Adding a 2nd Clown

[GingerPolerBear]

I added a 2nd percula clown to my tank today and had a couple questions. It's a little larger than my original clown and is being pretty aggressive. How long should I expect this to last? And, oddly, the new larger one is twitching. I've been reading that that is how they decide who's dominant but, shouldn't it be the smaller one doing this? I would hate to lose my original one, he was my first fish and a misbar, at that. Any help is appreciated.

 

[hbtl_ofndr]

Typically your second should be the smaller, but it doesn't mean it won't work. The larger one may be twitching because it was the male in its last relationship. If they aren't losing fins or jumping out of the tank I'd give it a couple days.

I actually added a larger mated pair to an existing smaller clown (mistake) - the existing one kicked the crap out of the larger male in the mated pair and took over the female. They bread every 12 days until they died...

Sometimes you gotta let nature run its course.

 

[GingerPolerBear]

I don't think it was the male, the one it was with at the LFS was pretty small. Yeah, I probably should have gotten a smaller one but, I really like how this one looks. I can probably take her back if she doesn't calm down. I'll keep my eyes on em as much as I can. I don't see any damage yet but, it's only been a few hours.

 

[GingerPolerBear]

Returned the new clown and got a smaller one today. The other one was not only too big to get along with my original clown but started bullying the rest of the tank. I exchanged her for one that's about the same size as the very first one and what a difference. They're already swimming together after only a couple hours. There's still some pecking, posturing and tail slapping, which is fascinating to watch, but, I think, this will work out much better.

 

[Wankel]

Glad to hear it worked out for you Shawn. I might make an addition tomorrow when I go get water.