So, we had just put in what we thought was going to be our last fish… the Royal Gramma. Overall, we were happy with our tank. 1 Coral Beauty angel, 1 Royal Gramma, and 2 True Percula clowns. Nice variety and fun to watch.
Last night, we came home to an almost dead clown fish. He was new to the tank so we thought maybe we had a water problem. We’ve been testing regularly and just did a water change a while back, so we just had to assume he was sick when we got him. True Percula Clownfish are notorious for not acclimating well. It just happens sometimes. Needless to say, he didn’t make it.
This morning, I awake to find my other clown in the top right hand corner of my tank… swimming slowly like his friend was the night before. I wondered what was happening but knew that they go through a lot of stress when they lose a friend. Well, it wasn’t stress from his loss that was getting him… it was the fact that the Coral Beauty attacked him! I went to perform the morning water level checks and the clown was under the lid. When I lifted it, he ran away to the top center of the tank. Less than a minute later, that coral beauty emerged from the rocks and went after him… repeatedly attacking him until he went back into that top right hand corner.
So now, Clownfish #2 is not doing well, I doubt he’ll make it through the day. I also saw the CB attack my Royal Gramma, but the Gramma is faster than him and runs away quickly so I think he’ll be okay. The Gramma also hides in the small holes of the live rock that the CB can’t fit in. It’s just a shame though because i’m sure he’s stressed out big time.
So much for the “generally compatible” thing that everyone has told me. I guess sometimes you just get a mean one and there’s nothing you can do about it.