Will removing 1 agressive clown stop agression?

[jasonrusso]

I have a 34 Gallon Red Sea tank. I've a pair of midnight clowns for almost 5 years. They are a mated pair and lay eggs frequently, and have a BTA to play in. Recently, they have become very aggressive towards all the other fish in the tank.

I recently added 2 firefish (to replace one I had for 4 years), they killed one (I assume, I can't find it) and the other one gets chased by both of them whenever he sticks out of a cave. I thought he was gone until I saw his head in a cave.

I realize now that in the current situation, I can't add any more fish. Even the established fish get chased from time to time.

Do I need to remove the pair or just the female? Would the male still be agressive? He is now. If I remove them both, I will only get 1 as a replacement

 

[Edward]

I would remove them both since they are a mated pair. You could try moving the rock work around and making them think theyre in a new territory, I've found this to work albiet temporarily. What are the dimensions of the tank? I had a pair in a 20 gallon that were fine until they started mating and took residence right in the center of the tank. Prior to that they hung out on one side and that was their territory all the other fish avoided. Bad luck I guess .

Some fish are just assholes.

 

[jasonrusso]

I would remove them both since they are a mated pair. You could try moving the rock work around and making them think theyre in a new territory, I've found this to work albiet temporarily. What are the dimensions of the tank? I had a pair in a 20 gallon that were fine until they started mating and took residence right in the center of the tank. Prior to that they hung out on one side and that was their territory all the other fish avoided. Bad luck I guess ‍

Some fish are just assholes.

It's a 34 Gallon cube. Not really able to rearrange anything with the corals. The live in their anemone dead center of the tank.

 

[Edward]

It's a 34 Gallon cube. Not really able to rearrange anything with the corals. The live in their anemone dead center of the tank.

If they're being aggressive in a cube and have taken up residence dead center, you may want to remove them if you're trying to keep other fish. If you sell them and get a smaller pair that aren't breeding yet you should be able to add fire fish or whatever else you want and hopefully they're all friends by the time they start breeding. Cubes are hard because of the dimensions, sounds like you got a stroke of bad luck with the location of their nest.