SOS! My clarki clownfish is bullying the other into corner of tank

[newenglandreefer]

Hi all, I have two clarkii clownfish that have lived together for about 1 year. Just the other day, I noticed they were fighting and clicking at each other. By the following morning, one of the clowns had pushed the other into the corner of the tank and is stalking him and making clicking sounds at him. I just woke up today hearing more clicking sounds and splashing. My main clown, Meatball, is now stuck in the corner of the tank in a vertical position. Occasionally my other clown Katheo comes very close to him clicking then they start chasing each other around the tank until Meatball is cornered again.

What do I do..or should I do anything? I'm worried Katheo is going to bully Meatball to death. They were peaceful with each other until the past couple days. They used to even sleep together some months back.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. I've attached some pics below...

 

[tzabor10]

Clownfish have a reputation for being mean. They seem better when hosting an anemone. But not always

 

[newenglandreefer]

I can see that now for sure. I think they'd be better too with an anemone. Now they were just hosting some rocks and a leather coral. They used to have an anemone but they wore it out to a little stub.

Meatball now seems to be leaving the corner more and confronting Katheo (who continues to chase and click at him). He's still in the corner but is venturing out a little more.

 

[D-Nak]

Have you changed lighting recently? Sometimes a lighting change make them look different and they become strangers.

Are you able to re-aquascape to change up the environment?

Lastly, I've had females that lived with their males peacefully for a long period of time just go nuts out of the blue. Females can go crazy for no reason (I'm talking about clownfish BTW ).

 

[newenglandreefer]

Hi D-Nak, Lighting is the same. I just actually took Katheo (the clown who was bullying my other clown) back to my local LFS. Meatball was starting to get his fins tattered and body bruised and I called my LFS and he said often the fighting can go without end. Katheo had claimed the whole tank.

^Haha yeah it's amazing. They can definitely turn on each other... almost like roommate issues getting out of hand. It's wild because I didn't notice any signs of fighting until several days ago, and they both seemed to have lived peacefully for almost a year.

I rearranged the aquascape so Meatball can now relax and heal. I'm grateful Katheo is back at the LFS safe and sound where I got him too. When we went to net him he jumped right out of the tank into my filter sock. A blessing for sure!