[marciemp]

I have a female oc clown who is suddenly acting very aggressive to a 4 stripe Damsel. We have had the clownfish for over a year (Dec '06) and we got the pair second hand with our tank, I believe the previous owner had them for a few months. The tank was 72 gallons and came with rocks, equiptment, the clown pair (who were small and the same size as each other), a blue tang, yellow tang, yellow tail damsel, and a yellow watchmen. A few months later we upgraded to a 92 gallon corner bowfront. All was well, this was about a year ago.

The clownfish grew like crazy since we got them and one is now much larger than the other. They spend a lot of time in the back corner of the tank cleaning and organizing the sand back there, they have dug a little pit. Probably about 11 months ago we bought a 4 stripe Damsel, it was small, and I had read in several books from the library that it was not too agressive. It quickly bullied the yellowtail Damsel into hiding in the rocks, where it still spends most of it's days. The tank was peaceful for many many months.

Just in the past 4-6 weeks the larger clownfish has begun chasing the 4 stripe Damsel. At first it was just a bit here and there, but I noticed in the past few days that she was relentless. They go around and around the rocks. Every once in a while the Damsel slips into the rocks and the chase stops, but as soon as it comes out the clownfish starts again. The damsel will go and hide between the powerheads and the chase will stop again but every time it comes out the chase starts again. They are so fast it is hard to tell but I think the clownfish is even nipping the Damsel, but with no visible damage. I don't watch the tank all day long, but for the time I watched it today they did this the whole time and it seemed very stressful. By the end of the day it almost seems as though the pair are tired, as the clown will lay off a bit, like she's taking a break, but if she sees the damsel or he gets too close, the chase starts again. The damsel never starts the fight, he is always just hanging out when she starts.

There have been no additions to the tank. Not sure what has triggered this aggressiveness. The clownfish is getting very large, and the 4 stripe Damsel has grown a lot too. All of the other fish get along very well and seem healthy, except the poor little yellowtail damsel who hides all day and has a big pop-eye (came that way with the second hand tank, has never recovered, was probably used to cycle)

Marcie