Would I be wrong if

Reefing_addiction · Jul 16, 2020

I brought back one of my two clowns because he is mean to my smaller one?

My smaller one started hosting my nem, than this clown hat decided he wanted to and now won’t let the little guy near it. As much as I like Mr. Frostbite I think I like Mr. Blackie better.

I was thinking about turning him back over to my LFS and getting another one maybe closer in size to Mr. Blackie?

Thoughts? Opinions?

New&no clue · Jul 16, 2020

Well for starters Mr. Frostbite is probably Mrs. Frostbite. The large ones are females and she seems to be asserting her dominance over the male. Did you buy them as a pair or separately? As they establish their roles the Female can be very rude to the male, but after a couple months they will be fine and she will let him in the nem.

James M · Jul 16, 2020

I agree seems like normal female behavior. My female does that all the time to the male whenever he gets too close to her anemone

F i s h y · Jul 16, 2020

+2 both of the responses are right IMO

Reefing_addiction · Jul 16, 2020

New&no clue said:
Well for starters Mr. Frostbite is probably Mrs. Frostbite. The large ones are females and she seems to be asserting her dominance over the male. Did you buy them as a pair or separately? As they establish their roles the Female can be very rude to the male, but after a couple months they will be fine and she will let him in the nem.

No I didn’t buy them together. Yes I do know that the bigger one ends up being female if they bond.

I was hoping to have them become a bonded pair. Guess I was hoping she wouldn’t be so bitchy!

Ok so as long as she doesn’t take any chunks out of him, I’ll keep her

gabrieltackitt · Jul 16, 2020

I agree as well, the larger one is most definitely developing into a female. No worries though as she will most likely bond with the smaller one and they will soon become inseparable, and she will even defend him if need be. Mine are in this process now and the female wants nothing to do with the male during the day but at night they always sleep right next to each other.

It is really up to you though, if you like the look of the smaller one better then exchanging the larger one for another black one is a fairly easily done thing at most stores. I will caution against getting one the same size as yours now, as then they will have to fight for dominance and that can be much more stressful on both, so shoot for one either smaller or larger than your current one and you should t have any issues.

Reefing_addiction · Jul 16, 2020

gabrieltackitt said:
I agree as well, the larger one is most definitely developing into a female. No worries though as she will most likely bond with the smaller one and they will soon become inseparable, and she will even defend him if need be. Mine are in this process now and the female wants nothing to do with the male during the day but at night they always sleep right next to each other.

It is really up to you though, if you like the look of the smaller one better then exchanging the larger one for another black one is a fairly easily done thing at most stores. I will caution against getting one the same size as yours now, as then they will have to fight for dominance and that can be much more stressful on both, so shoot for one either smaller or larger than your current one and you should t have any issues.

I thought they looked good together.

Duly noted on the size part. That’s why I originally bought these two with the size difference to reduce stress.

I’m going to give them more time. As long as no fins become holy she can stay. More over as long as he stays looking healthy.

I think I like him more because he is not as shy as she is with me. He greets me. He watches me watch him! He has a warmer personality.

Which is a reflection of my interactions with people

gabrieltackitt · Jul 16, 2020

dyerrm said:
I thought they looked good together.

Duly noted on the size part. That’s why I originally bought these two with the size difference to reduce stress.

I’m going to give them more time. As long as no fins become holy she can stay. More over as long as he stays looking healthy.

I think I like him more because he is not as shy as she is with me. He greets me. He watches me watch him! He has a warmer personality.

Which is a reflection of my interactions with people

Dude, sounds good. The only clowns that have a tendency to take chunks out of each other are maroons, so I would say that your lil guy is probably safe. Before long she’ll be defending him from the rest of them and just as friendly if not a lil bit too much with you. Mine both immediately swim up to the top whenever I walk near the aquarium. Funnily enough they don’t do that for my fiancé, or any guests.

Reefing_addiction · Jul 16, 2020

gabrieltackitt said:
Dude, sounds good. The only clowns that have a tendency to take chunks out of each other are maroons, so I would say that your lil guy is probably safe. Before long she’ll be defending him from the rest of them and just as friendly if not a lil bit too much with you. Mine both immediately swim up to the top whenever I walk near the aquarium. Funnily enough they don’t do that for my fiancé, or any guests.

Yeah mine like me over my BF, might be because I feed them.

DSEKULA · Jul 16, 2020

It's normal clown behavior. If the female starts auctually ripping up the smaller males find etc then get nervous as usually occys arnt "that" harsh. The nem you have is also on the small side, she may let him in when it gets larger.

Reefing_addiction · Jul 16, 2020

TJDSEKULA said:
It's normal clown behavior. If the female starts auctually ripping up the smaller males find etc then get nervous as usually occys arnt "that" harsh. The nem you have is also on the small side, she may let him in when it gets larger.

What’s messed up is he started hosting first and then she came over and nope mine!

DSEKULA · Jul 16, 2020

dyerrm said:
What’s messed up is he started hosting first and then she came over and nope mine!

It's funny but that does happen , my red saddles did that. The male went in the lta and female kicked him out to a near by mushroom once she found the nem. Sometimes he sneaks in while she is occupied just to get chased out.

DSEKULA · Jul 16, 2020

My clarkies also have a carpet nem where the female is always in the nem and the male hides in a rock nook on the side of the nem kind of under it .
As long as there's no auctual harm to the fish their good.

bmhair03 · Jul 17, 2020

+1 normal behavior. My Maroon clown has the worst attitude of any fish I've had.She will attack if you go anywhere near her Nem. when I first got him/now a her about 10 yrs ago he almost got killed by his mate when they were pairing up.So after my female passed away about a year ago.I bought a breeder net just in case. Sure enough within 30 secs. new mate was almost tailless and missing pieces of other fins. I placed it in the breeder net to recover.Slowed the process down to short visits over a month and now they are Paired. Fins all grown back.