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View Full Version : Will giving a female clownfish a mate reduce aggression to other fish?


Coasting
12-25-2016, 10:23 PM
Hopefully its a quick question...
Trying to decide if its worth trying to pick up a new male for my single female clown tomorrow.

She has become aggressive to the point where shes been picking on my Sailfin tang and has split the tangs lower fin, and even my hogfish, whos 3x the clowns size, got a chunk removed from his tail.
All 100% the clowns doing. Not territorial to 1 specific area either.

She lost her mate a few months back (not her fault) and Im wondering if its worth replacing him, if she will stick to doing clown things with him and give the other fish a bit of a break or if she will teach him to terrorize the bigger fish too.
I know they are clownholes, but im just wanting to reduce the amount of fin damage shes doing. Not looking to get rid of her either despite the attitude.
Hoping it will lessen the attitude towards the others if shes focused on whipping him into shape....

Thanks!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW%20150/IMG_8239.jpg

spit.fire
12-26-2016, 03:18 AM
It's un likely that it'll reduce aggression imo but worth trying as I don't believe it would make things any worse. It's possible that it will however limit the aggression to an area in the tank tho.

duncangweller
12-26-2016, 05:22 AM
Not much help to you, but that's a great photo

DKoKoMan
12-26-2016, 07:49 AM
I would try the addition as my clowns stick together in their territory. Could be a
change in behaviour related to the loss of the mate. Was the female always very aggressive? Or is this something that has changed since the loss?

Coasting
12-26-2016, 01:48 PM
Not much help to you, but that's a great photo

Thanks :)

I would try the addition as my clowns stick together in their territory. Could be a
change in behaviour related to the loss of the mate. Was the female always very aggressive? Or is this something that has changed since the loss?

I think its more to do with her probably being of breeding age/size now as shes grown since I got her. Its only been this last month or so where she has turned into a real turd. Dont think its related to the males loss at all as he has been gone longer then her attitudes been around. Shes been split from a mate a few times anyway as i bought her as a single female from J&L about 2yrs ago where the pair had their own tank and someone bought the male and left her, which was perfect for me as I needed a for sure female because my male lost his female randomly.

Just argh. My other fish all had such perfect fins and now.... my poor Sailfin tang is deathly afraid of her.

I will give it a shot if the clowns they have today are big enough to survive my tank. Though maybe she will protect a little one....

Myka
12-26-2016, 03:55 PM
Sometimes providing a mate helps, but sometimes it makes it worse if they start spawning. It's really a shot in the dark, but what's going on now (her being single) isn't working, so I see no reason not to try pairing her to see if it helps.

Coasting
12-26-2016, 04:30 PM
All the clowns were just too tiny for my tank :( hopefully the other new fish throw her for a loop.

paddyob
12-26-2016, 04:55 PM
How big is your tank. Perhaps it's more of a space issue than an aggression issue.

DKoKoMan
12-26-2016, 09:47 PM
All the clowns were just too tiny for my tank :( hopefully the other new fish throw her for a loop.

I find that the captive bred and majority of clowns at the LFS are super tiny. I look at my pair and when I go to the LFS I can't believe the size difference.

paddyob
12-26-2016, 11:05 PM
I find that the captive bred and majority of clowns at the LFS are super tiny. I look at my pair and when I go to the LFS I can't believe the size difference.



They grow. Breeders want to sell the clowns fast. Waiting for them to grow is money lost.

Coasting
12-27-2016, 02:29 AM
Im not going to buy a 1/2" clown that will fit whole in my wrasses mouth.... some of the ones there were TINY....
And the tank is 150g. Everyone had their own space, she just thinks it all belongs to her.

If i fluke on J&l with a larger pair one day ill grab the male.
They had a larger pair there in a seperate tank today but they were still a smidge smaller then id like. Well see how she does with the new additions.
She promptly chased every new addition when i added them. Had to shoo her away with one of my sticks so i could let them find a spot to hide in peace.

paddyob
12-27-2016, 05:52 AM
Im not going to buy a 1/2" clown that will fit whole in my wrasses mouth.... some of the ones there were TINY....
And the tank is 150g. Everyone had their own space, she just thinks it all belongs to her.

If i fluke on J&l with a larger pair one day ill grab the male.
They had a larger pair there in a seperate tank today but they were still a smidge smaller then id like. Well see how she does with the new additions.
She promptly chased every new addition when i added them. Had to shoo her away with one of my sticks so i could let them find a spot to hide in peace.



Yea 1/2". That is overly small for sure. That's smaller than I remember seeing.

Myka
12-27-2016, 01:26 PM
Ugh, I hear you. The captive bred Clowns are coming in smaller every year. 1/2-5/8" isn't uncommon at all! The problem is that 90% of people want whatever is cheaper, 8% think smaller is cuter, and 2% will pay more for something bigger. Most wholesalers have a variety of sizes available, but the retailers are buying the smallest size because it's the cheapest, and that caters to 98% of the buyers. Ask your LFS if they can order bigger ones.

Coasting
12-27-2016, 02:48 PM
i think the micro clowns were on the invert side. But not in the same tank as the majority... cant remember exactly.
Even the 1" ones i would worry wouldnt last. I will just wait and hope to fluke out like i did when i got my female. Either that or maybe the other fish will get mad and retaliate. If she dies then I can get a pair of maroons or another type of clown.

SeaHorse_Fanatic
12-27-2016, 06:07 PM
Maroon clowns would definitely take over your tank and terrorize the smaller fish. My big female maroon would even pull up my frogspawn colony out of its hole and toss it with her mouth, like she was a Scottish Highlander doing a caber toss. Had to finally tear that tank apart to catch out the maroons. So if you don't like aggressive clowns, shouldn't consider maroons as future additions.

Coasting
12-27-2016, 06:32 PM
Haha yeah i knew the maroos are worse but their oh so pretty. But there are so many clown varieties it would be hard to decide.
I do like the classic nemo look so ;)
Shes behaving herself so far.
I will probably wait for a fluke pair at one of the LFS and snag the male.

My sailfins fin appears to have healed overnight while she had it down(in?) Guess that was long enough for it to stick to itself and heal slightly.
Hogfish tail still has a bit missing but healing fast.

Everyone is a bit occupied with the new fish she cant figure out who to go after so shes schooling with the anthias on and off.

DKoKoMan
12-27-2016, 07:56 PM
i think the micro clowns were on the invert side. But not in the same tank as the majority... cant remember exactly.
Even the 1" ones i would worry wouldnt last. I will just wait and hope to fluke out like i did when i got my female. Either that or maybe the other fish will get mad and retaliate. If she dies then I can get a pair of maroons or another type of clown.

That's the problem with a mature tank :sad:

Coasting
12-27-2016, 08:59 PM
That's the problem with a mature tank :sad:
Exactly.
So many times ive gone in and seen a fish I want... but its so small!
Its hard to imagine any of my fish were ever that small. I swear they were bigger when I got some of them then what they get in now. (Not just talking j&l here) Had to turn down quite a few wrassed because they would not have survived at their size.

I did grab a blue damsel. Heres hoping its enough of an ass to hold its own... at 1" he was the biggest blue one that had aside from the big big one that had lost its baby colours and was an ugly grey. Hes got a chunk missing from his tail but I think the hogfish did that.