Clownfish help

[diki88]

I've got a false percula and picasso pair in which the percula was introduced a month earlier than the picasso.

Both were roughly the same small size about 1.5inch, with the picasso marginally smaller.

They got along fine, very well even till last week when I noticed both clowns had noticeable torn fins with the picasso suffering more so as to speak. Assuming that its just them fighting for dominance and deciding which is female/male, I didn't bother too much and let nature take its due course.

3 days ago, I got a bta and the false percula started hosting it whereas the picasso kept its distance. As the false percula is wild caught and picasso is tank raised I concluded it would take a while for the picasso to get the hang of the anemone. This was when things started to go downhill as the false percula turned very aggressive towards the picasso which led to the picasso swimming at the back of the tank. The false percula would occasionally approach the picasso and looks like its going to attack and stop right before it really does.from what I see, I don't notice the picasso going into a seizure-like twitch. It gets especially bad when the lights are off. The picasso would swim towards the side of the tank where the anemone/false percula is to "sleep".

1st surprise is the false percula would get very aggressive and starts attacking the picasso. Pls correct me if I'm wrong to conclude its being defensive and territorial about the anemone.

2nd surprise is the picasso would hide in the same anemone trying to flee from the crazy false percula when I thought it still hasnt gotten used to the anemone.

I have isolated the picasso in a betta box as it seems to hv lost its colour in fear or stress. I read that the false percula is of the occellaris species whereas the picasso is a percula. Do they have compatibility issues?

Pls if anyone has had any experience with this do advise cause as bad as it sounds I'd rather give away/lose the false percula than the picasso.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[M3Morph]

It seems like a case of territorial aggression. It is common for clownfish to turn against each other when settled except when they are a pair. You might get away with aggression if your tank is big enough.

Cheers

[JeffL]

Here is a quick read up for ya on Clownfishes. Very easy to understand. I guess your problem is due to too many clown in one tank if your tank is small and also different species of Clownfishes

Clownfish Care

Not many people in here are tolerant to newbie like us

[diki88]

Thanks for the feedback.

Its just the the two in there.no other clowns.

Will be back home later to see if it still persists.

[iskay]

You can increase the chances of clwons pairing up by getting fishes with different sizes. If both fish are roughly the same size, they will fight rather than pair if they are not introduced at the same time.

[poomoon]

defintiely territorial. i somehow agree on the size. i've had a similar issue before, the introduced new clown is a little smaller. with the new addition of a bta, the smaller clown was the first one to host it. later on the bigger clown hosted it as well, and didn't like to share it, thus you can see the smaller clown angry and literally like scolding and throwing tantrums when the big clown was relaxing on the bta, and the big clown will chase the small one like hell out of it if it hosts while away. been like that for a couple of weeks, but not as rough in causing injury. next thing you know, they share it already, take turns during lights on, and at lights off, both of them try to fit themselves toegther in the small bta. maybe my clown has a milder behaviour, since i noticed when the mandarins get close to the bta, the clown pushes the mandarin slowly 'with care' away ... maybe holding the other clown in the betta for quite some time will make the clowns get oriented to each other more first ? ...

[diki88]

Thanks bros. Been of great help.

The bigger false percula is just aggressive towards the smaller clown as I have a bangaii cardinal which swims awfully close to the bta yet the bully is oblivious to it.

Just came as a surprise to me with the sudden spike of aggressiveness by the bigger one as the two clowns has been fine and getting along well - till the bta came about. Correlated or causation I'm not too sure.

Will try to keep the picasso in it and slowly reintroduce it.

Anyways thanks for all the feedbacks. Really appreciate it.

[ranchuboy]

All clown fish are aggressive to their own kind. The introduction of the anemone merely increases it a notch higher. If I were you, I will remove the false percula and let the picasso have the anemone. It is not worth stressing the picasso for a lower value fish. Sometimes you need to make hard decision fast before it is too late.

Thanks bros. Been of great help.

The bigger false percula is just aggressive towards the smaller clown as I have a bangaii cardinal which swims awfully close to the bta yet the bully is oblivious to it.

Just came as a surprise to me with the sudden spike of aggressiveness by the bigger one as the two clowns has been fine and getting along well - till the bta came about. Correlated or causation I'm not too sure.

Will try to keep the picasso in it and slowly reintroduce it.

Anyways thanks for all the feedbacks. Really appreciate it.

[JeffL]

I have two false percula one of them being smaller. Tank has a BTA but they never host in it before.

The two percula were ok with each other with the bigger one sometimes bullying the smaller. I see the smaller one doing the shaking dance so I thought it is showing it's submission.

Now, the big one decided to host in bta. I believe the small one has been bullied and it no more eat anything.

What should I do?