help clownfish

I have 4 clownfish and they have been fine since saturday. and i got home today from work and 3 of my clowns are picking and fight with one clown fish. they were perfectly fine this morning. idk why there doing that? idk if he sick or what it is? it keeps laying on the ground or on the back of my wave maker and it trys to swim around and but the 3 clowns start attacking it and it goes back the the ground. any idea????

 

Do you have the ability to set up a quarantine tank and remove the picked on fish? How old is the tank and more importantly how big is it? You say clowns have been fine since Saturday .... Did you introduce all of them on Saturday or did you already have some in there.

 

the tank is 65 gallon and its 4 weeks old. and they were all introduced at the same time. Should i get a breeder cage??

 

It might help for the short term but I think long term your tank is too small for that many clownfish...what type of clownfish are they.

 

There all Ocellaris . I'll go get a breeder cage tomorrow and try it. What would cause them to start fighting all of sudden?

 

Being that they are probably still juvenile, could just be trying to start establishing territory, one was weak so they attacked... I honestly don't see sustaining 4 in a tank that size long term in my opinion.

 

I agree with Ducncover...anything more than a pair for your size tank is looking for trouble. I hate when I see fish stores sell them off as buy 3 get 1 free deals. Makes me feel like I'm buying fruits at the store and not living animals.

 

65G is a little small for 3 clowns (i have 3 in my 120 and i still get the occasional aggression on one. two true percula and one black and white oce.)

with this being said, I'm not exactly sure you mentioned how long they have been together but what you are probably seeing is the beginning of a pair and the hierarchy that follows, are they all the same size or is one getting bigger than the others? sadly I fear the bullied clown has slim chances if you don't intervene.

my 2 cents....

 

Agreed. I would rehome two of them in my opinion.

 

Yes, you should remove two. I tried four in a 220 and they fought. Two were removed and went to another tank.