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Laird 
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 Topic: clowns fighting
Posted: October 15 2010 at 7:57pm |
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I just got a fancy new snowflake clown thats only about 1.5 inches. My little 1 inch picasso is terrorizing him like crazy, biting and chasing him around. I've never had more than one clown at a time so I don't know normal behavior. Is this normal? I'm just worried because I don't want to lose the snowflake. Should I just let them fight and hope that they stop, or will it not stop till one dies?
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Indefinite hiatus from sw aquariums.
Once I have my glorious return I'll set back up the following.
50 Gallon rimless cube.
180 Gallons mixed reef paradise
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Will Spencer
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Posted: October 15 2010 at 8:38pm |
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Clowns are very territorial. Ocellaris are some of the least aggressive, but even they can be terrors to conspecifics. Sometimes they just need to declare who is boss and then things calm down and sometimes the attacking can continue until one clown kills the other.
One way to help this is to introduce the new fish like Brad Syphus does, with a breeder box that the fish can see each other through. Leave the new one in there for a few days until they seem to get along or at least until the current tank inhabitant starts ignoring it.
Another thing you can do is pull them both out and put them in separate quarantine tanks for a couple weeks. (preferably in sight of each other.) In the meanwhile change up the reef a little. That way when you put the two of them back in the tank at the same time the old one doesn't have a territory to defend.
I tried putting two Maroon Clowns together, but I acquired them a day apart. The one that went in first had already claimed it's territory in just 24 hours. Within 2 days of adding the second one it was dead. Maroon Clowns are one of the most aggressive clown species though.
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sanddune600
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Posted: October 15 2010 at 8:47pm |
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I put mine in a clear cup with lid luckily my older one was bigger and that made it so I could make a hole for the smaller one to go in and out as he pleased by the next day they where both toghether on there own
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Andy Jorgensen
My number is four three 5 7 six four 8 0 three four
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SGH360
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Posted: October 15 2010 at 8:48pm |
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i would put them in a fish acclimator to avoid any deaths. how big is the tank. how was it when the last time you introduce a fish? how long when the picasso introduced?
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Laird
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Posted: October 15 2010 at 9:03pm |
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I traded for a borbonius anthius weeks ago. I gave them some coral but they never could catch it. Then out of the blue it's caught right after i put my new clown in the acclimator. So i go get the barbonius and brought it home. The clown was in the acclimator at the time but seemed fine so I took it out so I could put the barbonius it. My powder blue tang is freaking out over the barbonius so I'm afraid to take it out.
Should I try and catch the new clown and put it in with the borbonius?
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Indefinite hiatus from sw aquariums.
Once I have my glorious return I'll set back up the following.
50 Gallon rimless cube.
180 Gallons mixed reef paradise
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sanddune600
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Posted: October 15 2010 at 9:08pm |
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you can get a cheap tuperware container and build a fish aclimator thats what I did just drilled a bunch of holes and put a rock in it to keep it from floating
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Andy Jorgensen
My number is four three 5 7 six four 8 0 three four
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: October 15 2010 at 9:15pm |
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The two clownfish that fought the most became my best pair and eventually paired up and I was able to raise their offspring. The males lower jaw was almost ripped completely off by his future mate!
If you feel that you must remove a fish I would remove the oldest clownfish to the Refugium if you have one or to another tank. Taking it away will give the new clownfish a chance to claim it's territory. Then when the picasso is returned in a few weeks, it will have forgotten about it's territory and will have a stronger fish to contend with.
The link under Secrets of Adding New Fish in the Tips below explains a simple yet effective acclimator.
Edited by Mark Peterson - October 15 2010 at 9:21pm
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Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Laird
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Posted: October 15 2010 at 9:37pm |
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I let the anthias out of the acclimater and caught the old clown, and put him in it for now.
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Indefinite hiatus from sw aquariums.
Once I have my glorious return I'll set back up the following.
50 Gallon rimless cube.
180 Gallons mixed reef paradise
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|
Nick801
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Posted: October 15 2010 at 11:10pm |
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I like using little critter carriers from petco they are only like 5 bucks each
and work great for acclimation
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Laird
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Posted: October 16 2010 at 12:09am |
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How long can you safely leave them in it?
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Indefinite hiatus from sw aquariums.
Once I have my glorious return I'll set back up the following.
50 Gallon rimless cube.
180 Gallons mixed reef paradise
|
|
Mark Peterson
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Posted: October 16 2010 at 9:35am |
It depends on the fishies. The purpose for this procedure is to allow the fishies a chance to get to know one another. To see and smell one another and become accepting. The hang on the edge acclimator is less likely to give that exposure than the container on the bottom where more fish hang out. Placing the container near the spot where the most likely rivalry will occur is a good idea. If there is nothing in the container except the fish, a lot more stress is caused because the clear container offers no hiding place, especially at night. To reduce that stress, I place a few small pieces or a nice multi faceted piece of LR from the tank into the container. Some Caulerpa or a stretch of Chaeto also helps, especially if it's an herbivore. Wait until the aggressive displays subside before releasing the fish. If it takes more than a few days, reconsider whether this fish should go into the that tank. Even with this procedure, some aggression can still occur upon release. The training methods I describe in the Tips section are very useful. 
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Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Laird
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Posted: October 16 2010 at 4:47pm |
Thanks for all the help everyone.
I put the mean bugger in the the timeout box. The box is pretty big so I'll probably leave him in there awhile and hope he calms down.
Heres my other new guy. Its the biggest one I've seen.
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Indefinite hiatus from sw aquariums.
Once I have my glorious return I'll set back up the following.
50 Gallon rimless cube.
180 Gallons mixed reef paradise
|
|
SGH360
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Joined: April 04 2010
Location: Centerville, UT
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Points: 1786
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Posted: October 17 2010 at 1:55am |
rearranging your rock work can reduce territorial issies, those are really awsome clownfish wish i could afford them, hope they can get along after a while
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