New Percula

When I first got my true percula I had a difficult time getting him to start eating. I have read that wild true perculas can be tough to get to initially accept food in an aquarium. I tried mysis with garlic extreme and many other combinations with no luck. Luckily a friend of mine lent me some of his cyclop-eeze wafer style food and said if the clown won't eat that, it won't eat at all. Sure enough the clown went for it and now I have him eating mysis and other foods with no problem but the cyclop-eeze remains his favorite.

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_fish_food_argent_cyclop-eeze.asp?CartId=
 
Thanks for all of the responses. Its good to hear that he is acting normal. Neat little bugger.

He is my first fish addition to this tank. It is a 29g with a small selection of corals, a tridacna clam (crocea) and a skunk cleaner shrimp. Any suggests for tankmates? Someone posted that they did better with a second clown (generally needs to be the same species for them to get along, right?). I would like to mix it up a bit, are there other things that work and give me variety?

Otherwise, generally what are people's favorites that would fit in a 29, be reef-safe and get along well with my perc?
 
deg40 said:
Any suggests for tankmates?

Otherwise, generally what are people's favorites that would fit in a 29, be reef-safe and get along well with my perc?
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Well like you already mentioned, another clown would be a good idea. You could get some chromis. There are many MANY gobies to choose from. A royal gramma would work and add some wonderful color. A dwarf angel may work depending on which one but could (though not always) also nip at your corals. A six-line wrasse may work if you're into them. A mandarin dragonet may work a year or so down the road after your tank is fully established for a while. I forgot- you could also get one of the many different kinds of blennies out there.

I'm not saying all of these fish at the same time but just trying to give you some ideas you can choose from.
 
5xevy said:
Well like you already mentioned, another clown would be a good idea. You could get some chromis. There are many MANY gobies to choose from. A royal gramma would work and add some wonderful color. A dwarf angel may work depending on which one but could (though not always) also nip at your corals. A six-line wrasse may work if you're into them. A mandarin dragonet may work a year or so down the road after your tank is fully established for a while. I forgot- you could also get one of the many different kinds of blennies out there.

I'm not saying all of these fish at the same time but just trying to give you some ideas you can choose from.
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almost sounds like my tank lol. yea those are all excellent fish!
another note on the garlic u can chop it yourself but a concentrate is usually much better like Kent garlic xtrme. i used o make my own but found the concentrate to work much better.
 
Those home food blends sound like a good idea, I am presuming that you just keep it in the refrigerator between uses.

As for suggested tank mates, all of the suggestions were right on. Something you don't see every day and why I chose them for my tank, Lyretail Chromis. They are active, not agressive at all really, and at least mine have a lot of personality. Two of my Lyretails have adopted my new percula, they seem to hang out with him a lot as he patrols his new environment!

As for blennies, a Lawnmower would be a nice addition, but you need to wait a while before adding him, they need an established tank in order to have enough food supply.

Good luck, post your final selection of species once you determine!
 
I have a Firefish with my clown. They are like BFF. My clown still sleeps at the top of my tank. So many of my guests always ask if my fish is dead.
 
gomrjoe said:
As for blennies, a Lawnmower would be a nice addition, but you need to wait a while before adding him, they need an established tank in order to have enough food supply.
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I really like lawnmower blennies. The tank has been up about 10 months now. I did have to tear it down and move it to my new house about 2 weeks ago. How long should the tank be up for a lmb? I tried one about 6 months ago and he only lasted a few weeks. Everything I read said they would find stuff in the tank to eat and he was always sifting the sand and "kissing" the glass so I thought he was fine, but I think in the end he did starve to death. I don't know if I made the mistake of just not supplementing his food, or the tank wasn't well enough established. It would be nice to have something to work on my hair algae.
 
deg40 said:
How long should the tank be up for a lmb? I tried one about 6 months ago and he only lasted a few weeks.
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I see you have a 29g, probably pushing it in terms of the minimum size for an LMB to thrive. It is tough to say if the capacity of your tank will generate enough food for a lawnmower. I have had mine for about 7 months now, and he has never once eaten anything I feed my other fish, he lives strictly off what he find in the tank, let me tell you he is an algae eating machine, no doubt about it! That is why I say that a 29g might not be large enough, not because they are active swimmers, because they aren't really, but because it may not generate enough to sustain an LMB long term, IMO. Over feeding won't really help, that will cause more harm than good, and he probably won't eat much of it anyways.

I have read that LMB's sometimes munch on formula one algae preperations, but I don't know how common that it really, perhaps one of the other more experienced members has more insight.

HTH. Joe
 
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