New Clown Fish Please Help

[Susie Q360]

Ok I have a few questions and need some advice. I got everything under control and even set up a isolation tank. I got a new clown for my son before he had dental surgery. Our present clown is 1.5 in long and 1 in tall. We‘ve had it for about 3 weeks. From what I’ve read the larger clown would be the d. female. And that a clown this size is all ready sexed. So I special ordered the smallest clown that the lfs could get so I shouldn’t have a problem with putting them together. It came in while I was in Lexington for his surgery. Well my husband did everything to get it into the tank (an air stone, 2 hour drip acclimating regulated with a valve, and then floated for 30 min), .
Well our bigger clown and the smaller clown started swimming around together. The bigger clown then proceeded to back it’s tail fin up to the little one. After a while the clowns started just swimming around.
Now the trouble started the big clown stated grabbing the smaller clown’s fins. Before he (my husband) could get it out of the tank, the bigger clown killed the little one. So now we have a 4 yr old in pain and begging for another “nemo”.
They are percula clowns, which we were told are very easy going and not very aggressive. I'm not trying to breed them I just want my son to be happy. I'm planning to go to the pet store today when I take my pom to the vet and get another clown. Hopefully I can get another one if not I'll order one. I've got a breedery from when I had my fresh water fish. I plan to put the new clown in it but it has no lid. Would it be ok to use plastic wrap or press & seal to seal the top of the breedery so that it doesn't jump out of the breedery?



What did we do wrong? Any suggestions will be welcomed.

 

[Crazy fishes]

Sounds like you are doing everything right but you are missing one piece of information. Clowns are aggressive and will fight among themselves. I suggest you avoid getting another percula because the same thing will happen; you would have sent another 'nemo' to its death. You could see if you could exchange the your fish for a pair of juveniles and place them in together. That way you have two percula clowns and they usually tolerate each other after that. Alternatively you may try an alternative species of fish eg firefish. These are easy to look after and you should have no problems with your clown killing it. Oh yeah I forgot to ask how big is the tank and what set up are you running? Is it fish only or reef? Please please don't put any more perculas or another clowns in your tank because the result is already known!!

Any more questions just ask and I hope this helps

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

Agree with CF. Your best option here is to exchange your current one for a pair of Juveniles.

 

[UBigBobby]

I third this. While I do know people who have added a 2nd clown to a tank, this is hit or miss, and more often than not, miss.

However, if you introduct two juviniles at the same time, they'll get along just fine 90% of the time. So I agree with the other two. See if your LFS will allow you to trade in your clown for a pair of juves.