A few months ago I lost my male percula-the pair were young but I was still nervous to add a new male. Yesterday I was in northern Jersey and on the way home I decided to stop at absolutely fish-I forgot how great that store is, and the customer service was amazing! My girls picked out a small dark mocha oscellaris, about half the size of my female, and I decided to give it a shot.
I introduced it last night and it began exploring immediately, but when the clowns found each other....there was trouble. The female boxed the male into a corner and began ramming the male into the sand and the corner glass. Wasn’t looking good, and I couldn’t get my net in that corner to separate it.
But then everyone else began to help out. One at a time, other fish came over to the corner and shielded the little guy, guiding their old friend away from the newbie. A yellow stripe cardinal, yellow coris, and Bartlett’s anthias each took turns checking out the new guy and making sure things didn’t get out of hand. Night hit, and all was quiet. This afternoon when I checked in, the clowns were spending more time together. Every once in a while the female would start nipping and chasing, and again, if she got too aggressive other fish came over to break it up. Over the course of the day, things have improved, and now they’re spending more time together peacefully. Looking good!
I knew it was risky adding a second clown, and it looked real bad at first-but that was expected. I didn’t expect to see the community get involved tonkeep the peace-if anything I expected the opposite. Definitely something I’ve never seen or heard of before-awesome to watch!
I introduced it last night and it began exploring immediately, but when the clowns found each other....there was trouble. The female boxed the male into a corner and began ramming the male into the sand and the corner glass. Wasn’t looking good, and I couldn’t get my net in that corner to separate it.
But then everyone else began to help out. One at a time, other fish came over to the corner and shielded the little guy, guiding their old friend away from the newbie. A yellow stripe cardinal, yellow coris, and Bartlett’s anthias each took turns checking out the new guy and making sure things didn’t get out of hand. Night hit, and all was quiet. This afternoon when I checked in, the clowns were spending more time together. Every once in a while the female would start nipping and chasing, and again, if she got too aggressive other fish came over to break it up. Over the course of the day, things have improved, and now they’re spending more time together peacefully. Looking good!
I knew it was risky adding a second clown, and it looked real bad at first-but that was expected. I didn’t expect to see the community get involved tonkeep the peace-if anything I expected the opposite. Definitely something I’ve never seen or heard of before-awesome to watch!