Hi wise forum,
I've had an occelaris clown fish as one of my first fish in my 29g biocube. I also have a cleaner shrimp, six line wrasse, and a fire fish. All of the fish were living completely peacefully for 6 months. Then one day, the clown fish started nipping at the fire fish. The firefish basically went into hiding and now I only see it once every two weeks or so. The clown fish next started nipping at the skunk cleaner shrimp (the cleaner shrimp!). It eventually bullied the cleaner to death and chewed off its antennas and tail.
The clown is pretty adorable and my kids love it, but I'm tired of the aggression. I've tried rearranging the rocks... no dice. So now I've segregated the clown in an acclimation box hanging in the tank.
What's the best next step here? Do I just return the clown to a LFS; do I keep him in the acclimation box for a day to see if that resets the pecking order? Do I try to pair the clown with another clown to see if that has any effect? Or any other ideas...? We do have another cleaner shrimp and the clown immediately went after it, and I don't want it to kill him as well. All suggestions would be welcome...
I've had an occelaris clown fish as one of my first fish in my 29g biocube. I also have a cleaner shrimp, six line wrasse, and a fire fish. All of the fish were living completely peacefully for 6 months. Then one day, the clown fish started nipping at the fire fish. The firefish basically went into hiding and now I only see it once every two weeks or so. The clown fish next started nipping at the skunk cleaner shrimp (the cleaner shrimp!). It eventually bullied the cleaner to death and chewed off its antennas and tail.
The clown is pretty adorable and my kids love it, but I'm tired of the aggression. I've tried rearranging the rocks... no dice. So now I've segregated the clown in an acclimation box hanging in the tank.
What's the best next step here? Do I just return the clown to a LFS; do I keep him in the acclimation box for a day to see if that resets the pecking order? Do I try to pair the clown with another clown to see if that has any effect? Or any other ideas...? We do have another cleaner shrimp and the clown immediately went after it, and I don't want it to kill him as well. All suggestions would be welcome...