Dealing with aggressive clown fish.. Will solitary confinement work?

J

JGard911

Member
I have 2 pair of clown fish (one pair of black and one pair of orange) in my 150 gallon reef tank which were introduced at the same time. I also have 3 chromis, a yellow and blue tang, a diamond goby and cleaning shrimp. Everyone gets along except ......

The black clowns have turned into little brats. They constantly nip at the orange clowns and force them into hiding, never allowing them to swim around the tank.
The orange clowns are usually forced into hiding, seperated at opposite ends of the tank.

Last night I caught the 2 black clowns and put them in isolation in my refugium.
This morning the 2 orange clowns are happily swimming freely around the tank together.

If I keep the 2 black clowns in "jail" for a couple of weeks, will they get an attitude adjustment or are they destined to find a new home.
Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks
 
steved13

steved13

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
I have always heard different clown breeds don't mix, so I've never tried it. Even the same breed can be a problem.

I know there can be exceptions, but it doesn't sound like you have one.

My thoughts would be they probably will be a problem. "Jail" may help, only time will tell.

Good luck.
 
T

TylerHaworth

Active Member
I'm with Steve here, detention may work, but I wouldn't put any weight on it... If I were you, since you already have them out of your display, I would try to trade them in on a new non-conflicting inhabitant
 
D

David Shaw

Well-Known Member
I had a black pair, the female was as mean as hell. Bullied everything that moved, including me. It used to attack me in the tank. I tried everything to no avail i am afraid.

In the end i traded them in at the LFS. They are still there to this day in one of their small nano display tanks, along with a crab as the only other inhabitant.

The black ones sure do seem to have a mean streak.
 
C

Conway Corals

RS Sponsor
Well, if I were to hazard a guess, the black clowns were getting ready to spawn. I have a friend that had 2 pairs of clowns in a 400 gallon, and when one pair decided to spawn, they went to the other side of the tank, killed the other pair of clowns, then went about their spawning.

Jail will probably do one of two things, 1) The black clowns will become the ones getting picked on when reintroduced into the tank 2) It won't do anything

Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but clowns are damsels and damsels are 99% of the time jerks. As said before I would trade them in for LFS credit, or better yet, send them to me! :) Seriously though, if you are considering getting rid of the black ones I've been looking for a nice pair. PM me with what you want for them!
 
DesertOrchid

DesertOrchid

Active Member
I have to agree with skrillnet that probably nothing will change if you were to reintroduce them back to the tank. Clowns are as mean as any damsel I've had and once they know they are the bully that's the way they stay. I had a single maroon clown that literally leaped out of the water to bite me in the face on several occasions. I finally caught it and put it in an isolated tank where it lived it's life out with a mean seargent major. They each kept to their side of the tank until it recently died. Sad to say..... but good riddance. Also had a pair of maroon clowns that never did spawn... just beat up everything including a large yellow tang. Keep which ever pair you like the best and find a new home for the remaining or chances are there will never be peace in the kingdom. Good luck!!
 
dmatt88

dmatt88

Has been struck by the ban stick
Have u tried grounding them? Taking away the Xbox? Works for my teens!

OK this wont b popular but lifting a troublesome fish outta the water in a net for 20 seconds for me has worked. Kinda like control alt delete on a computer. Resets their whole system is the function.

Ya Ya it's not common but I'm adding this to Paul Bs thread.

Matt's DROIDX using Forum Runner since idiots hacked thru tapatalk.
 
sasquatch

sasquatch

Brunt of all Jokes~
PREMIUM
skrillnet said:
well, if i were to hazard a guess, the black clowns were getting ready to spawn. I have a friend that had 2 pairs of clowns in a 400 gallon, and when one pair decided to spawn, they went to the other side of the tank, killed the other pair of clowns, then went about their spawning.

Jail will probably do one of two things, 1) the black clowns will become the ones getting picked on when reintroduced into the tank 2) it won't do anything

sorry to be debbie downer, but clowns are damsels and damsels are 99% of the time jerks. As said before i would trade them in for lfs credit, or better yet, send them to me! :) seriously though, if you are considering getting rid of the black ones i've been looking for a nice pair. Pm me with what you want for them!
Click to expand...

bingo
 
catran

catran

Well-Known Member
I had one black Ocellaris and one Orange Percula in a small 34g and they did fine.

I think that they will either get picked on as suggested already, or at least calm down for a while. They will probably revert back to their aggressive behavior in time though. Looks like you may need to make a choice at some time.
 
J

JGard911

Member
UPDATE

I took both black clowns out of the tank and put them in solitary in the sump. After three weeks I returned the smaller black clown back into the DT. (One of the black clowns is bigger than the other three). The two orange clowns, who had been hanging out together again and swimming throughout the tank, almost immediately let the little black clown know who was the new boss in town.

For the last week, the little black clown has hung out at the opposite end of the tank, but the orange clowns leave him alone.

I am going to wait another month before I try and put the bigger black clown back in the DT. He will get one chance to get along and then I may show him the GEICO sushi commercial.
[video=youtube;ces98B8W8r4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ces98B8W8r4[/video]
 
squidy

squidy

Member
:laughroll

Lol, this thread cracks me up! If it weren’t for the cuddly element resulting from their relationships with anemones, clowns wouldn’t stand a chance. Mine attacks me as well. Doesn’t hurt but freaks me out every time.
 
dmatt88

dmatt88

Has been struck by the ban stick
jjmoneyman said:
Do you talk to him while your holding him in the net too so he knows why he is in trouble?
Click to expand...

Well Ya. Candace had it right.

Nothing like a good old fashioned tongue lashing to settle em down.

Matt's DROIDX using Forum Runner since idiots hacked thru tapatalk.
 
Built347

Built347

Has been struck by the ban stick
lol.. dont see too many threads on here where everybody breaks out in to comedy.. maybe its just this topic that gets everybody clowning around
 
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