Clowns Attacking Hawk Fish

[Ross]

My 1 year old black and white clown and my 1 year old Percula Clownfish have not taken very kindly to my Flame Hawkfish.

The black clown is the female about 3" long.
The orange is about 2" long.
The flame hawk is about 2.5"

The Clowns pair up and hunt the Flame.
They get close and then wacking at it with their tails.
Needless to say clown fish are not expert markmen and they have been hitting things all over the tank in the process.
Ie SPS, fragracks, rock, other fish etc.
The dumb fish have been wacking corals so hard that they are chewed up and have broken many ends off my sps.

Ocassionally, they get an actual bite in here and ther and have chewed up the Hawks fins.

No one else cares that the Hawk is in there, but they constantly chase it back into the rockwork.

I pulled the black clown out for a day in a bucket with airstone and heater while I nearly doubled the amount of live rock in the tank, but that didnt bother her when I tossed her back in at night, she was right back to it.

This is the same Clown that attacks my hand anytime its in the tank, and gets really ****ed if you feed its anemone.


Its been 1.5 weeks now, and they are still at it.


Any thoughts as to what I should do??

[Wayne]

Doesn't look to promising if its been and week and a half. Clowns can get quite territorial so you may need to pull the hawk fish. Do the clowns have a nem? That might help them with there own territory, I assume this is in your 67G?

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Wayne

Doesn't look to promising if its been and week and a half. Clowns can get quite territorial so you may need to pull the hawk fish. Do the clowns have a nem? That might help them with there own territory, I assume this is in your 67G?

The clowns have 3 small GBTA's that they love to sit in or stuff them selves face first into.
They are about 4" or so in diameter when fully open

[Wayne]

Thats no good news for your hawk then. I would pull him and sell him before they kill him...