maroon clown fish attacking new

Maroons are more aggressive than other clowns. Mine isn't too bad. He only gets testy around feeding time and when another fish gets near his anemone. He tried to bite at the snails and move them. He learned quickly that the snails don't move when they are firmly footed haha.

 

Luckily I was warned of this when I bought 2 Picasso's....they had been together for awhile in the display tank and had seemed to swim together when I bought them so I did not think a lot about it...until the next morning. The "female" had the smaller one in a lip lock and was thrashing it around the tank..then they did the little "dance together. I thought cool...they are matching up! Second day..same thing but little worse. Third day I could not find my little guy..he was hiding from the mean female with his mouth all tore up, fins all tore up..looked bad. Now about 3 weeks into it, I am really starting to see a size difference and am hoping that they will eventually "do their thing...." I have not seen anymore aggression from the female so I think we have moved from that stage and hoping to move to next stage. Have a tank all set up for them if it starts to appear like they are going to and have been doing a lot of research on it...

But yeah...best not to watch this process! Way back yonder I did loose a fish in this process but it is more rare then not I heard..but Maroons are one of hte more aggressive fishs

 

3 maroons is a death sentence for one atleast. perculas are the only clowns that will accept newly added juviniles.

please remove the new maroon or its dead.

 

She only has 2 in her tank!!! There were 3 together at the pet store. she bought a small one to pair with the big one at home.

 

If she only has two in her tank, then ok. If that is the case, I would suggest putting the new Maroon in a safe section where the original one cannot hurt it. I have hear that cutting the bottom off a 2 liter soda bottle and pushing the bottom into the sandbed (to keep the bottle in place) and having the new addition in there helps get them accustomed to each other without risk of injury. Just remember to drill enough little holes around the bottle to allow for water flow, and make sure the bottle won't come undone. Another suggestion would be to put the new one in a hamster ball or critter carrier until the old fish doesn't attack the housing the new fish is in. I have read some people have successfully introduced Maroons this way. It will take some time though, maybe a week or two.

 

No...we didnt have 2 in there previously. we had the bigger one and then put the smaller one in. there are only 2 maroons in the tank. sorry...my post was misleading...


they seem to be doing just fine now...they are staying in the rock cave together when the lights are off.

 

yea, my female percula is still kind of mean to the male, butts him with her head occasionally. Not as bad as when she took a chunk of one of his fins though