Fighting clowns

[jessie]

i bought both of my percs at the same time, from the same tank. they were only about an inch long when i bought them. ever since i put them in the 135 they had started running together, one always doing the little jitter submission thing. they have been in there for a while, maybe 4 months. yesterday they started fighting. the smaller one is constantly chasing the bigger one. there is about 1/2 inch between size. one is about 3 inches the other is 3 1/2. the one chasing is the one that used to do the little submission jitter. they constantly swam with each other and slept in a capped off bulkhead. my question, is this where they are actually sexing and establashing dominance? i thought that this was already done, but this is my first set of clowns that were raised together. parameters are fine, a little nitrate 10-20ppm. theres a 7 inch sailfin tang, 4 inch flame angel, 2 inch lawnmower blenny, and 3 inch mandarin goby in with them, and nothing bothers anything except the 2 percs. any help would be appreciated!!!!!!

[mogurnda]

Hmmm. Sounds odd. I have never seen my male being aggressive toward the female, although he will attack anything that gets near the nest. You male also sounds big. Mine has stayed about 2/3 the length of the female.

But it doesn't make sense that he would suddenly decide to be a she if they have been together the whole time. Could be some part of courtship I haven't seen. I should go read a little.

[mogurnda]

After poking through a few books, it sounds as though male aggression can be a normal part of courtship. How are they doing?

[jessie]

well i just put them in the 28 this mourning. since i put them in, there has been no fighting, but i suppose thats just because of the new inviroment. yesterday they didnt fight that much, so hopefully it is just part of courtship then, thanks morgunda.