Clownfish Advice

[topmav1]

I'm afraid I lost my chance of my Onyx staying together. Bought them when they were babies and introduced them to the tank together. They grew fast but one stayed smaller and one got larger just as I'd hoped. They were paired at one point and doing fine then I added a B'W Ocellaris. Still all was well.
THEN, a friend asked me to put his fish in my tank cause he had a flood and one was a false perc...pretty small size. Now he shacked up with the black/white and they are both attacking the smaller male Onyx. The female Onyx stays by her anemone while the male onyx stays close to a frogspawn on the other side of the tank.

Do I let things take its course or do I remove the smaller perc clown? He is really bullying my small Onyx and its pissing me off. I'll try to post a video of the action.
OR is this simply the Onyx Clown's behavior? Maybe he found his spot and he's staying there and being territorial?

 

[topmav1]

Here is the link:
At abt 28 seconds in the B/W darts down and starts to corner the smaller Onyx and again at 44 seconds.
At 2:49 in the B/W and the small perc go after the small onyx. (Pisses me off just watching it).
At 3:05 after the bullying the B/W realizes that the female Onyx is hanging out in his GBTA and they go at it!

Someone experienced with clowns please take a look and explain what's going on here. I know the obvious. Clowns are territorial, etc. But is there something going on here that I can't see?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIwqDtmLamk

 

[masterswimmer]

Dude, great video for Jerry Springer.

Woman has man.
Woman takes second man.
Woman kicks out first man.
Woman and second man beat up first man.

Get rid of your friends clown. Too many clowns in a small tank and aggression is the obvious result. There was no way you could have predicted the outcome, but there were too many possibilities.

Russ

 

[topmav1]

Hey Russ,

Yup it really is! Can't believe all this drama. Tried to get my friends clown out but he wasnt having it. Maybe a fish trap is in order. Question is will things go back to normal if I do take him out? That's why I'm asking if there's other behavior going on that I can't see.

 

[masterswimmer]

A trap may be your best bet. Everything returning to the previous scenario can't be predicted though. However, if you only have the original two Onyx Clowns in that tank (no other clowns at all), then you're giving nature the best shot. The two Onyx's will want to mate with SOMEONE, and if the other one in the tank is the only one available you're at least reducing the odds of who they will pair up with.

Best bet IMO is keeping only the two Onyx's.
Russ

 

[topmav1]

Honestly mating is not even my issue...its more that I can't sit around and watch my boy get f'ed with!:letitallo

 

[masterswimmer]

When they mate, it's proof positive that your system is set up properly, both biologically and naturally.....IMO

swimmer

 

[topmav1]

Need some more input before i trap one of these suckers...

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

When they mate, it's proof positive that your system is set up properly, both biologically and naturally.....IMO

swimmer

I don't kno how true that is because my girl friends tank sucks she dose Not take care of her tank well at all after awhile I just get fed up and clean it up a lil but her nitrates are really high ammonia and the others r in check.. She just over Feeds and takes like 3 months to get a water change and I end up doing it.. (Which I don't mind but then tell me I need to do a water change instead of saying I'm gonna do it tomorrow) lol but yea so I don't really know if that's a fact because her clowns just hatched their first fry now they r going to lay more.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[THEDLO]

dude, great video for jerry springer.

Woman has man.
Woman takes second man.
Woman kicks out first man.
Woman and second man beat up first man.

rotflmfao!

 

[masterswimmer]

I don't kno how true that is because my girl friends tank sucks she dose Not take care of her tank well at all after awhile I just get fed up and clean it up a lil but her nitrates are really high ammonia and the others r in check.. She just over Feeds and takes like 3 months to get a water change and I end up doing it.. (Which I don't mind but then tell me I need to do a water change instead of saying I'm gonna do it tomorrow) lol but yea so I don't really know if that's a fact because her clowns just hatched their first fry now they r going to lay more.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

Biologically her system sounds like it's running well. Nitrates will have more of a negative effect on a reef (coral/inverts) than on fish. Nitrates are a major contributor to nuisance algae growth. Nitrates aren't directly toxic to fish. In high concentrations they can contribute to conditions that are harmful to fish though. We're talking about levels > 100 ppm for sustained periods.

I've seen many tanks that have been neglected and look excellent because the aquarist has kept their hands out of the tank and thusly introduced much less stress and less 'pollutants' (perfumes, oils, lotions, detergents, etc) into the tank.

So just because your g/f tank is neglected doesn't mean it currently has poor biological conditions. Over a longer period of time it might, but at this point in time it doesn't sound like it does.

Russ