maroon clown fish attacking new

We just put a smaller maroon clown fish in with a bigger one that has been in the tank for a week. we got the small one in hopes that they would pair up...although since weve put the small one in there...the bigger one has been attacking it....


what should we do???

 

it sure looks like the big one is hurting the little guy...

 

Here's a very good post on pairing off clownfish from Reef Central. Please note, however, there disclaimers for Maroons.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=215098

Most clownfish will chase each other, and the smaller one will do the "seizure dance" by shaking really fast to show the larger dominant clownfish that he is submitting into the Male role. This should alert the larger clown to stop chasing him for the time being. This will keep going for possibly a few weeks until their sexes mature into Male and Female, then they'll be a happy couple. I'm not sure if Maroon clowns exhibit this mating ritual like most other clowns, but perhaps it's something to at least look for?

 

thanks for the info!

 

I read the posted article. Do people really have that much trouble pairing maroons? I've had harder times with percs. Geez, must have paired a dozen or more maroon pairs without any to do.

Was the smaller maroon that you bought simply smaller than the established maroon or was it an actual juvenile? Also was it in a tank by itself (if it was, for how long) or was it with other clowns?

 

we got 2 percs together...and put them in our smaller tank and they were just fine. we never had any trouble with them.

The maroons were a different story. the maroon we bought tonight was smaller...and in a tank with 2 other maroons. the established one we have is about 3 inches and the new one is about 1 inch.

they have seemed to calm down a bit, although we just bought a small plastic tank to put inside our tank and keep them seperated until they get used to each other hoping that works.

 

ive heard maroon clowns can be extremely aggressive, or maybe thats those darn tomato clowns... either way its just an fyi...

 

I think i spotted the mistake here. An odd number of clowns is never a good idea, especially when 2 are already co existing.

 

I thought the same thing. The new one is now an intruder to the bonded pair and will probably harrass the new one to the point of death. I would separate the new one immediately before they kill him.