Need fish suggestion

[marcvee]

Hi,

I have a 2 yr old 90 gallon reef. Mushrooms, leathers, sponges and the like, no sps as of now.

I used to have 4 fish or so in the tank, but I had a bit of a problem. My clarkii clown has grown to a pretty big size, and has systematically killed the other fish in the tank, a foxface, a bicolor blenny, and a yellow tang. She chases them away from the half of the tank that has her H. crispa, then randomly follows them and nips at their sides and fins until they are bleeding. She even tries to bite me whenever I put my hand in the tank, and has drawn blood a few times.

I would like to find a fish or 2 that could I have in the tank with her and hold their own. I don’t want to get rid of her, as I have had her for about 7 yrs and am pretty attached to the little devil. Can anyone suggest a reef safe fish that would do well in this tank without either being killed by my clown, or killing her?

Thanks,

Marc V.

 

[Desolas]

Wow. Sounds like a demon, overall. With that kind of aggression, even getting a bottom dwelling fish might be a luck of the draw. You could try some kind of blennie/dragonet. I have a reasonably aggressive clarkii also, not as bad as yours though, and it leaves my Mandarin Dragonet alone for the most part...it has flashed at it a few times, so yours may not leave anything alone.

Or maybe a Dwarf Lion. One could easily hold it's own against an agressive clown; but it may eat your shrimp if you have any. As already discussed, they are "reef limiting."

I would avoid any fish that swims in the middle of the water column, so that takes out a lot of options.

You could try an Eel also, though they aren't really reef safe IMO, since many will eat snails, and crabs..but mainly they are deconstructive to the aquascaping. It is hard to keep stuff situated when a eel makes his burrow under it.

 

[Hermit Up North]

How about a nice Flame Hawkfish?

I, too, have a Clarkii. She is 10 years old, at least thats how long I've had her. And, yes, very agressive as she is now Queen of the tank. Her only buddy, that she never squabbles with, is the Flame Hawk. And I've had him 7 years. His bright color and clownlike antics are always fun to watch.

They are in a 40 gallon breeder, with various corals.

My humble .02
Hermit

 

[Anonymous]

I would get a Lionfish big enough to eat your Clown..then take him back to the LFS. Have Fun! :twisted:

 

[ReefLion]

Here are my suggestions:

blue damsel
domino damsel
six-line wrasse
snowflake moray

The blue damsel is probably the best option, and one of the prettiest. They are territorial and would probably establish a territory opposite the clown. The six-line would be a gamble, but I added it in just because I had one that was super mean.

Tim

 

[Garry thomas]

Why take all the agro? flog him, give him away, or the magic flush? i think thats what i'd be tempted to do after killing the others? get shot of it.

 

[ScottC]

a nice panther grouper should remedy that