Clownfish bullying questions

[Mikemilly245]

Hey guys! My clowns I’ve had in Qt for 3 weeks now have been doing super well up until I moved them into the observation tank about 4 days ago. Ever since then the smaller of the two has been bullying the bigger one, so much so that he only stays at the surface.

From what I’ve read it’s the bigger of the two that does the bullying I thought? Is this still normal? Was wondering if putting egg crate in there to seperate the two is a good idea or if it would counteract the process. Let me know if you’ve experienced the smaller one being this way!

 

[Tired]

How big are they?

Clownfish are all born as males. When no female is present, they'll fight until they determine which one is dominant, then the winner becomes a female. In reef tanks, we hijack that by getting one that's considerably larger than the other, allowing there to be an easy winner (the larger one) and get the fighting over with relatively quickly. Your larger one might be a wimp, or you might somehow have wound up with two females.

 

[Mikemilly245]

How big are they?

Clownfish are all born as males. When no female is present, they'll fight until they determine which one is dominant, then the winner becomes a female. In reef tanks, we hijack that by getting one that's considerably larger than the other, allowing there to be an easy winner (the larger one) and get the fighting over with relatively quickly. Your larger one might be a wimp, or you might somehow have wound up with two

This is my most recent vid, pretty small. And was only 3 days ago and they were friendly towards eachother. That was my plan in the first place though, to hijack that process..

 

[Tired]

Ha, you had the same trouble with the tank sticker! I have a shrimp tank that has letters on the side from what I'd wager is that exact same sort of label.

They don't look big enough to both be female. Do you have any sort of breeder box or divider available? It might help if you split them up for a bit (with at least one hiding place in each section) to give them both a break.

 

[Mikemilly245]

Lol pesky sticker I didn’t even bother removing it haha. I’ll pickup some egg crate tomorrow just didn’t want to disturb the natural process

 

[Tired]

I wonder if you've got a weird matchup with a timid larger clown and aggressive smaller clown, where the smaller one is going to wind up dominant despite being smaller. Seems like it.

They will need to be reintroduced at some point, but if one is relentlessly after the other, they might need a break.

Keep us appraised!

 

[Mikemilly245]

I wonder if you've got a weird matchup with a timid larger clown and aggressive smaller clown, where the smaller one is going to wind up dominant despite being smaller. Seems like it.

They will need to be reintroduced at some point, but if one is relentlessly after the other, they might need a break.

Keep us appraised!

Little update for anyone interested..
Snowstorm hit and couldn’t get eggcrate, so I decided to just let them figure out their differences.
All of Saturday the bigger clown still stayed at the top of the tank occasionally getting attacked from the smaller. When I woke up this morning though and checked on them, it was like it should be. The smaller clown would charge the bigger clown but this time the bigger clown would turn around and stare him down instead of running, then the little guy would do his submissive shake and cower down. So cool to watch this in person, I’ve never seen video of this only read about it!

 

[Dom]

Hey guys! My clowns I’ve had in Qt for 3 weeks now have been doing super well up until I moved them into the observation tank about 4 days ago. Ever since then the smaller of the two has been bullying the bigger one, so much so that he only stays at the surface.

From what I’ve read it’s the bigger of the two that does the bullying I thought? Is this still normal? Was wondering if putting egg crate in there to seperate the two is a good idea or if it would counteract the process. Let me know if you’ve experienced the smaller one being this way!

What you are seeing is combat to determine the dominant of the pair. The dominant will become the female.

 

[Tired]

Oh, neat. Sounds like your bigger one realized it's bigger.

 

[reef_1]

I wonder if you've got a weird matchup with a timid larger clown and aggressive smaller clown, where the smaller one is going to wind up dominant despite being smaller.

I have a pair like this, the small one was always much braver, more confident and borderline bullied the big one.

But when hormones started to work the big one beat the sh.t out of him for months and he became a good husband eventually.

But it is still him who is much braver, it is always only him alone who attacks my hand while the lady is too scared.

To be fair to her, she cleans all the snails out of the way though.