 hitchhiker snail and 1 turbo snail)? Not really too worried about it as my tank will change dramatically when I start adding livestock, just found it weird

 

Kinda weird yes. But what size are you Clowns? If they are equal sized than maybe not so weird. See as far as the clown fish goes in most cases they don't get their sex organs until half grown. The larger of the two clowns will become the female and yes the smaller will be the male. So they may be fighting to grow to be the female. In most cases it is best to buy one clown larger than the other and you will in most cases have a pair. There is no real such thing as a " Mated pair " as many fish will mate with many others. Thats just my input on the issue. If they are not the same size it could be something else where maybe someone else can help here.

 

Yep, sounds like they reached puberty...

They are going to fight till one dominates the other. That one is now the female.

Very hard to watch.

Often one beats other to death if ("he") is stubborn.


Good Luck.

Sit back and watch is about all you can do.


:-/

 

Sounds to me like they have spawned. Is one of the clowns staying in a certain area??? Look for some orange colored or brown colored eggs....

 

They are pretty darned close to the same size, and they are decent sized fish, maybe at least 1 1/4". Some very good points brought up. Don't see any eggs or anything. They have always been very agressive during feeding, trying to beat the other one to the food in front of it. Haven't seen them neccessarily fight each other, but maybe a little bit of roughhousing. It will be interesting seeing how things shape up.
All I know is that it makes it a pain in the butt to feed!!! Trying to get my nitrates down so I'm feeding minimally... guess it will be "survival of the fittest" and if they are smart enough to come to food good for them, if not, stuff happens! Thanks for the responses!

 

Your welcome. Hope everthing works out...

 

NP and keep us updated on what happens.

 

My Maroons stay pretty tight when clutch of eggs about.

Both take turns "swishing" them...but male always stays near, while female wanders about only returning occasionally.

Guess to make sure the Mr. is doing his job. :-/

 

Sounds like my wife when I'm doing work around the house!;D