My orange and white ocellaris has suddenly become aggressive towards my black and white ocellaris!

[LMA1965]

I have a 36 gallon Bow Front reef with fish set up that I started in October, 2014. 40 pounds of live sand, 20 pounds live rock, 20 pounds "dead" rock which I have arranged to have many "caves" and "cubbies". I buy my salt and R/O water (depending on the need) and have my LFS check my water about every week as I am usually in there that much, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, 8.1 ph , GH 120, KH 180, temp 88. I put two Chromis in on December 31, 2014 as well as a clean up crew of hermit crabs and snails....the next additions were a black and white ocellaris and an orange and white ocellaris on February 9th and they have been best friends until last night when orange kept going aggressively after black, there are no marks or tears on the black and most of the time black backs down but sometimes charges back. Over the course of time I have added two fire fish, several soft corals and just recently a mandarin goby, a six line wrasse, and two yellow clown gobies. There is also a bubble tip anem. This completes my tank and I look forward to watching the fish and corals etc. grow.

Back to the clowns....when I turned off main lights and turned on moon light lighting they calmed down and during the night with the lights off I could see them swimming calmly next to each other in their "spot" (which unfortunately is NOT the anem)....once I turned the lights on this morning though the orange was starting it up again. Is this just the orange maybe maturing into female and showing dominance or is it really trying to kill the black? They are not fighting face to face and they aren't actually biting as I can see no damage to either fish?

 

[DianaKay]

My two never exhibited any aggression between them & they became a mated pair after being added as my 1st fish. I'm wondering if all your other fish additions have stressed them out.
10 fish in a 36 gallon tank is way over limit. I suggest you get your own test kit, even if it's just a cheaper brand to keep a very close watch on your water parameters. With a bioload that large, things can change fast.
I hope the aggression calms between your clowns

 

[LMA1965]

My two never exhibited any aggression between them & they became a mated pair after being added as my 1st fish. I'm wondering if all your other fish additions have stressed them out.
10 fish in a 36 gallon tank is way over limit. I suggest you get your own test kit, even if it's just a cheaper brand to keep a very close watch on your water parameters. With a bioload that large, things can change fast.
I hope the aggression calms between your clowns

I was wondering the same thing about the additions. I do have a test kit and have used it but since I am in the LFS looking all the time I like saving $ and have them do it......I also wondered about that many fish, but they assured me (yes, I know the want to sell...sell...sell) that the ones I had would remain reasonably small and would be ok. I don't intend to add any more, even if I accidently loose one or two (I hope not though).

Thank you for your thoughts! I hope they calm down too.

 

[DaveK]

If you take nothing else away from this forum, learn that many LFS are "less than truthful" when it comes to any type of advanced aquarium system. Often this is because they just don't have the knowledge or experience to know any better.

First let me say that I'n mot trying to play "beat up on the new person". Even old me was new to the hobby at one time, and I made a lot of the same mistakes.

In reading your original post you have -
two Chromis
black and white ocellaris
orange and white ocellaris
two fire fish
mandarin goby
six line wrasse
two yellow clown gobies

That's 10 fish and even if each is only 1 1/2" long, you have 15 inched of fish.

You have a 36 gal tank, but by they time you add a sandbed, rocks and so on, your down to about 25 or so gallons.

Typically, you want about 1 inch of fish per 5 gal of water, so your tank should have about 6 or so inches of fish.

The result of this is that the clowns feel cramped, and they get aggressive. This could also be because both clowns can't establish their own territories. You also have a possible problem of the filtration system being able to deal with all the waste produced by the fish. There is also a big risk if your have a power failure, since than many fish will deplete the oxygen in the tank quickly.

The bottom line here is that you should either invest in a much larger tank, or remove some fish and return them to the LFS, sell them, or give them away.

You also have a compatibility problem between the mandarin and six line wrasse. Keeping a mandarin generally requires that the tank be able to supply enough pods for them to eat. Sometimes you can get them to eat other foods, but you can not depend on that. six line wrasses also love pods, and will usually out compete the mandarin for them. The result is the mandarin usually starves to death.

If I were going to remove some fish, I would remove the two chromis, the mandarin, and two of the gobies. The gobies are great fish, but just too many.

Then comes the real trick, getting the clowns to live together. It may not be possible to do, and one will need to go, so have a plan B ready in case they will not stop fighting. I would first try rearranging the rock work. Yes, I know it never looks as good after you do it, but it breaks up any established territories and sometimes, the fish then make new ons and the are ok. It helps to have plenty of hiding places for them.

Good luck.

 

[LMA1965]

If you take nothing else away from this forum, learn that many LFS are "less than truthful" when it comes to any type of advanced aquarium system. Often this is because they just don't have the knowledge or experience to know any better.

First let me say that I'n mot trying to play "beat up on the new person". Even old me was new to the hobby at one time, and I made a lot of the same mistakes.

In reading your original post you have -
two Chromis
black and white ocellaris
orange and white ocellaris
two fire fish
mandarin goby
six line wrasse
two yellow clown gobies

That's 10 fish and even if each is only 1 1/2" long, you have 15 inched of fish.

You have a 36 gal tank, but by they time you add a sandbed, rocks and so on, your down to about 25 or so gallons.

Typically, you want about 1 inch of fish per 5 gal of water, so your tank should have about 6 or so inches of fish.

The result of this is that the clowns feel cramped, and they get aggressive. This could also be because both clowns can't establish their own territories. You also have a possible problem of the filtration system being able to deal with all the waste produced by the fish. There is also a big risk if your have a power failure, since than many fish will deplete the oxygen in the tank quickly.

The bottom line here is that you should either invest in a much larger tank, or remove some fish and return them to the LFS, sell them, or give them away.

You also have a compatibility problem between the mandarin and six line wrasse. Keeping a mandarin generally requires that the tank be able to supply enough pods for them to eat. Sometimes you can get them to eat other foods, but you can not depend on that. six line wrasses also love pods, and will usually out compete the mandarin for them. The result is the mandarin usually starves to death.

If I were going to remove some fish, I would remove the two chromis, the mandarin, and two of the gobies. The gobies are great fish, but just too many.

Then comes the real trick, getting the clowns to live together. It may not be possible to do, and one will need to go, so have a plan B ready in case they will not stop fighting. I would first try rearranging the rock work. Yes, I know it never looks as good after you do it, but it breaks up any established territories and sometimes, the fish then make new ons and the are ok. It helps to have plenty of hiding places for them.

Good luck.

I actually came home tonight to find my black & white under attack..... I literally had to dismantle rocks to catch the orange & white. Also decided to grab wrasse as well and they both went back to LFS. So two fish down and rock has definitely been moved.

Question.... The b&w fins are damaged but is swimming around and seems much happier (who wouldn't).... Will his fins heal?

 

[LMA1965]

I actually came home tonight to find my black & white under attack..... I literally had to dismantle rocks to catch the orange & white. Also decided to grab wrasse as well and they both went back to LFS. So two fish down and rock has definitely been moved.

Question.... The b&w fins are damaged but is swimming around and seems much happier (who wouldn't).... Will his fins heal?

Also, I have been lucky so far with the mandarin, I have been feeding him brine and fish eggs with a syringe and he loves it.

 

[DaveK]

Generally, a fish can regenerate fins as long as the base of them is not damaged.