Urgent help please

[Coralgurl]

Well, the good news is, I don't think I have a rampant disease going through my tank, bad news, my female is guilty of brutalizing him. My hubby saw her just going after him tonight. So we've placed eggcrate in the tank to keep them separated. I don't know if he'll survive, but he's got a chance now.

Im going to have to sell one if he does survive, I'll keep him.

[TimT]

My suspicion is that if "he" is 4 to 5 inches you don't really have a he. Especially if they are both the same size.

Something else to consider is that large clarkii clowns and tomatoes are known to grab tank mates and feed the anemone they live in.

[Coralgurl]

"He" was previously displaying typical Clarkii submissive behaviour to her up until this week. Even on Monday when I first noticed something was off with his fin, she would approach his side of the tank and he would do the shaky quiver thing up to the top of the tank, she would go about her business.

But there is only like an inch difference between them in size, so I guess I could have 2 females.

Re: feeding tank mates to their anenomes - REALLY??????? I did not know this. I've been buying a homemade frozen mix from Concept which has large chunks of meaty goodness in it, she'll grab the large bits and feed her nem.

She is approx. 3.5 years old, he's approx. 3 years old. I would think they are full grown at this point. The weird thing is, she is sharing the "new" nem with my occ clown, whereas before she'd chase it around if it got too close to her other nem.

[TimT]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

"He" was previously displaying typical Clarkii submissive behaviour to her up until this week.

The females will have dominance struggles as well. Something could have clicked in the larger one and now she wants to start a family. LoL This could be why she would suddenly attack the other fish. Sometimes it's just a size issue too.

I have personally seen 8" clarkii and blue stripe clowns. When you purchase mated pairs from Vanuatu or Fiji the female is usually 6"-8" while the smaller male could only be 3"-4".

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Re: feeding tank mates to their anenomes - REALLY??????? I did not know this.

Yes, I have seen it in person and on video.

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

The weird thing is, she is sharing the "new" nem with my occ clown

The new nem could be the occelaris's territory but the occelaris is not going to mess with a big Clarkii. Reverse the roles and she would attack the occ to drive it off, as you have observed. Sometimes clowns will share anemones with other fishes. ie juv Damsels and juv wrasses.