My Clownfish is Crazy...

BMorgan

AC Members
Jul 17, 2007
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Northern California
Well Hello all,

I haven't posted anything in awhile but thought I would get back into it.

My tank has been fishless for a couple of months. I have a 28 gal. reef tank which has a clam, some coral, crabs, and a shrimp and previously a firefish until he died a couple of months ago. So missing the "swim swim" of fish I went out and bought an ocellaris clown and a purple dottyback. Well when I first put them in, I thought for sure the clownfish was going to die because he was swimming around all crazy and then just went to the upper corner of the tank. I thought I would wake up with him pale and lifeless on the sand.

Well, lo and behold, I came home from work the next day and the clownfish was swimming around like a mad man but the dottyback was dead. Still, I was sure the clownfish was going to follow suit.

Well, a couple of days later, the clownfish was still alive and he is just swimming laps around the tank. He swims all around, up and down and he is constantly "wiggling" back and forth which I'm told can be normal for a clown.

So then, yesterday (bought clown on Tuesday) I bought a Coral Beauty (I know, not the best reef fish) to replace the dottyback. Put him in the tank and all was good. Then today HE was dead and lifeless...Still determined to persist past my frustration, I went a bought a bi color angel tonight. So far, all is well. I acclimated him for over an hour.

Two questions:
Has anyone seen this crazy behaviour for a clown (it's my first one). And second, any idea why I had two fish die like it was going out of style?

My params: 1.025, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes, about 5 or so nitrAtes, 0 phosphate, ph 8.1-8.2, temp is around 74-76 degrees. That's all I can think of. Sorry for the huge post.
 
You may encounter problems with the angel nipping at your corals...as long as your aware of that...the clown behaviour is normal.

What method did you use for acclimatizing the fish??
 
dunno... tap water or RO?
 
Clowns = Damsels and can be really mean when they want to be. Putting a clown AND an angel (both pretty agressive fish, even if it is one of the most peaceful varieties of clowns) in a 28G is bound to have aggression issues IMO. Personally, I would keep the clown if that is your favorite, and think about getting different type of "non swimming" fish, like gobies or a hawkfish.
 
IMO. your temp is a bit low...74-76, I would raise it to 76-79 or even 80. These are tropical animals and cold water is not normal for them....;)
 
Clowns = Damsels and can be really mean when they want to be. Putting a clown AND an angel (both pretty agressive fish, even if it is one of the most peaceful varieties of clowns) in a 28G is bound to have aggression issues IMO. Personally, I would keep the clown if that is your favorite, and think about getting different type of "non swimming" fish, like gobies or a hawkfish.


I totally agree. I've got a pair of Ocellaris Clowns in my 90 gallon, when I added a good size emperor Angel, within a week, they have him pinned down to a cave. And the Ocellaris are supposedly one of the tamer clowns.
 
Well sorry for the incredible rude lack of replies to my own thread :(. I just kept putting it off and I apologize.

Update: The bi-color is doing just fine since introducing him to my tank. That, however, is the problem :(. The clown and angel are getting along like best buds but the angel has a nipping problem. He nips at my clam and when I put a small SPS frag in the tank, it was completely eaten down to the skeleton within about a day. So now I need to decide if I want to have corals in my tank or my angel....

Sorry to say I would like to get rid of him but I'm still undecided as of yet.
 
Hmmm...

This
PPangel_bicolor.jpg


Or THIS... ignore the Anthias

ReefTRGe4_U34_med.jpg


Heh, a no-brainer for me.
 
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