Clownfish Aggression

[Cyclura]

My two A. oscellaris were doing fine with each other until recently. One of them does the submission dance (turning to one side and shaking like a dog) and the less colorful clown of the two has some tattering on the tail and dorsal fins.

What do i do?

the tank is a BC29 with one royal gramma and a midas blenny in addition to the clown pair.

[Rob]

so far it sounds like normal ritual, just continue to monitor, this process can carry on for days or weeks, just make sure the one is not getting too beat up. make sure it continues to eat, swim and breathe ok.. ;)

[Cyclura]

normal ritual...like mating ritual? they have been together in the same tank since late october-early novemberish and have not been aggressive until recently. *shrugs*

[Rob]

not exactly mating ritual bit close..
see clowns goes through several phases before actually spawning
* they start with what with a ritual of tolerance, where they will pick on each other until they tolerate each other, in this case a dominate is usually picked, and they can now "live" together without killing each other. this may occur with two juveniles or a male and female

* next is a bonding ritual, which sounds like what you have now, this is where they actual definitely define who is the dominant, at thsi point you almost always have what is or what will soon be the female.

* the next stage can be fuzzy, it sometimes occurs with the bonding phase, sometimes separate, but it involves them going through a "find a home" ritual, this is a typical male female ritual where the female finds the home, and beats the heck out of the male until he complies.

* the next is mating rituals, this is the final ritual in the creation of a "mated pair" and is followed by spawning (eventually) this involves the female picking a spawning site, and beating up the male it its clean and ready to her satisfaction.

* and then finally they spawn, i think this is self explanatory.. ;)

this is a rough overview of a process that can take many months to over a year to complete... hope that helps shed some light on the situation

[Russel P]

Does this hold true with Maroons too? I've never had luck establishing a pair that even tolerated each other.

[iglowce]

wow ROB different rituals.. this is new to me =]

[JeffDubya]

Sounds like marraige, but with more spawning. ;)

[Rob]

Does this hold true with Maroons too? I've never had luck establishing a pair that even tolerated each other.
generally speaking, yes, it supposed to be the same, but i persoanlyl haev never kept and premnas genus clowns (including maroons)


wow ROB different rituals.. this is new to me =]
yes, its really cool to follow as time goes on
can get confusing, becuase each ritual can go on for days or weeks, and sometimes it will go for a few days, stop for a few weeks and then they start back up again with the same thing..


Sounds like marraige, but with more spawning. ;)
lmao.. you know it... ;)

[unre4l]

I have a question to do with agression too, but not exactly the same lol

My clowns are fairly small probably about an inch and a half - two inches long and I have seen them doing the whole spasm submission thing.

What my question is, is are clowns usually so agressive as to attack me as I clean the tank? My slightly larger clown with a black back keeps swimming into my hand when i'm cleaning and last week it sliced my skin open on my finger and again on my hand. Is that normal for them to be that agressive?

[Rob]

its normal when they are breeding or at an age/phase where they are breeding...
before this its less likely, but not exactly normal.

the degree of aggression depends on the breed as some are more aggressive than others

[unre4l]

As far as I know they are percula clowns, but they are still quite small? I have no idea what sort of size or age they start to breed so i'm unsure.

I was a bit supprised at the turning on the side and shuddering thing though, I thought it was ill at first, but was even more supprised that it actually cut my hand lol. At night they go into an over exadurated swim, but thats probably to do with "sleeping"

[petunia]

gee, i didn't realize that they would get that aggresive with human. nice to know.

interesting post. thanks for all the info.