Need Advice for Clowns ASAP

[jmsandy]

Hey guys I have a question about my two true perc clowns. The bigger aggressive one is bullying the hell out of the littler guy. They have been in the tank for two days now and the fighting is getting progressively worse. THe lil guy is not torn up or anything but the bigger female is ALWAYS nipping or going after the lil guy. I am thinking about putting the more aggressive female in my regugium (maybe 7 gallons in a 20 gallon sump) but my LFS has been telling me to let it be and they will be fine. What should I do? FYI I have a 54 corner gallon tank with a 20 gallong sump and two koralia 3 power heads with the tru flo overflow system with durso piping.

Also when the big female goes after the lil male the male goes vertical and shakes, I am worried, is he going to die? Should I take the female back to the LFS?


Thanks in advance

 

[Anonymous]

Oh no! It sounds like a courtship ritual. Watch him for injuries, but that's what I think. The other "option" may be that the male has already started to change to female, but I couldn't say without knowing whether or not these fish came from a harem or were housed separately, how long they've been captive (assuming they're not captive-bred), etcetera. Best methods are large size disparity.

In other words, we know that these fish form small groups of haremic subordinate males, with one dominant female, right? So, if the fish have been kept with others of their same species, the males will remain as such until/unless the dominant male or dominant female pair is disrupted. If you're certain they are what you think they are, then I say let it be (watching, of course). Believe me, if these fish want to kill each other they will (I've never seen blood drawn from a perc or ocellaris, but I'm sure it can happen!).

Love can be rough.

 

[jmsandy]

ha ha, well they are WILD true percs (i have heard that this is not the best as they are not as hardy and hav ea higher chance for contracting diseases) and when i bought them they were together in the tank...The larger female is considerably larger than the male, i would said an inch to half an inch longer and more robust. They are both eating fine and seemingly do not have ANY stress after introduced into the tank, heck as soon as I put them in they were swimming all over hte place and eating like a starving caged lions....

It just seems like the female is not interested in mating and more interesated in nipping and chasing...what are your thoughts??

 

[Anonymous]

Watch for injuries, do nothing more at this time. Especially if the male is doing a shake-your-booty dance, he's working on her and if you interfere you'll be messing up his good sex thang. He'd be going, "Man! What you doin', man? I'm almost there, man! Fo' shizzle!"