My clowns are fighting MMA style

[AlwaysImproving]

Clown #1 is my first fish I've ever had and has been through two tanks with me. I decided to get a smaller true perc clown about 2-3 months ago and they fought for 5 minutes when I dropped him in there but then they were fine. For the past 4-5 days they are fighting pretty hardcore and now clown #2 won't go anywhere near the clown and barely leaves from underneath a dark rock. When he does the bigger clown just bites and chases him away. Im confused about what could have caused this after they were getting along for the pst 3 months. Any ideas and how can I try to fix this? They are in a small 24 gal aquapod and are the only fish besides a firefish.

 

[sen5241b]

Once this kind of thing starts there is no way to make them stop fighting. You might put one fish in a fuge until you can give him away.

 

[dcantucson]

Hard to say. Maybe they are the same sex or for some reason can't change to the opposite sex so they fight for territory. Also young fish do not pose as much threat as sexually mature fish so in the beginning there was no threat to clown #1, but now that the newer clown has grown up the situation has changed at least in the mind of clown #1.

I agree with Sen that you will probably have to remove one of them for peace to return to your tank.

 

[AlwaysImproving]

I have no other tank to put it in. Im going to try to feed them a little bit more and rearrange the entire rockwork. If it doesn't work I will give him away :(

 

[Melosu58]

24 gallons is just too small for two clowns. These are two different species clown right or are they the same? When fighting you can cut off the lights and move some rock around. Might work for the short term but will not for the long haul.

 

[AlwaysImproving]

They are both true percula clowns.

 

[yote]

Are they close to the same size?

 

[cthegame]

yea size makes a huge difference in this situation. How different are they in size?

If one is small the other significantly bigger, you could remove the larger one for a few days, change its environment a bit and then try it again. Chances are if their size if different, they will eventually get along.

If size is similar, almost no chance as sen suggested and i would give one of them back.

 

[sen5241b]

Fuges are easy and cheap to setup. They can greatly reduce nitrates, increase pod population and leave a place for an injured clown fish to stay. Get a cheap rubbermaid bin and some plant lights from Home Depot. The plumbing will take some planning.