Clownfish Color

[Zack]

I have had my two clowns together now since the 14th of Feburary. Initially, the fought a bit, however until about a week ago, they were doing perfectly fine. I have noticed that one has definitely grown to be about 1/4 to 1/2'' bigger than the other. I assumed they had paired because they would sleep together and play around in their hairy shroom.

As of last week, I have noticed the smaller of the two lose some coloration. Also, whenever I approach the tank, the bigger one chases the smaller one to the corner of the tank. When I am watching them from across the room there is no aggression issues.

Would this display of aggression cause the smaller clown to lose some of it's coloration?

Is there any foods that usually help improve coloration?

Thanks

[BSJF]

The loss of color is a stress reaction, so yip.

[BSJF]

What are you currently feeding? Frozen Cyclopeeze is my favorite for adding color to clowns. It is only available in San Antonio at Texas Tropical.

[Europhyllia]

are you feeding them enough?

I read an interesting statement by Wittenrich a couple to years back to the effect that survival is primary, breeding is secondary (duh I know. lol) so to keep pairs of anything you have to make sure they are well fed. Aggression will be much higher towards each other if their food source is scarce and will subside once food is adequate.

That could also explain why her aggression flares up when you approach. It signals to her that it might be feeding time and she chases him away to preserve the resources for herself.

[Zack]

I recently stopped feeding them frozen food (had to purchase more and tests were ruling my life) and cut there feedings to once a day.

So currently I feed them once a day with flakes.

If I plan to feed them on this routine:

M/W/F/Sat- Flake
T/Th/Sun- Frozen

How often should I feed them each day? Once? Twice?

That makes a lot of sense though Karin!

@BSJF Do they sell the smaller size bags?

[Europhyllia]

Don't ask me! You'd be shocked how much I feed mine. I feed at least twice a day with frozen food and freeze dried cyclopeeze on a timer twice as well.

[Third Coast Tropical]

What kind of clowns?

[Kristy]

are you feeding them enough?

I read an interesting statement by Wittenrich a couple to years back to the effect that survival is primary, breeding is secondary (duh I know. lol) so to keep pairs of anything you have to make sure they are well fed. Aggression will be much higher towards each other if their food source is scarce and will subside once food is adequate.

That could also explain why her aggression flares up when you approach. It signals to her that it might be feeding time and she chases him away to preserve the resources for herself.

That is such a smart and simple explanation. Makes a lot of sense.
Also, when we are fat, ummm I mean well-fed and happy, it just seems like too much effort to fight! ;)

[Zack]

What kind of clowns?

Ocellaris clowns :)

@Europhyllia Sounds like I need to feed a bit more often! They always were more colorful when I fed twice a day!

[Zack]

Slight update, I fed a lot yesterday, and today. Right now they are both swimming next to each other and look like there about to sleep. Hopefully they sleep together and the male will stop being terrorized. I'll update every so often so I can log how it's going. Thanks for all the help guys! :D

[Europhyllia]

sweet dreams little clown -hope you don't get beaten up so much anymore

[Zack]

Ok, back to fighting.. I separated them with a breeder box and put the smaller one in it.

Should I feed the bigger one more often to increase it's size?

How often should I try re-introducing them?

[Europhyllia]

how big is the tank?

[Zack]

10g.

[Zack]

Here's me thinking out loud.

I've read that all clowns start out sex-less. After about 1" they become males, and from there the dominant of the group become females.

Both my clowns were about .75" when purchased and got along famously. They are both now about 1", however the bigger one is about 1/4" bigger than the smaller one.

Could they now both be males and are now fighting for dominance?

How long does this fighting last? When I first got them, they seemed to bicker for about a week, and since they were fine.

Also, they started fighting once the hairy shroom began to open up all the way. Could this be the issue? If so, would adding another so they both have something to host solve this?

[Europhyllia]

In addition to any regular 'working things out you could still be dealing with two previous issues:
Your tank is tiny. Staking out a territory in a really small tank might be tricky. A second hosting spot might help.
Also:
it takes awhile to get them back to good body condition so just a couple of feeding them more frequently might not cut it (yet)

[Zack]

What else would you suggest to improve body condition?

I have another problem.

I understand the breeder box concept to allow interaction between the two fish with no risk of harm to the smaller one. Since I have moved the smaller one into the breeder box, I see little to no interaction between the two. Is this bad?

[Zack]

Update:

10:00 forced the issue and put both them in the breeder box with a divider between them. The smaller one shook vigorously overtime the bigger one charged.

3:30 I removed the divider and watched the smaller one shake, and the bigger one did not attack.

5:30 I decided to play with the variables and took the hairy shroom out and put it in the breeder box. Once it re-inflated, the bigger one seemed more aggressive. I took both clowns out and put them in the tank, leaving the shroom behind.

So far, they are both hanging out in the shroom's old spot. I see more shaking than before from the smaller one. I believe this is due to the fact that the female is not overly aggressive because her host is gone.

I'll keep you guys updated.