Large Maroon Clownfish Aggressive, bored, or playing. Need advice...please

[Sparky and Raw Dogg]

Hi,
I have had this maroon clown for many years, she is actually a hand me down fish and is around 10+ years old so she is large. In the last 3 months she had been placed in a 180 gallon with just a few other fish ( the tank is not stocked or anything). One day our large bluehead wrasse was found dead--it looked like a rock had fallen on his head during the night while he slept in the sand. The maroon clown is known to push large rocks over and make a mess of the tank so I thought she may have moved some rocks around and it was just a freak accident. On a side note the bluehead and maroon clown lived in a 55 gallon together for a year without any issues.

Now, the current situation.... I added a 5+ inch sunset wrasse (similair body/temperment as the bluehead wrasse) to the tank with the maroon clown. Everything was perfect, all the fish seemed to get along great. Have had the new sunset wrasse for about 1 week now and just today the maroon clown was caught grabbing the sunset wrasse by his back and swimming around the tank with him in her mouth!! We had to stop her to let the poor wrasse go! Does anyone know what this behavior could mean and should I fear for the sunset wrasse's life? Should I give the maroon clown her own tank? I'm thinking she is trying to tell me "don't you dare put anymore fish in my tank". All I have in the tank are two tangs, small damsel, porky puffer, dragon wrasse, maroon clown, and the sunset wrasse. This is not the first time a fish has died because of her :rip:--her favorite thing was making other fish jump out of the tank by sneeking up on them. I'm thinking this old girl is just a killer at this point. Any ideas, suggestions, or similair experiences would be great! Thank you.

 

[Marrkart]

She needs a male

 

[N1Husker]

I had the same problem with my gold stripe maroon clown he wouldn't stop harassing my tail spot blenny. He never killed anything but I think eventually he would. The LFS I got him from took him back and I bought an Ocelaris Clown and a McCoskers Wrasse, problem solved. If it were me I would put him in a different tank, I'm not saying you should do this, but it is what I would do.

 

[Sparky and Raw Dogg]

She needs a male

Could you explain this theory? I thought about maybe trying it, but thought due to her size and aggression she would kill any clown. She is over 10 yrs old and has never had a mate, however, could this help her behavior and prove me wrong?

 

[Sparky and Raw Dogg]

thanks for the reply, if she gets worse or does not stop the behavior I may have to give her a 55 gallon to herself--just don't want her to be lonely.

 

[N1Husker]

Apparantly she doesn't want anyone around her, I was told that when they get aggressive it only gets worse. She would probably love a tank to herself espescially a 55. If you got another maroon clown, if it wasn't just as big and aggressive she would probably harrass it until she killed it or gets killed herself, or she may get along just fine. If you get it a mate it would probably be a 50-50 shot. You just can't predict what those little suckers will do. I don't think she would get lonely in the big tank, espescially if she's going after tankmates.

 

[NC2WA]

I moved the thread to Lee's forum for a better reply.

 

[Marrkart]

I have a male i would give you if u would like to try.I have about 6 to chose from.It would be interesting to see what happends.

 

[kevnkev]

I can't remember where I encountered this suggestion, but I have heard this tip about trying to introduce a male and female GSM:
Females are far more aggressive than males (and far larger, so more damaging). If you try to introduce a male to the female's tank she may reject him as an intruder in her territory.
Instead, get the male in a tank by himself and let him establish his territory. Then introduce the female to his tank. Hopefully by tossing her into a novel environment with the male's already-established territory she will be less likely to be agressive with him.

Good luck to you - I'd be interested to know how things turn out, since I have a large grumpy GSM female, and it'd be nice to get her a partner if it would be possible.

Apparantly she doesn't want anyone around her, I was told that when they get aggressive it only gets worse. She would probably love a tank to herself espescially a 55. If you got another maroon clown, if it wasn't just as big and aggressive she would probably harrass it until she killed it or gets killed herself, or she may get along just fine. If you get it a mate it would probably be a 50-50 shot. You just can't predict what those little suckers will do. I don't think she would get lonely in the big tank, espescially if she's going after tankmates.

 

[Marrkart]

How do we know this fish is female .Has it been around another gsm, if not could be male still

 

[N1Husker]

I find this interesting........that scares me.