CLownfish problem
 

Hello,

SO yesterday I added a snowflake that is roughly 2.5 inches to my tank which already had a black ice clown about half the size. at first everything was fine, but a couple hours later, the small one started to chase the big one around. All the google searches i have are about the big one chasing the small one, is what i have a different situation?

thanks

Are they the same species? The small one may have the upper hand at the moment, my guess it's because it was in the tank first & is comfortable & established. Things could turn around at any time once the larger one figures things out. Other than that, wait & see & hope one doesn't kill the other in the process of establishing who's going to be the female.

Thanks Mike. The blackice i believe is an Ocellaris (gonna double check w/ timbits). The snowflake is also an ocellaris.

I have a pair of Maroon clownfish & am not that familiar with Ocellaris other than seeing them in other systems. Maroon females get quite large & from what I've seen Ocellaris is a smaller species. The larger 2.5 inch fish you just added could very well already be a female, so it is unusual for your smaller one to be the aggressor. All we can really ever do is keep an eye on them & if one gets beat up too bad, take steps to remove it. Eventually they should sort out who's who & with any luck, you'll have a bonded pair. Mating could take longer, up to a year or more, depending on where they're at with regards to maturity.

how long was the smaller one alone for?
you very well could have added a larger female into a smaller females territory.

the small one was alone for 2-3 weeks tops. If that is the case, does one turn back into a male?

I once had a black ice and snowflake together and they were an item from the start. Both were small and I purchased them at the same time and from the same display tank. Tank raised ORA.

Lost my snowflake one day (can't quite recall why) ...lfs happened to have another and bought it. Similar size. They never paired up...had only been about a week since losing the other one. My black ice semi tolerated the newcomer but would not pair.

After giving it a couple months I eventually traded the snowflake in for another black ice and instant attraction!

They are the same family but a different mutation. My feeling is they need to be introduced at same time. Your first clown is not recognizing the newcomer as one of its own. It's established and protecting his/her spot.

Now I have a pair of black ice snowflake clowns... The best of both worlds

Black Ice is originally an ORA cross of Black Ocellaris and Snowflake Ocellaris, properly named a "Black Ice Snowflake Ocellaris". They are the same species and 100% compatible.

http://www.orafarm.com/products/fish...ice-snowflake/

Ive generally heard its always best when adding a new clownfish to a tank where 1 was all ready living, regardless of how long it was alone for, it is always best to purchase a smaller one that came from a group and ensure it was not the largest in that group.

The small one is established and its normal to be the aggressor, both are probably gender neutral and even though its smaller, the dominant will turn female. They go from neutral to male to female, but cant go backwards. They will remain female forever