Poor lil Clown....What 2 Do?

Maybe I am overreacting...haha..or overthinking...but after the move last week my little Tomato clown has been acting weird. He swims up and down the back wall all day, and I occasionally see the larger clown nipping at him. He doesn't eat MUCH, but he does try to eat. All the other fish in there hoard the tank when it's feeding time. He never leaves the back.

Tonight I saw him swimming normally, then freaking out all crazy like he had terets. I don't know what's wrong with him...maybe a disease?

Well I set up a small QT with a powerhead and heater and put a couple gallons of the tank water in there. I was planning on catching him and putting im in that tank so I could feed him more and get him stronger....but I don't know if thats the right thing to do?

 

Hard to say with this one. If there are two clowns fighting it is a dominance thing. If they are both unsexed, then they need to fight it out in order for one to win and become female. The other would become male. Then they would hang together with the female occationally nipping at the male to make sure he knows his place. Are they both tomato clowns?

 

Didn't you just have some very bad problems with an anenome, etc...
Did you take it back to the LFS ?? ....Are you running any carbon..??
Maybe your waters way off..??
How old is your tank.?

Good Luck, Larry

OK, I see you joined 3 reef this month..? Your tank was 5 days old..
Had to have been an used setup.. Right..?
OK, you MOVED a tank last week...
It could be going thru another cycle..?
You need to slow down, and tell PharmrJohn more.. And he can help you much better then I..
Tank size, how long have You had it set up, what you have in it, and any tests that you have done on the water.. etc..

 

Yep

Yep, both Tomatos...the big one swims all over the tank, he even nips at the big damsels. But the lil guy is looking worse and worse each day. He looks thin, and slowing down a bit. But that terets thing scared me.

All the params are great, slowly trying to raise SG. All the other fish are fine. I wonder if I do end up splitting them up, are clowns supposed to be in pairs?

75g
about 45lbs Argonite and coral sand mix (new)
LOTS of LR
yellow tang, 4 damsels, 1 combtooth blenny, 2 clowns, peppermint shrimp, 8 hermits and a couple snails
all params normal
low SG but slowly getting up to 1.023+

 

Yes try to get your SG up to 1.025 SLOW .. And learn to keep it there, so when you start to get corals, you'll be ready..

about 45lbs Argonite and coral sand mix (new)
Was all that new..?? Or some out of the Old Setup..??
And if new, You bought it at the LFS in bags..? Live Sand..
You moved LR from one place to another..?
If it seems I'm asking the same thing more then once, there is a reason..

How long have you had the tank setup and running..? AFTER it had been moved..??

Larry

 

Here it tis

about 45lbs Argonite and coral sand mix (new)
Was all that new..?? Or some out of the Old Setup..??
And if new, You bought it at the LFS in bags..? Live Sand..
You moved LR from one place to another..?
If it seems I'm asking the same thing more then once, there is a reason..

How long have you had the tank setup and running..? AFTER it had been moved..??

Yes, just the substrate was new...half of it was the live argonite and half was just sand...it mixed pretty well and the fish have been digging through it and stuff.

Yes, I moved TONS of LR from one house to mine, I kept it all in original tank water, when we got to my house we saved as much old water as we could but ended up doing a 50% water change.

I have had the tank running from last Saturday night, so a week and 2 days. Along with the substrate, the only thing new is a couple filters, a nitrate sponge-pebble bag, and water. The wet/dry sump and bio balls went untouched, so there is still a layer of bacteria-sludge down there. The skimmer has been working up a lot of foam until today. I take this as a good sign!

 

Hopefully I'm readings signs wrong.. Not on your clowns.. I belive that color clowns can be a little mean..
P'John or Mission66 needs to jump in and see if you would go thru another cycle.
I've only been in saltwater around a year, and don't know enough to give you good info.
on the tank move..
But you seem like all is well.. !!!

Good Luck, Larry

 

Also they could be "flashing".. does he do the tourrets thing when the other clown is near?
When they mate or sex they "flash".. in other words do odd things (sit on their sides and seem to be flopping in the water, etc).

I have two clarkii's that are in the process of this.. also when one of the clarkiis get near my maroon clown, the maroon will flash because it is submitting (it is smaller).. she sometimes gets mean and tries to protect her xenia though LOL
They also do the up and down swimming thing. My maroon who has also been "dominated" usually sits up by the HOB filter unless she gets brave and swims to her xenia.

 

The best advice on clowns is they will act like idiots. There's no predicting what they'll do when the environment changes and such. I think patience will pay off here assuming they're the same species. Target feed any clown that's been prevented from eating by another clown and you should cut down on lost livestock. When in doubt fortify with garlic and check your smaller clown for ICH

 

Agreed. I handfeed my maroon, she loves it, she is by far my favorite fish