help! tomato clown

[simple]

i am running a 10 gallon nano with 2 tomato clowns and a pygmy angel. Today i found my tomato clown stuck behind a rock (or so it seemed) so i nudged the rock and he came out but as soon as he went out in the open the other tomato clown and the pygmy both attacked him non stop, and now he has stuck himself between the rocks again (it seems to be the only way the other fish cant reach him) although he can get in and out of it now. What should i do? it's nearly impossible to feed him, since he is chased away as soon as he peeks out. Should i just return it to the store? I was also thinking that maybe an anemone might offer some protection but i think the other clown might be more dominant and end up being the sole inhabitant of the anemone. Any help would be good. Thanks

 

[metalac]

so you should quarantine the aggresive fish. Take a large tuperware container and drill a bunch of holes on it. Then trap the aggresive fish inside of there by somehow holding the tuperware up against the glass. This way you'll have sort of a cage inside your tank. Then let the peaceful fish out and have him swim around and get adjusted. I'm not sure for how long you should do this but I wouldn't go more than a day or two. Remove the aggresive fish from the "cage" and see how he behaves.

 

[simple]

well ive had the tomato clowns together for about 2 months, and i they were fine, sometimes one would chase the other one around but no nipping happened, i put in the pygmy a month ago and he has been shy and reclusive until now. I added some more live rock recently, could this be the problem?

 

[metalac]

well that is a pretty small tank you have for 2 clowns. How small were they when you got them? At some point they reach a time when they have to duke it out to determine dominance. I have 2 clowns my self and in my 55 they stay at opposite sides of the tank, if they get close to each other they chase each other around and then retreat to their respective corners.

i can't see that live rock will affect them, unless you disturbed their hosting spot, this might make them fight for another hosting place, but i'm not sure.

 

[simple]

yea, i wasn't planning on keeping the clowns in there for their whole life, but they are both still pretty small, i could move them to my bigger 90 gal tank, but i dont think either would be happy in there, since it has mostly larger fish. i was hoping to keep the clowns in the 10 gal until they can do well with the bigger fish in the 90 gal.

 

[SnowManSnow]

IMO that is a wicked small tank for 2 clowns of any sort. In my experience tomato clowns are a more aggressive than some of the other varieties.

B

 

[simple]

so should i just take both out? I can put them in the larger tank and im sure they'll find some place to hide until they are bigger..

 

[Anonymous]

I would take them out, yes.

 

[simple]

ok, i took them out and they are both hiding in a cave in some rock, but at least they aren't fighting..