Clown Fish bullying

Oliver Nivbrant · #1 05/07/2005, 01:18 AM

Hi everyone, I have written a few times before regarding my clown fish. I have 1 mated pair, and the male seems to get picked on alot by the female who is bigger. He has a bit of his back fin missing, and always has scratches on him. Some of them I know are from my torch coral, as he is trying to move in, but the female does punish him a bit , Is this a problem or just normal behaviour?? They are both eating fine!, thanks alot

graff71884 · #2 05/07/2005, 02:45 AM

With mated clownfish, the female is always gonna be the bully. They seem to be more aggressive as soon as they pair up and taper off on the aggression as time passes from what I have seen. If the male is healthy and eating, he will probably heal up fine from all his war wounds. If he has scratches though, those aren't from the torch coral. He may get marks from the torch from being stung, but they shouldn't be scratches. Good luck with the two! BTW, what kind of clowns are they?

Oliver Nivbrant · #3 05/07/2005, 10:44 PM

they are ocellaris clowns. The male has a great apetite, thankyou for all your help.

graff71884 · #4 05/08/2005, 04:27 AM

Good to hear that he is at least eating well. I used to have a regular, single ocellaris that was extremely aggressive. I now have a black perc (ocellaris actually) that is a cool little fish, but he is extremely aggressive as well. He has a foot long section zoned off in my litte 29g that if you stick your hand in that area, he will come after you. It doesn't hurt getting bit, but it sure does throw you off guard if you aren't expecting it!!