[Reefer769]

is a tank divider a good idea? i was thinking i should get a tank divider for when i feed my 2 clowns in my 10 gal, becuase whenever i feed then one of them gets real mad when it sees the other one eating so it attacks. so is the tank divider a good idea?

[Reefland]

Not necessary. The fish will eventually learn how to get along during feeding time or you will have to get them to eat in separate areas of the tank. I personally would not go through the trouble of trying to separate them physically when feeding.

Scott Z.

[Reefer769]

its not just when the eat either, the one clown fish always bullies on the other.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Reefer769

its not just when the eat either, the one clown fish always bullies on the other.

That is perfectly normal. They are immature clowns so they are sorting out which one is going to be the boss (female) and which one is going to be the subservient male. It's called sexual determination by social aggression and it is the way hermaphroditic fish determine which one gets to become the dominant gender. In the case of clownfish, since they are protandrous hermaphrodites, the dominant gender happens to be female. Protandrous just means "male first." That means they have to become a male before they can become a female. It's just the opposite with protogynous hermaphrodites, such as wrasses, angelfish, anthias, etc. They're females first before becoming males. Males are the dominant gender in protogynous hermaphrodites. Protogynous means "female first."

Once a clownfish becomes a female, it is female for life and can never revert back to male. It is possible for a male clownfish to remain a male its entire life if its female companion doesn't die first and open up a vacancy so that it can get promoted to female. If there is more than one pair residing in the same host sea anemone, there will be one dominant female, one male and one or more sexually immature fish. The most dominant of the sexually immature fish would be the first in line to get promoted to male if anything happens to the resident male or female. Either way it would get promoted because if the female goes bye-bye the male becomes female and the highest ranking sexually immature fish will become the new male.

Some of the protogynous hermaphrodites, such as anthias, can revert from male to female under certain conditions -- two many males, not enough females. I have been told that this is not possible with terminal phase (supermale) wrasses. That is an interesting topic because in my tank right now my previous female (at least she was supposed to be female) grew a little larger during five weeks alone in the tank and then terrorized the incoming supermale fairy wrasse and nearly killed him. She held him captive inside a rock cavern for 10 days before allowing him to come out. At this time there is no doubt about which one is the boss. The new supermale has recognized the resident former female as the head of the family. The former female (now male) is about the same size as the new supermale (both are about 4.75" long) and her/his coloration is in the process of changing. She/he is getting a lot more of the supermale coloration. It may be true that my new supermale cannot change sex but at least the dominant previous resident tolerates him now.

I have to add that there is some disagreement on whether a male fairy wrasse can ever revert back to female. I have come across a couple of people who say that it is possible but most people say that it is not possible. One other complication in fairy wrasses is that some of them are actually born males whereas others are females first before becoming males. It would be interesting to learn which of the two different types of males might be capable of changing sex and becoming females. We will have to talk some kid into doing that little project for his science fair. Or his doctoral thesis, as the case may be, since it may take some time to figure out.

[Reefer769]

so its perfectly normal for the clown fish that getting beat up on to be swimming towards the bottom, and really up close to the glass?(looks like its scared, or hurt maybe)

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Reefer769

so its perfectly normal for the clown fish that getting beat up on to be swimming towards the bottom, and really up close to the glass?(looks like its scared, or hurt maybe)

You're lucky they aren't Maroons (Premnas biaculeatus), because if they were, then one of them really would be hurt. Not just look hurt.

They should sort things out shortly. Once the weaker fish begins to shimmy in submission, the more dominant fish will leave it alone. Eventually. You will begin to notice that one is growing faster than the other. That's partly due to the fact that the more dominant one is not going to let the other one eat. At least it (future she) will try to prevent the other one from eating. All part of the game. The one that grows the fastest gets to be the boss. The other poor guy gets to fan the eggs all day long.

[the_blue_tuna]

Ninong,
It will all become crystal clear to Reefer when he gets married