Clown Fish

Hi guys,

I just bought 2 young false percs on Saturday from my LFS and they looked really healthy. Sadly when the employee was catching the fish an emerald green crab nipped at one of them and the fish went crazy. When I took them home they both seemed to be doing fine, swimming around and eating very well.

On Sunday the fish that got caught in the crabs claw was kind of lingering in one spot in the tank and stopped eating. It ended up dying later on and I had to wrench it out of a hermits claws so I could return it to the LFS this morning. Sadly they don't have any false percs left to replace it, so I will have to wait.

Do you think this fish died because of the crab or something in the water? I ran water tests and they all come out with good results.

The other false perc is swimming nicely and still eating very well, but it has some white spots on it, which I think might be the fine white sand I have in the tank sticking to it. Do you think it's the sand or ich? Can ich come out that quickly? The fish acts as though nothing is wrong with it.

I also have an anemone in the tank, but I'm not sure which kind. The clowns weren't going in it so I guess they don't like it. Are there any anemones that could harm clowns?

I'm going to try to get some pictures up later when I get home from work.

Also, if I get another clown fish do you think they will pair up? I initially bought the original two as a pair in hopes of them pairing up. Now if I get one separately I'm affraid they won't.

Thanks for the info in advance!

 

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PARAMETERS (important)
Temperature:
PH:
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
Salinity:
dKH/KH/Alkalinity:
Magnesium:
Calcium:
Phosphate:

Tank size?
Estimated total system?

Reef, fish only or, freshwater?

Current inhabitants? What and how many?
Clean up crew?

How long has your tank been set-up?

Substrate.
Type?
Depth?

Live rock?
How much?
Did you recently add some?

Filtration.
Type?
Protein skimmer?
Do you wet or dry skim?
Maintenance schedule for filtration?
Drilled tank/hang on back overflow?
Sump/refugium. What's in it and how much?
Macro? What kind?

Lighting.
Lighting type?
Age of bulbs?

Feeding
What?
How much?
How often?

Water change schedule.
How much?
How often?
What salt brand?
Water source?

Additives/supplements used?

Do you have a ground probe?
What kind of flow does your tank have?

 

34 Gallon Solana Rimless Cube tank
PARAMETERS
Temperature: 78
PH: 8.1
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
Salinity:1.21


Live Rock, 1 Anemone, 1 Electric Blue Hermit, 1 Red Hermit, 4 Snails
2-3" White sand from FL
Tank has been running for 1 month with fully cured LR

Protein skimmer? Yes

Lighting.
Lighting type?
Age of bulbs?

Current USA Satellite Dual Compact Fluorescent, 2X40 Watt, 20 inch
One 40 Watt Dual Actinic (420nm/460nm) and one 40 Watt Dual Daylight (6,700K/10,000K) bulb

One lunar light
Two on/off switches
Cooling fan

Docking mounts: mounting legs to lift the Satellite light above the top of the aquarium
Acrylic lens


Feeding
What? Mysis Shrimp


Water change schedule.
How much? 10%
How often? 1 x week
What salt brand? Instant Ocean
Water source? Poland Spring

 

Generally speaking, it sounds like it may have been the crab, but I can't confirm that until you have your parameters listed as packleader showed. The white spots probably are ich. I have fine white sand too and have never seen it stick to a fish. If it is ich, you have a couple of choices. You can take it out, put it into a quarantine tank and treat it with copper. If it is still eating and acting normally, you can leave it in the tank, and hopefully it will fight off the parasite itself. I wouldn't add anything new until you determine if it is ich and if so, not until it is cured.
I don't believe there are any anemones that could harm clowns, but it is sometimes hit or miss with whether they will host one.

 

Well, the clown probably died from a combination of stress and being bit. There are also a couple other areas of concern. Your lighting isn't strong for an anemone and it is too new for an anemone. Many don't get one until 6-8 months at least to allow the tank to stabilize. I would keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't die in your tank which could potentially pollute it. Also, your salinity is low for keeping an anemone or corals. It should be up more at 1.024-1.026 if you want to keep inverts like that.

 

What type of lighting would I need? So far the Anemone looks really great- better than in the store, but I don't want it to potentially die! I'll do a water change tonight and add more salt.

 

Raising salinity should be done VERY carefully. i would raise it slowly with top off water rather than quickly with a water change. Water changes are a good idea, but do them with the same params as your tank and then use salt water to top off with until you attain your proper salinity levels. Just MHO

 

I couldn't agree more. I would take the anemone back to the LFS until you get the tank matured and your lighting taken care of. A small T5 array will do you just fine and allow an anemone to flourish. But under PCs and in a new tank.....you are taking an awful chance.

General rule of thumb is do not increase your SG by more than .001 per 24 hours.

 

Okie doke. Thanks for the help guys.

What kind of corals could I actually put in the tank with this light, if any?

 

You might be able to get away with a few softies. A few LPS. PCs are just, flat out, not the thing to have for reef tanks. It is possible. Take a look at my tank....it's a 90g with about 3.5 watts per gallon of PCs. Pretty pathetic. But I have chosen my specimens carefully and have lucked out big time. You are running less than 3 watts per gallon. That is not in your favor. What is in your favor is that the tank you have is shallow. So it doesn't have to penetrate far. I would consider a T5 array if I were you. Lord knows, as soon as I get permission from my other half, my PCs are going bye, bye. With a great smile and a happy heart.