fish being bullied

I have an ocellaris clownfish that had for about a month lived peacefully with his partner and two yellow skunk clownfish. Then, when the ocellaris' partner died of clownfish disease, the YSC started picking on him. When I detected this I isolated the ocellaris, but hes not doing any better. Could the YSC have damaged his gills to the point of no return? The ocellaris is gasping like crazy, but he's not showing symptoms of infection or parasites.

 

All you can do is seperate them and hope some time will help. You might not want to put him back in the tank as there is aggression already. It is not advised to have more than two clownfish together. They may get along as babies, but adults will eventually fight.

 

thats what i've learned now. a month ago, my LFS said they'd be fine if they were added together. wrong

 

lfs will say just about anything to get a sale. When I see a fish I like at the lfs, I put it on hold and go home and research it for a day or two. It is easier to tell the lfs to take a fish off of hold than to try to get a refund on a dead fish. Good luck.

 

Find a honest shop to deal with ..

 

Since that point when the lfs was my only real information recourse, i've found both 3reef and a new lfs that is much better. Now I always ask before I buy.

 

finding an honest shop to deal with is easier said than done...i for one only have two possible options if i don't want to drive an hour and a half; one of which i am not doing business with anymore

ditto on not keeping more than two clowns; i also heard you shouldn't mix species.

 

I have as have many other's here have told people before on this site to not mix that fish with this one or they won't play well together and those will never do well and to have them come back in here to say nana nanananananan na! I have them all in the tank and they are fine ! Then try to explain to them that fine they maybe now but they will age and adult instincts will take over and kick in.. Then come back and tell us how its going ? Just like wild Bears and Lions and tigers elephants they are all cute and tame while young but one day ! They get all grown up and you are then on the menu Fish live by the same rules Its programmed into their DNA Never mix species of clowns in a tank someone will loose..