decisions trigger/clown trouble

[Yellowboy]

two of the fish in my tank are a very small picasso trigger and a very large false percula clown, the clown is just barely larger than the trigger. about two weeks went by fine after the introduction of the trigger...they ignored each other...this morning I watched the tail end of a fight with the clown being absolutely mauled...i have added a divider as a temporary solution and now have several options. what do you guys think is best?
1. return the trigger to the store
2. move the trigger to my other tank that has 2 much smaller false percs
3. move the large clown in with the two small clowns
4. hope the clown realizes he is no longer king of the tank after a healing quarantine
5. leave the very ugly divider in
6. find some protection for the clown like a LPS coral or anenome

what do you guys think is the best option...?

 

[klingsa]

Well, unfortunately, I don't think it's ever a good idea to combine triggers and clownfish. Triggers are too mean and well-known fin-nippers. Clowns are poor swimmers. It's a bad combo, as your poor percula found out. So, of all those options, if you are more attached to the clown than the trigger, get rid of the trigger. Putting the perc in with the ocellaris is risky, as it may attack the smaller ones. It's an option, though, if you are willing to risk the ocellaris. If I were you, I'd get rid of the trigger. I think they're beautiful fish, but too mean for coral tanks/community tanks. What else is in the smaller tank? If just the ocellaris, maybe you should move the ocellaris to the bigger tank, where they have more room to hide from the big perc, and move the trigger to the small tank. Maybe you can establish an aggressive tank there, where you can add other meanies, depending on how big it is.

Those are my thoughts. If you do move the small ocellaris in the bigger tank, removing the perc to a hospital tank for a while is a good idea, both to heal it and to remove some of its sense of territoriality. The ocellaris will have a chance to acclimate without being bullied.

Good luck!

Sara

 

[liquid]

I think Sara summed up everything I was going to say on this.

Shane