Clownfish: The underdog Story

[Osiris]

Two days ago I received a phone call that a Black/white adult clownfish had come availble at the LFS. Yesterday afternoon my fiance went and picked this Clown up. Now i already have a pair of clownfish, I'm assuming a pair since they havent' killed each other and have been together for approx 1.5yrs to my knowledge.

I redid the rockwork a bit to compensate for new incoming corals as well, couple hours later i heard splashing coming from the tank, went to check it out, here one of the regular clownfish was beating the crap out of the new black/white, Even with my hand in there he still continued to attack the newcomer.

I pulled out the newcomer and put him into my refugium for the time being.

My pair i have had, will normally attack my hand anytime it is in the tank, so im assuming they are really guarding a territory huh?

[fishfingers]

I believe that sometimes problems can arise when having three clownfish in the same tank, and I would imagine this gets amplified when a new clownfish gets added to a tank in which a pair already has established a territory. How big is your tank? If I remember correctly when clownfish are in groups they have an order, there is the the #1 clown, then #2, etc. So if your clown is the lowest in the order he's the one who's going to get picked on the most. Due to your B&W clown being the newest addition he's probably at the bottom. Also, I also think clownfish pairs are intoretable of other clowns.

Someone else please chime in in regards to whether this information is correct or not as I am a bit hazy on the subject and am not thinking straight as im tired!

[Fishfirst]

your right fishfingers, aggression between new and established clowns is very very common... sorry marty I didn't realize that you had a pair still... thought you were looking for a new pair of clowns for the new tank!