Clown Fight

[CD]

Well we just put the false perc who has battled and won the Brook fight for the last 3-4 months back in the display tonight.
We have another false that was already in the display that falcam7 gave to us.
We didn't realize it until after dropping the q/t'ed clown into the display but these 2 fish are identical in size.
They got along for about 30 seconds and are now duking it out to establish dominance, I suppose.
Fin nipping, tail slapping, convulsing and generally aggressive behavior from both fish.
These are both ghetto fish- both have been through some very rough times in the past and both are pretty tough fish.
I am hoping that one will establish dominance before they both start having problems again or doing damage to each other.
We knew this was to be expected but didn't notice they are so similar in size.
A few questions:

Anything we should watch out for besides the obvious damage?
How long should we allow them to fight if they don't settle down?
Anything we can do to diffuse the situation?

Thanks,

Chris

[verynewatthis]

counseling,,,,,lol ....just joking...i dont have a clue...im new...hope everything works out....
rich hancock

[NaCl_H2O]

Wow, that's tough after you have worked so hard to get the other healthy! I hate the period of time just after introducing new fish - have you tried "Time Out" ;)

Seriously, not much helps, but: Change the rockscape around a little to change the environment. If you are planning to add any other fish, maybe this is the time - to add a little distraction.

Good luck, I hope they work it out soon? I have a Powder Blue that's doing his best to stress out my new Purple Tang and Clown Tang.

[CD]

Thanks Rich.

We have put the q/t'ed fish in the fry net to give them some time to relax around each other. We already had to seperate them since it started getting pretty physical.
I hope these fish will be able to tolerate each other eventually.

Maybe we could borrow JimD's trigger and give them something else to focus on. :grin:

[NaCl_H2O]

Maybe we could borrow JimD's trigger and give them something else to focus on. :grin:

LOL, that should do it! Or a large Lionfish :o

[CD]

Heh...no Lionfish - thank you! :shock:

I'm just wondering if by keeping one in the fry net (hanging in the display) that they will get their "posturing" over with, or if they are just going to continue to fight once re-released back into the tank. I've worked too hard on keeping them both healthy - be it in separate tanks - to have one of them get killed while duking it out. The clown that we got from Carlos (falcam7) *appeared* to be slightly smaller, so I figured on maybe a bit of a tiff...but they are almost exactly the same size, and neither one seems to be backing down. Even if we keep the one in the fry net a day or two, I'm also worried that they might stress each other out so much that one or both will get sick from lack of rest. CRAP!

When we introduced our Hippo Tang into the tank, our Yellow Tang slapped her a few times with the tail spike for afew days...now they swim around the tank together....but THIS is scary. They were taking turns latching on to each other's fins and shaking like a dog. It may just look worse than it is, as I have not seen a fin actually torn.

HELLLLPPPPP!!! :cry:

Wendy

[Ram_Puppy]

hmm, I am sure larry can do more clarification, but it is my suspicion that after months in quarantine, both fish are already on their way, or have already become, female, if they are both female, then the fight simply won't end. (at least that is my understanding) on will eventually become dominant, but it will harry the other until it is removed, or dies of stress. I would hold out for a confirmation from larry though... I only have maroons and they are considerably more pugnacious than your fish. Heck, I moved both of mine tonight from the 30 to the 110, caught them both in the same net, acclimated in the same container, and they had been in the tank for no more than 10 minutes before the female got attitude and started beating on the male. Turned the lights out, I am hoping all will be fine in the morning.

[Reef69]

Hey wendy, Im glad that clown is on his way back..they will fight and twitch until one is the dominant one..dont worry..they will be fine..in case you watch one of them bitting the other ones gills, separate them..other than that..they should do fine, good luck!

[CD]

The fight has now concluded. Looks like the brook fish is dominant. That fish fought for its life and now fought for dominance as well. That's one tough fish.
We let them fight it out today (supervised, of course) while we were missing the meeting over a flat tire. :(
Missed the meeting but officially have a pair of clowns now...
and it only took 4 months.

Thanks to everyone for your help and support along the way.

Chris & Wendy