Aggressive Clownfish

[ChPolack]

After upgrading to a 55 gallon tank from a 14g biocube, I was told to "unlearn" everything about the behavior of fish. Basically, my LFS told me that with a tank this size, the previously aggressive clownfish would be much happier and would not bother its tankmates. In the biocube, the clownfish was responsible for the death of several fish by repeatedly attacking them (I'm guessing it was a territorial issue) including a green chromis. In the new tank, the clownfish has been getting along fine with 5 other fish. Just yesterday, I added 5 green chromis to the tank. Since then, the clownfish has been harassing and attacking the chormis, causing one of them (the smallest) to hide underneath the algae magnet in the corner of my tank. To save the lives of the new fish, I currently have the clownfish quarantined in a large net inside of the tank. What should I do now? Will a different clownfish not be as aggressive towards the chromises? Or should I just leave out a clownfish completely? Fish list:

- 1 Percula Clown:

~The Fish he gets along with with no problems:
- 2 Kaudern's cardinals
- 1 Firefish
- 1 Flame Hawkfish
- 1 Yellow Tang

~ The New Fish he attacks:
- 5 Green Chromises

I also have a shrimp, serpent star, royal urchin, and several corals.

 

[Bifferwine]

Your tank is severely overstocked. When it's overstocked that much, there will be territory disputes.

A good rule of thumb is 1 fish per 10 gallons, give or take a fish. You have 11 fish in there. There will be fighting when you have double the fish that there should be in a tank that size.

Also the yellow tang will outgrow the 55 pretty quickly.

 

[little_fish]

+1 Biffy

 

[marchantaustin]

I have two clowns in my current set up. I actually just got them the other day. They are still going at it with each other for dominance. Any ideas of when they would make a mends?

 

[ErinCahir]

It can take days to weeks. Depends on how stubborn they are.

 

[marchantaustin]

It can take days to weeks. Depends on how stubborn they are.

cool. thanks for the info! I would really like one of them to host to this hammer coral i have. Any ideas on how I could make that work out?

 

[little_fish]

No, clowns will be hosted by whatever catches their fancy. But if the hammer is smaller, then there is a good possibility that the clowns will actually damage the coral from their attention.

 

[marchantaustin]

No, clowns will be hosted by whatever catches their fancy. But if the hammer is smaller, then there is a good possibility that the clowns will actually damage the coral from their attention.

ahhh i see i see. well i guess we shall just see. will post once i notice they have hosted to something.

 

[Bifferwine]

This is ChPolack's thread that he started for his own question. I suggest that in the future you start your own threads for your own questions, A) so that you get more responses, and B) so that people can focus on the original question asked. Thanks. :)

 

[marchantaustin]

This is ChPolack's thread that he started for his own question. I suggest that in the future you start your own threads for your own questions, A) so that you get more responses, and B) so that people can focus on the original question asked. Thanks. :)

well i felt like my question related to the topic of this article?

 

[Trigger Happy]

After upgrading to a 55 gallon tank from a 14g biocube, I was told to "unlearn" everything about the behavior of fish. Basically, my LFS told me that with a tank this size, the previously aggressive clownfish would be much happier and would not bother its tankmates. In the biocube, the clownfish was responsible for the death of several fish by repeatedly attacking them (I'm guessing it was a territorial issue) including a green chromis. In the new tank, the clownfish has been getting along fine with 5 other fish. Just yesterday, I added 5 green chromis to the tank. Since then, the clownfish has been harassing and attacking the chormis, causing one of them (the smallest) to hide underneath the algae magnet in the corner of my tank. To save the lives of the new fish, I currently have the clownfish quarantined in a large net inside of the tank. What should I do now? Will a different clownfish not be as aggressive towards the chromises? Or should I just leave out a clownfish completely? Fish list:

- 1 Percula Clown:

~The Fish he gets along with with no problems:
- 2 Kaudern's cardinals
- 1 Firefish
- 1 Flame Hawkfish
- 1 Yellow Tang

~ The New Fish he attacks:
- 5 Green Chromises

I also have a shrimp, serpent star, royal urchin, and several corals.

Can you get your clown an anenome to host in?

 

[little_fish]

Adding a nem usually only increased aggression

 

[wontonflip]

And there's no guarantee your clown will host it. Plus with his tank so overstocked, his parameters are bound to go wacky, and nems are already sensitive as it is. If the nem dies, the tank will crash.

Polack, as per what Biff said, you're severely overstocked, especially with the tang. Ditch the tank and your chromis and you'll be fine. The clown will only get more aggressive with all that overcrowding.