fighting clowns

[alex glenn]

ive had 2 false percula clowns now in my 10 gallon for almost exactly a year and one was always bigger and seemed to bully on the little one but today while i was watching them the big one drove the smaller one into a hole in my live rock and the little one hasnt come out in about an hour and he didnt come out to eat
do clowns kill other clowns?
is this normal?

 

[alex glenn]

???

any help from anyone???

 

[brokereefer]

did you buy a male and female pair
sounds like they can be the same sex what size are they a 10 g tank can be kinda small for 2 clowns imo

 

[~Flighty~]

Sometimes the pairing just doesn't work out and if this is the case I would remove the smaller one and try again to pair the larger or vice versa.

 

[David Gosselin]

It's unlikely that the pairing won't work. It will take time. The larger one is always the male. If the smaller one is also a male, it will change sexes to be a female. The process takes about a month. During that time, the large male will be rather aggressive. If the tank has enough hiding places, the small guy should be fine until everything is done.

Have patience!

 

[~Flighty~]

I think you have some of the facts mixed up.

If it has been a year and one is being battered to the point of not eating, you need to seperate them.

 

[jamesdong009]

The larger one is always the male.

I've always thought the larger one was the female.

 

[~Flighty~]

The larger of an adult mated pair is the female, but just going on size isn't enough when they are not mated. Clowns can turn female when they are quite small and males can get pretty big so putting clowns together sometimes leads to size and dominance problems. Females can also reject males for unknown reasons and never accept them as mates.

 

[David Gosselin]

oops.

i did have it backwards and missed the fact that it has been a year. thanks for the gentle slap!!!!

 

[afboundguy]

+1 on the larger being the female. Clowns can change sex. In the wild they usually have 1 female with at least one male and maybe more. If the female dies the dominant male becomes the female.

I had this happen to my clowns when I lost my female and still had the male. It got bigger and all I did was buy a smaller clown which turned out to be the male.