So I got a Flame Angelfish yesterday for my FOWLR 55.
The fish already in my tank were:
Melanurus Wrasse
Tomato Clownfish
Yellowtail damsel
Sixline Wrasse
Unfortunately right after acclimating him and putting him in the tank (lights were off), 30 minutes later I had to leave the house due to an emergency.
But during those 30 minutes with the lights off I observed the angelfish stick to the left side of the tank, just kind of swimming around nervously. But he looked okay, so I set the lights to turn back on again after 1 hour.
When I get back 4 hours later, my dad tells me that the clownfish was attacking the angelfish... i run to the tank, see that he's hiding in the same corner under a shell, and that his back fins are a bit shredded. Fortunately no wounds on his body. But the clownfish only had one small tear in his top fins.
I was told that this type of angelfish was semi-aggressive so you needed to add it in last? He looked 100% healthy in the LFS, even was eating. My own guess is that he's stressed from the change and doesnt want to defend himself?
But the thing is, I don't think it's a territorial thing because my clownfish's conch (The thing he is hosting and his small territory) is on the opposite end of the tank! Yet today I've been having to literally stop him every 15 seconds from swimming over to the other side where the poor angelfish is hiding and try to attack him. 20 minutes ago I was distracted by something for a bit and then heard a SNAP! noise and looked over and saw him attacking the angelfish, had to break the fight up.
So is the clownfish confusing the flame angelfish for another clownfish? I researched the compatibility of the two and it didn't seem like a problem.
If not, why is the clownfish the only jerk?
It sounds kind of weird to me, since this is what my clownfish looks like:
And my angelfish is bright red with yellow and looks nothing like him.
My wrasses that roam the entire tank just took one close look at him and now are ignoring the angelfish. The yellowtail damsel has his little territory behind the clownfish's conch, swam over briefly yesterday just to look at the angelfish and is ignoring it as well. The only jerk is the clownfish!
So I'm at a loss of what to do now.. Out of desperation I ended up covering up the conch's entrance with the big net so that the clownfish wouldn't get out.
Should I just leave the net around the conch until the Flame Angelfish is more confident to go out of his corner now? Or should I let the clownfish out and have them figure it out themselves? Do you think the clownfish will ever stop being aggressive to him? Or should I just get rid of the clownfish? (Which is hard cause I've had him since I started the hobby..)
The fish already in my tank were:
Melanurus Wrasse
Tomato Clownfish
Yellowtail damsel
Sixline Wrasse
Unfortunately right after acclimating him and putting him in the tank (lights were off), 30 minutes later I had to leave the house due to an emergency.
But during those 30 minutes with the lights off I observed the angelfish stick to the left side of the tank, just kind of swimming around nervously. But he looked okay, so I set the lights to turn back on again after 1 hour.
When I get back 4 hours later, my dad tells me that the clownfish was attacking the angelfish... i run to the tank, see that he's hiding in the same corner under a shell, and that his back fins are a bit shredded. Fortunately no wounds on his body. But the clownfish only had one small tear in his top fins.
I was told that this type of angelfish was semi-aggressive so you needed to add it in last? He looked 100% healthy in the LFS, even was eating. My own guess is that he's stressed from the change and doesnt want to defend himself?
But the thing is, I don't think it's a territorial thing because my clownfish's conch (The thing he is hosting and his small territory) is on the opposite end of the tank! Yet today I've been having to literally stop him every 15 seconds from swimming over to the other side where the poor angelfish is hiding and try to attack him. 20 minutes ago I was distracted by something for a bit and then heard a SNAP! noise and looked over and saw him attacking the angelfish, had to break the fight up.
So is the clownfish confusing the flame angelfish for another clownfish? I researched the compatibility of the two and it didn't seem like a problem.
If not, why is the clownfish the only jerk?
It sounds kind of weird to me, since this is what my clownfish looks like:

And my angelfish is bright red with yellow and looks nothing like him.
My wrasses that roam the entire tank just took one close look at him and now are ignoring the angelfish. The yellowtail damsel has his little territory behind the clownfish's conch, swam over briefly yesterday just to look at the angelfish and is ignoring it as well. The only jerk is the clownfish!
So I'm at a loss of what to do now.. Out of desperation I ended up covering up the conch's entrance with the big net so that the clownfish wouldn't get out.
Should I just leave the net around the conch until the Flame Angelfish is more confident to go out of his corner now? Or should I let the clownfish out and have them figure it out themselves? Do you think the clownfish will ever stop being aggressive to him? Or should I just get rid of the clownfish? (Which is hard cause I've had him since I started the hobby..)
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