Aggressive Tank Mate

[quackquack]

I just started out and added two ocellaris clowns and three chromis'. The two clowns are a shade different in color (Deep orange vs. light orange). On day one, one of the clowns was more aggressive, on day 3 other clown ended up being the aggressor to the other clown and the chormis...So I have a few question

1. Is this normal behavior? The other clowns seems to avoid the aggressive one.

2. I can't remember, but I read someplace that if the clown becomes the bully, you can put them in a quarantined in the same tank using egg crates. Is this a good approage or just let nature take it's course?

Thanks.

[Instar]

That depends on how big the tank is and the size/age of the clowns. Clowns sex by age and size until they become females. If both clowns are females, then one is doomed unless the tank is large enough. If they are immature yet, then let them fight it out. One will become female, the othe less aggressive one will be male. If the smaller gets beat up too much, then a divider is in order to let him recover. If the larger, more aggressive one grabs the entire tail and shakes the smaller to pieces, get one of them out quickly or the smaller one is going to be killed. Aggression and shaking is normal between the two at first. The aggression will turn to courting after they decide who will be female.

[quackquack]

I have a 115g tank. The aggressive clown is trying to establish the entire tank as his territory. As I'm new to this hobby, I should have purchased smaller clowns instead, these are larger...my bad :-(. I haven't included any other fish in the tank yet, so I may have to put a divider since it's harassing the other fish in the tank.

-rd

[Ram_Puppy]

quakquak, one thing you have just learned about this hobby is just because it is in the store, doesn't mean you should buy it. Research is the first step to every purchase. also, Youm might want to slow down, if this is a brand new tank, adding 5 fish off the bat is just to much.