fighting clownfish

[cookis81]

My friend needs advice regarding her clownfish, i am currently seting up a marine tank myself but im still cycling so know nothin about fish yet.

Her 2 common clowns have started fghting the last 2 days, they used to be glued to each other where ever one went the other followed but now they seem to nip and push each other could it be that they are fighting to be the female as i read that the more dominant one normally becomes female? or has anyone experienced other reasons for this. should she seperate them?

She has a 180 litre tank which also has a sump although not sure of its size, it has 30kg of live rock, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 feather duster, 7 turbo snails & 10 dwarf blue leg hermits aswell as the 2 clowns. The tank has been going about 6 months and the clowns were bought together just short of 3 months ago.

she has tested the water and parameters all good, temp good, they are eating good and dont fight at all during feeding.

thank you for any advice

[maybrick]

My guess would be that they are fighting to establish who is male/female.

But in my experiance clowns are generally thugs and fight for the fun of it.

[cookis81]

1 is slightly bigger than the other an always seemed to be the one followed like she was the leader but its the smaller one thats picking the fights now, do you think they would harm each other? if not se just going to leave them to it.

[ReefKeeper]

I would leave them alone the larger one is the female of the two and they may have just got over who is the dominant one.

If you could find a coral for them to live in this might make them a little happier if you havent already, They will host in a variety of LPS corals and you dont need an anemone for them.

Mine have squabbles leave them alone unless you see wounds or anything more serious