Clownfish in corner, won't eat

[reeferdude]

I have a 30 gallon tank with about 25lbs. of live rock and live coral sand (3"). The tank is 1 month cycled and all vitals are good, except for my nitrates, which I can't seem to get below 30. I have recently investigated this further and found that my tap water contains about 15 ppm and the salt I'm using adds to this as well. It's the Petco brand marine salt, so I'm switching to store-bought spring water and Instant Ocean marine salt for future water changes.

Anyway, aside from nitrates being between 30 and 40, everything else is ideal (0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, 8.1 pH, 300+ akl).

I have 2 clownfish that have been in there for about a week now and this morning they were down in the corner of the tank, half under a large rock which is where they usually sleep. They didn't move or come up for food when I approached the tank and opened the lid which they usually do; they are voracious eaters.

Could they be preparing to mate or something? Is this behavior normal or is there something wrong?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[lcstorc]

Doesn't sound like mating behavior. Are they breathing rapidly? How long have they gone without food? Are they moving at all?
BTW do not use spring water. It is often regular water. If you are going to use water from the store, buy distilled.

 

[ReefLady]

Agree with Lynn. That nitrate level shouldn't harm the fish though. Is this sudden behavior, or have they been like this since you got them? What is your temp & salinity? Any other livestock in the tank?
Is the tank one month old, or one month past cycling?

 

[Clownfish518]

Also, what breed of clowns do you have?

 

[reeferdude]

Thanks for the tip, distilled water it is.

The tank is 1 month old total.

Temperature is 81.0 degrees.

Salinity is around 1.023

I usually feed them in the morning, when I get home from work, and at night.
Mornging = flakes
Evening = pellets
Night = frozen brine

They have been eating vigorously and acting very normal and healthy for the week that I've had them, it was only this morning that they didn't leave the corner to scope for food. They normally see me enter the room, are already swimming around, and swim near the surface and the front of the tank to wait for the food. This morning however they did not seem to even notice that I was there.

They otherwise seem healthy, they were swimming a little bit, the female was sort of play poking the slightly smaller male, I think just showing her dominance. I have seen the male do his little twitch dance, so I know their sexes, plus the female gets priority on falling food in the tank.

I'm starting to think that they are getting ready to mate or doing so because I called home an hour ago and was told that they ate and were swimming around. I'm not sure though. I don't have any anemone(s?) in the tank so I think they may be making the rock in the corner their home; there is a decent size space on the backside of the rock and it looks like they have washed some sand out to make kind of a cave.

Other livestock:

1 sand sifting star
1 nassarius snail
1 each: margarita, turbo, astrea snail
3 blue leg hermit
2 red leg hermit
1 emerald crab

 

[rustysreef]

your feeding them to much, i would suggest buying a RO unit, you can find then for around 125. If you cant buy a RO unit now i would buy RO water form your lfs.

 

[reeferdude]

your feeding them to much, i would suggest buying a RO unit, you can find then for around 125. If you cant buy a RO unit now i would buy RO water form your lfs.

All the info I've been able to find suggests feeding them 3 times a day. How often should I feed them?

And RO water would certainly be really cool, but $$. Seeing as how I can keep my nitrates < 40 with my tap water, switching to distilled will probably make all the difference I need for now. It's not a reef-tank... yet. If I do decide to go reef, I'll likely buy an RO.

Update: The fish are completely back to normal. Maybe they were just "sleeping in" a bit this morning. Happens to the best of us

 

[lcstorc]

Glad to hear the clowns have perked up.
Nitrates < 40 in a ROWLR is not bad but with that much food it would suprise me if they stayed that low for long. Most people feed once a day or once every other day unless you keep something like Anthias that need multiple feedings. Regardless of the number of feeding you need to feed very small amounts at a time. One issue is the uneaten food decaying in the tank and another issue is the fish waste. If you feed a high quality variety of food you can go with much smaller amounts.

 

[reeferdude]

Glad to hear the clowns have perked up.
Nitrates < 40 in a ROWLR is not bad but with that much food it would suprise me if they stayed that low for long. Most people feed once a day or once every other day unless you keep something like Anthias that need multiple feedings. Regardless of the number of feeding you need to feed very small amounts at a time. One issue is the uneaten food decaying in the tank and another issue is the fish waste. If you feed a high quality variety of food you can go with much smaller amounts.

Thanks. Yea, I know that the nitrates need improvement; I didn't mean to say that I was satisfied with < 40, just that that is what I can achieve with tap, so switching to distilled should be plenty sufficient for maintaining the nitrate levels in my FOWLR. When I start getting corals and what not, then I'll make the switch to RO water.

Maybe I'll feed them less often. When I do, I make sure that no food gets by them. I pay very close attention to when they start to lose interest in the food and I stop feeding immediately.

They're just always so dam hungry!