Should I remove the faux nem during bonding of new clown?

[foweyrocksstowaway]

My resident male clown has fake nem he's in all day and night 24/7, never leaves it. I added a new clown for him to pair with today and he swam out and was nice at first. I thought everything was going to be peaceful but the new clown started weaving in the nem and the resident clown started viciously spearing him at full speed repeatedly. The new clown freaks out and runs away and the resident clown follows but is nice away from the nem and rubs against him with his tail. They were only together for an hour or so before I put the new clown in a hang on isolation box. I was debating removing the nem but my fear is this will trigger the resident clown and he will just be worse everywhere without a home.

I'm also sure he is still a "he" because I bought him as a pair but his female didn't make it out of qt. They're both juveniles although resident clown is a good bit bigger in size.

First time clown owner, maybe i'm being dramatic but its a bit hard to watch.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

If your clown was alone for longer than a week or two there’s a strong chance he’s turning or has turned female already. It happens extremely fast in my experience, and the level of aggression is leading me to believe it’s now a she or in the process.

I would personally put newbie in a breeder or acclimation box for a week or so and allow the OG to get the aggression out before trying to reintroduce

 

[foweyrocksstowaway]

If your clown was alone for longer than a week or two there’s a strong chance he’s turning or has turned female already. It happens extremely fast in my experience, and the level of aggression is leading me to believe it’s now a she or in the process.

I would personally put newbie in a breeder or acclimation box for a week or so and allow the OG to get the aggression out before trying to reintroduce

Thank you!

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

Thank you!

Hope this helps! Pairing clowns can be tricky and everybody has a different way of doing it. Biggest thing is not letting either of them get heavily damaged, small nips are to be expected but too much and you’ll lose one