Clownfish strugless...

[trickyy21]

I would enjoy more than anything to have a black percula and a normal ocellaris together in my little 29 gallon beast. butttt i'm not having much luck....i introduced two ocellaris's at the same time, one became dominant and started beating the other to death. So i got rid of the dominant guy and introduced a black percula. Mr. remaining ocellaris slowly but surely recovered and took on the role of tank bully, beating the pulp out of my new black percula. Sooo I get rid of ocellaris and now black percula is so weak, he cant hop back on his "feet" and dies, and now I have no clownfish at all I'm guessing i keep putting two males in together?? Do they display any sexual dimorphism so I don't make the same mistake again? Or am I completely off? I dont think it has anything to do with the tank's small size, I have a buddy with a 40 gallon and he is keeping six of them peacefully, along with plenty of other tank mates. My clownfish did share their home with a six line wrasse, a mandarin and a firefish whom they paid no attention to, with the acception of minimal peaceful socializing with the wrasse. What am I doing wrong!! Help please

 

[jhemdal1]

The clownfish do show dimorphism, but it may not be what you'd expect; the general trend is that the larger fish will be females and the smaller ones male. However, that is relative. A smallish clown that has been housed with even smaller ones for a time could be a female. They'll change sex to accomadate new mixes of fish in some cases...in other cases they just trash each other.

I had three ocellaris in a 30 gal. One dominant female and two males. I tried introducing a large black ocellaris - they beat it back into the corner until I removed it. I tried again about a year later - same fish - after a bit of scuffling, they have developed a truce - and leave each other alone.

I think the key is:
1) Don't try to introduce fish that are vastly different in "strength" (such as having a large, long-term captive in a tank and try adding a smaller, freshly acquired one).
2) Always be prepared to isolate the fish right away. Never let it go too far. It sometimes helps to isolate the more aggressive fish rather than the weaker one.
3) Try redecorating the tank and mixing them together again - what didn't work one time, might work under different circumstances.

Jay

 

[trickyy21]

I will definately take that into consideration, much appreciated. Funny thing is though all 3 clowns were almost exactly the same size...you can never know with them though.