Resolved Aggressive clowns mutilating new fish - caught the clowns. What to do?

Background Information: Our firefish died, so we went to the LFS to buy a new fish. We bought a purple pseudochromis about 3 inches or less long.

Problem: We introduced the fish to the tank, and after it came out of hiding our O. Clowns (mainly the female) went after it. We figured it was just normal of "showing who's boss" until the female clown literally starting ripping fins and taking chunks out of the little guy. I went in with a net and caught the clowns (I'm talented, ya?), and now they are sitting in a kitchen colander (the thing you drain noodles and salad and stuff with) that's resting on top of the tank where the water still flows through and such. Right now the purple pseudo is recovering in the corner of teh tank with some injuries, mainly ripped fins and some small abrasions on it's body. They aren't too bad, so we're hoping our water quality is good enough that he won't get ich or an infection and he'll be ok. All of the other fish are leaving it alone.

What do we do? Do we put the clowns in quaruntine and hope they can come back to the tank without bothering the fish? If we did that, it would call for filling up (or partially filling up) our 10g Q tank, which we could have filled in the time it takes to mix up some water change water. Do we leave the clowns in like a blacked out "critter carrier" or breeding box in the tank and hope to accomplish the same as quaruntining them where they forget their tank and tank mates and won't fight? Is there another method to try? Or are we wasting our time in trying to make them get along and would do better to find the purple pseudo another home?

 

Just catching the clowns and introducing them last...maybe after an hour of being away from the tank (just long enough for them to forget)....or even moving some rocks they host near around a little to make them a little unfamiliar.

 

yeah the plan right now is to keep them in their little strainer thingy overnight. They can see out of it (I think) but they may be too distracted to look out of it. So if no other advice comes up, we'll keep them in there overnight and see what happens tomorrow. A friend of mine was looking to buy a 6 line wrasse after his young wrasse and firefish died a few months ago (both jumped...not at the same time. but within a month of each other anyways.) and he may be willing to take the purple pseudo instead if we have to find him another home.

 

I've read that some clowns can be territorial and that changing the tank around can curb this. If at all possible maybe re-aquascaping and then re-introducing the clowns will fix that.

 

Update on the situation

 

purple psuedochromises (or at least mine) are really teritorial maybe thats why your clowns are fighting with him.

I'm honestly not sure what you should do

also do you have any shrimp in the tank? like a cleaner shrimp? mine killed my cleaner shrimp :/

 

Well it looks like our plan is:

-get some base rock from the pet store and add some to the clown's corner and add maybe another piece elsewhere in the tank to throw off the clowns.

-the clowns will be spending the night in the colander thingy. They aren't stressed or being harmed in any way while they're in it, so spending a night in it won't hurt them.

-If tomorrow, the clowns still go after the pseudo, we'll offer him to my friend I mentioned earlier.

 

That is a drag if it doesn't work out.

Keep us posted!

 

Rearranging the rock work would be your best bet. They can be extremely territorial especially when only one new fish is added. Sometimes if you add 2 or 3 at once they get confused and wont single out any particular fish. Also a good tip when you first add the fish try running only your actinics or moonlights, we have tried this and it works to calm down our damsels who are pretty agressive towards new fish. The clowns may calm down over time but with the new fish being injured I wouldnt chance leaving the situtation the way it is. Our damsels tend to get bored bothering new tank mates after about an hour but it sounds like your clowns are pretty persistant. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

I don't know how big your tank is but my clowns own my 46 gal. I started FOWLR and then my clowns started mating and grew up. Had many fish and clowns were fine at first. They just get very aggressive as they age. I should add that mine are Clarkii. So now my setup is RTWCF. Thats reef tank with clownfish. good luck and happy new year.