Female O clown acting funny

I've had these clowns for over 3 years and my cousin (who gave me the tank originally) had them a couple years before that.

So they are at least 5 years old, probably older.

Anyway, the female has been lying on her side in one specific spot on the substrate at the base of a rock where I can't see it. I can just see her tail.

When I put in food, out she comes and eats up. Her color is good, her thickness looks good to me. Once she realizes the food is all gone she goes back to the exact same spot. It's very odd.

I'm concerned she's either dying or spawning some eggs. I have no idea what that would look like so I have a little hope.

In the end, I hate this fish, but I don't want it to die. She's been doing this for 3 days now.

Any thoughts?

 

I would ask Pickles honestly. I know somebody else was just saying something about their clown doing something like this.

 

lol

Pickles... is that someone here on 3reef? I didn't see anyone by that handle on the member list.

 

Here is his exact user name: Pickle010. He breeds clownfish and is pretty much a subject matter expert when it comes to breeding, so he may have seen this type of behavior before.

 

Yeah I would too ask Pickle.

Mine did this with a infection of intestinal parasites. It took about 2 weeks for her to get better and I did not treat her because she was sooooo sick.

She hid in the rock work and was not interested in food, the male was by her side almost constantly and I was sure she was a goner.

She had long whitish colored fecal matter.

Since that time I have not had the issue occur again, she is fine almost a year later.

Good luck

 

To be honest it does not sound like breeding activity. The strange behavior is concerning though. Especially with such a young clown - they can live 20 plus years.

Clowns when spawning are generally more active - they will work to clean and prep a proper place for a nest. It's not common that they would simply lay in one spot.

Does the clown have any other physical indicators? The fact that it is eating is good - keep it well fed and keep a close eye on it. If it stops eating you may need to entice it with garlic soaked foods.

 

she died yesterday and had nassarius snails on her by nightfall.

I really wish I knew what her problem was. Oh well.

Now I have a single male O clown. Hopefully he'll be OK on his own. Those clowns were always stealing coral food, so I'm not wanting to replace her. (also have a white/black striped damsel).


I don't know that these were necessarily young clowns. I just know I can account for only about 5 years of their lives. As far as I know, she was really old, like 20. Or only 5. I don't know how to tell the difference.

 

Sorry to hear about losing her.

 

I don't know how to tell how old they are either once they are fully grown. I can understand not wanting to replace her as well. Sorry to hear about the loss though, and it could have been due to old age.

 

It's amazing how fast CuC can clean up a fish. It died but had nassarius snails on it like I said. By the end of the next day, all that was left was some white film looking piece. they really ate her up. I was going to feed her to the coral, oh well.

I went looking for a new fish yesterday but the LFS selection wasn't any good.

I want a jawfish.