I've had my 2 clownfish since February, and both have been doing very well until recently. They have grown significantly, and I can now tell which is the female and male.
It is very normal for me to see my clownfish sleeping or laying on the bottom of the tank. But normally this only lasts for short periods, and the majority of their time is spent swimming.
My problem is with the female. For a week now, she hasn't really moved from the bottom of the tank. She comes up to eat everytime I feed them (every 2 days), and if I come up to the side of the tank, she will get up and move to another spot. But that is the extent of her movement. She just lays there all day and all night. The only thing that looks different is that her gills are moving more rapidly than the males. Resperatory distress?
There seems to be no problems with the male, he is moving around fine, and doesn't lay there all day, but he does hover near the female while she lays on the bottom.
I've checked my water levels (my initial thought was ammonia), but everything checks out (my test kits were bought in December). I have also done two 4-gallon water changes in the last 5 days.
It's a 20 gallon tank, with 18 pounds of live rock, 1.5 inches of substrate, a heater, powerhead and a HOB filter used only for water movement. I only use bottled water (tap water has never entered my tank). I do 4-gallon water changes every two weeks, and top up the water once a week (2 inches of water is lost to evaporation every week).
ph 8.6 or 8.7
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5 mg/litre
Everything else in the tank is fine...There is one brittle star, 12 snails and 8 hermit crabs.
I used to have more snails and hermit crabs, but I had 2 mantis shrimp that had killed many of them off, and since I removed the mantis shrimp, I haven't replaced the snails/crabs.
Any idea's what is wrong with my female clownfish?
Thanks!
_Decz.
It is very normal for me to see my clownfish sleeping or laying on the bottom of the tank. But normally this only lasts for short periods, and the majority of their time is spent swimming.
My problem is with the female. For a week now, she hasn't really moved from the bottom of the tank. She comes up to eat everytime I feed them (every 2 days), and if I come up to the side of the tank, she will get up and move to another spot. But that is the extent of her movement. She just lays there all day and all night. The only thing that looks different is that her gills are moving more rapidly than the males. Resperatory distress?
There seems to be no problems with the male, he is moving around fine, and doesn't lay there all day, but he does hover near the female while she lays on the bottom.
I've checked my water levels (my initial thought was ammonia), but everything checks out (my test kits were bought in December). I have also done two 4-gallon water changes in the last 5 days.
It's a 20 gallon tank, with 18 pounds of live rock, 1.5 inches of substrate, a heater, powerhead and a HOB filter used only for water movement. I only use bottled water (tap water has never entered my tank). I do 4-gallon water changes every two weeks, and top up the water once a week (2 inches of water is lost to evaporation every week).
ph 8.6 or 8.7
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5 mg/litre
Everything else in the tank is fine...There is one brittle star, 12 snails and 8 hermit crabs.
I used to have more snails and hermit crabs, but I had 2 mantis shrimp that had killed many of them off, and since I removed the mantis shrimp, I haven't replaced the snails/crabs.
Any idea's what is wrong with my female clownfish?
Thanks!
_Decz.