Lost a Clown this morning.

[droth]

Hi I have a mini reef 40 gallon aquarium with about 50lbs of live rock that has cycled well and the water chemistry has been very good for weeks. I purchased (2) very small Ocellaris Clowns about a week and a half ago. Their about 1 1/4" long and after I acclimated them they immediately hid in a cave at the bottom of my aquarium and hardly ever came out. This morning when I went down stairs I noticed one of them was lying on the bottom of the tank and was dead. Now I'm worried about the second one because he still just hides in the rock. Is this normal for clowns to be so shy and not come out in the open?

David

 

[DaveK]

I always wonder about these small, 1 1/4", Ocellaris Clowns. Most of the ones I see are in very poor shape to start with. Part of this is because the demand for them is so high, especially after the movie "Finding Nemo" came out. Everybody wants "a nemo".

It is difficult to tell if the problem was with the fish or with it being a new tank. I suspect it was/is the fish. For now wait and see what happens with the other clown. If it does ok, your system is fine. If not, they you need to make the choice of trying another fish, or tearing the tank down and staring over. My own choice would be to try another fish, but not a clown.

 

[droth]

Dave I do have a Spotted Yellow Wrasse, a Bubble Coral, Hi Green Coral and Frog Spawn and there all doing very well so far. I also have a clean up crew of 10 snails and 10 very small crabs all keeping busy and doing well.

I wait and see what happens with the second clown but I don't like the fact that he's hiding away in the cave all the time. Do you think it could be because they're so small? I must admit if he does come out it looks as if the current really pushes him around.

David

 

[Clownfish518]

He could be totally intimidated by the wrasse. I really don't like fish under 1.5". They don't adjust to change at all well. Do you have a fuge? May let him grow out a bit.

I work at an LFS and I see a lot of fish come in. Well, I work at a good LFS and the owner won't ever order a fish that small. You can blame the Nemo craze; I blame the owner. I know that good sized clowns are available from reputable hatcheries at a good price all the time. There is no excuse to get the babies.

 

[droth]

Sorry I don't know what "fuge" is? You know I read that it was better if you were going have a couple of Clowns you should purchase them young so that they could work out their sexing into male & female. That was why I purchased such small fish. Now I'm thinking that wasn't a good idea. Thanks for your input.

David

 

[BigAl07]

I hate to be a "Downer" but here are my thoughts .. . .

has cycled well and the water chemistry has been very good for weeks

Then I read

I purchased (2) very small Ocellaris Clowns about a week and a half ago

then

I do have a Spotted Yellow Wrasse, a Bubble Coral, Hi Green Coral and Frog Spawn

I see this . . . New tank... VERY recently cycled.... stocked WAY to quickly. At one month you should have 1 fish in there and maybe... just maybe 1 small hardy coral (not what I'd like to see but . . ). You have 3 fish, 3 coral all stuffed into a new tank. I think you may want to get a full set of water tests ran today because you very well could have some water issues.

 

[Tru2nr]

yeah im with Al on this, i think you rushed it to much from just first look it appears the minute your cycle was over you put everything in without giving it proper time to adjust to the new levels and make sure everything was 100% stable alot of people have trouble being patient in this hobby and i was guilty of that in the past as well.

 

[Woodstock]

No, it is not normal for clownfish to hide.

From experience, I must disagree with what is said about small fish lacking hardiness. My juvenile clowns are sold at a small size and are very robust and bold when shipped to their new homes. Very few of my customers report back to say their new additions are cowering/hiding and those few that do will begin behaving normal after a day or two.

I would suspect diseased fish, harrassment by other tank mates (wrasses are very mean), and/or poor water quality.

 

[Clownfish518]

No, it is not normal for clownfish to hide.

From experience, I must disagree with what is said about small fish lacking hardiness. My juvenile clowns are sold at a small size and are very robust and bold when shipped to their new homes. Very few of my customers report back to say their new additions are cowering/hiding and those few that do will begin behaving normal after a day or two.

I would suspect diseased fish, harrassment by other tank mates (wrasses are very mean), and/or poor water quality.

From working at an LFS, I see a lot of fish shipped, and the small fish (besides tiny ones like clown gobies) do not ship very well at all. I am not discounting what you say at all, as I respect you greatly. So how to correlate the two seemingly contrary data points? Will ponder.