[s dubay]

A freind of mine bought a clarki clown fish last week ,my advice unheaded he purchased it before his tank was cycled,he had 1 three stripe damsel in his 25 gallon tank and it was almost cycled he added this poor little clown and three days later the clown looked like death was approaching fast.He was very sluggish and his finns were starting to deteriorate! So he brought the clown over to my house for a last attempt to save him we put him in my tank wich is cycled and running fine! My clarki clown terrorized this poor clown for another 3 days and this morning he was dead!My question is i thought that clowns were not that aggresive and the 2 sould get along fairly well ,but my clown chased him around the tank to no ends.I wonder if he chased him around cause the little gut was sick or if he was just being territorial? In any case i feel horrible that i wasnt able to save the little guy,I hope that it wasnt my clown that finished the little guy off.I would feel even worse!

[Bughead]

Although Amphiprion clowns are easier to mate, or put together than the notoriously nasty to each other Premnas clowns, they still need to be introduced with preparation and caution. Best case is to introduce two clarki clownfish at the same time. In your case, your clarki already had her territory and by golly, she was going to defend it. If your friend's fish was healthy and there were enough hiding places in your tank, after a period of sparring (weeks to months of this to determine dominance paterns), they would become a pair. But your friend's clown was to weak to survive the process.

So you've both learned a couple of lessons here. Patience and patience with the patient. ( Just trying to be cute ). Any sick or damaged fish needs a hospital bed in a private room. In other words, a quarenteen tank.

Sorry about your loss.