Clownfish

[Something Fishy]

Well to make a long story short..

Took some water to the LFS today to have them re-check my water. They got the same readings I got. I got so excited I ended up bringing home two small clownfish. My excitement got in the way of better judgement.

The little guys are doing great. Great color, no hard breathing, lots of swimming.

Couple of questions. For those that do have clowns what do you feed? These guys ate frozen brine shrimp at the LFS. We did watch them do that. They have been there about 2 weeks. I have watched these guys since they first got them.

Right now they are doing a bunch of swimming. Mostly middle ways in the tank. They appear to be swimming towards thier reflection. Is this normal? Is it just because they are in a new tank?

I know I may have jumped the gun, please don't beat me for it. I struggle with patiance.

Thanks for the help,
Rusty

[sambot]

Hey Rusty. How old is your tank? How big? What readings did they take? What type of clowns are they? Most clowns are pretty hardy and do spend alot of their time swimming. Mine love formula 1 and 2 along with brine shrimp. More info and I could offer more help.
Sam

[mnreefman]

no one will jump on you here... dont worry bout that, weve all made compulsive buys... what species did you get? also some good litature for you would be joyce wilkersons book Clownfish... its all about there captive care and requirements... look into it...

[Travis]

If you have zero ammonia/nitrite and the tank has cycled, you should be fine. Just be sure to feed very lightly for the first couple of weeks. I've always fed my clowns flake food. They should chill on swimming toward their own reflections once they get bored, or ticked off that the "clownfish on the other side of the glass" is so rude as to continuously mock them by copying their every movements without saying so much as "hi."

T

[David]

Clown fish sometimes do this - swimming in the middle of the tank, towards the glass then back again - to stake out territory when they don't have an anemone. IME more so with smaller breeds like the amphiprion percula and the like. Less so with breeds like the premnas biaculeatus (The Maroon Clown I think is the common name).

Brine shrimp is a good starter to kick their appetites off, but solely isn't a suitable diet for clown fish more than a couple of months old. Your advantage is that you've got a relatively small population. If they are a bit young, I'd recommend getting some shrimp, fish, squid, anything from the sea that hasn't been seasoned or spiced (including things like Nori), and throw it all in the blender along with some brine shrimp so it's got the consistancy of runny paste.

Use some ice cube trays (or whatever) pour the mix in and freeze. Huzzah, IMO some of the best food that you can give a juvenile (and adult for that matter) clown fish. Also heard of people putting some of that aquarium garlic in there as a bit of an immuno booster.

That's a common recipe which is especially good for breeding clown fishes, and any left overs can be picked up by any stray inhabitants that you may have lurking in the deep.

WARNING: Use this at peril of it taking a fair amount of time, and may incur the wraith of significant other / room mate / family member for putting that gunk in the blender and using up a perfectly good ice cube tray.

Yummmmmmyyyy.

[Something Fishy]

Sorry I left some info out. They are Percula Clowns. About 1.5 and 2 inches long. Still swimming at the glass all a bit closer to the bottom. It looks as though they slept up top of the tank though.

Tank tests: Ammonia -0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 3, PH 8.2. 55 Gallon been up 3.5 weeks now. 30 pounds of live rock, 25 pounds of dry reef rock. 30 pounds of sand and crushed coral.

Fish still look great, good color, not breathing hard, fins all moving none tucked in. I tried feeding what they were feed at the LFS. They didnt want any. Are they still possibly still stressed from the move?

They stay mostly on one side of the tank, right next to each other.
I am thinking I am worring too much.

Thanks for any more advice,
Rusty

[Maxx]

I think they're fine rusty.
Nick

[Something Fishy]

Thanks Maxx. I am just stressing this morning.

The furnace quit, new fish, low funds, have to finish on little brothers car and need to cook lunch.

Deep breath.

I will shut up now.

[sarah]

Hi, i have had my clowns for nearly 2 weeks now and they did not touch the food from the shop were i bought them from. They seem to like live brine shrimp and chopped up shrimps.

[Curtswearing]

First off----excellent posts everyone!!!

Secondly, Rusty knock it off. If you have a question, ask it. Like Clint said, "No one will jump on you here".

I will give you the same advice I give to all people. Read, read, read and ask away. There's no reason to "shut up".

PS---let me know when you are gonna be in the St. Louis area. I'd love to meet you.

[Gina]

Our clowns took a few days also before they would start eating. I have learned these last few months not to over-react to every little thing or change I see. I used to stress over everything and then found myself not enjoying this hobby. I have calmed down alot and let little things ride out.

Although, right now I am alittle stressed because our Xenia is starting to get alittle too close to our Acro. We need to do something about that before too long.

I know many of you think that Xenia is like a weed but, i just love how it looks swaying in the current!

Anyway, try some live brine shrimp and see what they do with that and give them some time to get accustomed to their new environment!

[Curtswearing]

EDIT----Knock it off Rusty

I wanted to add the smiley because you don't know me well enough to know I'm a smart aleck. However, you should take my advice----don't worry about asking questions. In fact, ask away!!!

[fidojoe]

They sound like they're doing just fine, as others have stated.

I feed mine emerald entree, and she's been doing awesome for the last year. She has grown about 3/4 of an inch longer since I got her, and growing bigger around her belly by the day

[cheeks69]

I think you should find out if they're true perculas or ocellaris clowns or false percs, the true percs are not as hardy and are not for beginners they need a tank that has matured, the ocellaris are much more hardy and are a good beginner fish both are omnivores so they need their meat & veggies, brine is fine to get them to start to eat but they don't contain enough nutrition so you should go with formula 1 or 2 or emerald entree like people have suggested. I would also recommend that you wait awhile before you add anymore fish. Be patient and you should be fine JMHO

[David]

Heh, always a good idea cheeks69, to know you enemy, errr, I mean pet. Or maybe master is more adequate. The real biter of it is that the difference between amphiprion percula and a. ocellaris is about 2 tenths of Not Much. I think it's the fin rays that seperate them. Maybe something else, not sure.

Well, unless it's one of those a. ocellaris' with the colour form only native to Darwin. Pure black and white. I like them.

Also, the Sumatran colour form of the premnas biaculeatus is spectacular; Maroon clown with thick gold striping bordered by thin with then black lines. Very nice. Only ever seen one though.

Errr, whoops, a little off track. But yeah, I've also found that the ocellaris are a little bit more hardy and breed a little easier in captivity. I think that it may be because the percula is much more restricted in it's geographical spread. And if that's the case, just make sure that there is food available (maybe like some nori weighted down), stay away from any terrestrial food, beware the cryptocaryon infestation (particularly wild caught), and leave them alone, cause old mate percula don't like swings in water conditions much at all.

Either which, sounds fairly normal to me, especially seeing as how the condition of the fish sounds great.

I like clown fish. Good luck!