5yr old Percula jumped yesterday :(

[6Speed]

Hey guys, my 5+ year old male Percula Clown jumped the tank yesterday. Not sure how long he'd been laying there, but he wasn't completely dried out. I am pretty bummed about losing him. He was mated with my other 5+ year old female Percula and they had been together all that time.

I sold my entire 90 gallon setup a few months ago, minus my two clowns. I bought them a little 20 gallon rimless cube and they've seemed to like it for the last few months. A few days ago I added a mp10 pump and after playing around with the wave features I set it to lagoon mode on the lowest setting and left it like that while I went to work. When I got home from work is when I found him. I hope that the pump didn't freak him out. Has anyone had this happen before? I feel responsible somehow, even though I know there is really no way to know why he jumped. I just keep thinking that Clownfish aren't generally known as jumpers.

I am going to invest in some netting or something to keep this from happening again.

 

[mrbigshot]

Ive had clownfish jump, not to often as adults but smaller ones do it all the time. my last was one of my black and white ocellaris and that was only a few weeks ago. jumped threw the 2x3 hole in the glass lid for my return. netting defeats the look of a rimless tank, i would just leave it and get another small percula and work on getting the bigger one to accept the smaller one.

if your dead set on a lid making one is easy, your local hardware store will carry the channels and connectors to make replacement screen windows as well as the rubber splining for holding the screen material in. you could use the black nylon window screen material or find some larger diameter nylon netting.

the pump could have freaked him out, who knows how clowns think.

 

[6Speed]

I think I'm going to order up a sheet of starphire glass that is cut to the exact outter edge dimensions of the top of my tank, (with a small cutout at the back for my light to clamp to the rim). I think it might look kind of cool. I've considered that it will probably build up water droplets on the underside, but I think overall the look will be better than netting.

 

[fullmonti]

Sorry for your loss. I love my clowns.

The glass will also trap heat, don't know if that will be a problem for you. Some use a net or screen material to stop jumpers.

 

[Samcro]

sorry to hear of the loss. i get all choked up when i loose a clown. they are like a pet to me.
BRS sells clear acrylic screening that you can make a custom screen with to fit perfectly over your tank. i did this for my clowns cause i dont want any jumpers.

you gonna add another clown to her? i would suggest maybe a nice Onyx, or a cool spotted perc, Picasso or something cool with her. was she laying eggs?

 

[6Speed]

Sorry for your loss. I love my clowns.

The glass will also trap heat, don't know if that will be a problem for you. Some use a net or screen material to stop jumpers.

Well, I plan on using LED's which won't be very hot and my apartment stays pretty cool so it takes a heater to get the tank to the proper temp. Without the heater the water would be around 70. My old 90 gallon would only get up to about 75 with 500 watts of halides over, it unless I ran a heater.

sorry to hear of the loss. i get all choked up when i loose a clown. they are like a pet to me.
BRS sells clear acrylic screening that you can make a custom screen with to fit perfectly over your tank. i did this for my clowns cause i dont want any jumpers.

you gonna add another clown to her? i would suggest maybe a nice Onyx, or a cool spotted perc, Picasso or something cool with her. was she laying eggs?

I thought about that screen material, but I think it will really subtract from the look of the cube. I think I am going to add another clown and I think it would be pretty cool to get something different looking for a little variety. Will she pair up with any variant or will he need to be kinda similar in color?

Possible new mate:
1. Naked False Perc
2. Snowflake Clown
3. Semi-Picasso
4. Picasso
5. Midnight Ocelleris
6. Fire clown (too different for her?)
7. Spotted (where can I find?)

She was laying eggs regularly in my 90 gallon, but I have not noticed any in the 20.

 

[MelloW33]

Sorry about your loss. Personally I don't like to mix clown species eventhough it is possible to do. I would just add another true perc, picasso, or an onyx.

 

[zeeter]

Mixing a perc with a non perc could result in hybrids that are sterile. Of course if you just want a tankmate for him any of those would do except for the Fire Clown. NEVER put a fire clown in with any other clown. It's the meanest of the tomato complex. Not sure what you mean by spotted, but if it's a non-percula complex be wary. The others should be fine. Percs and Ocellaris tend to get along ok.

I had a couple of percula clowns who would nip at my fingers whenever I did any tank maintenance. It didn't hurt, but was always so surprising that I'd wind up banging my hand on the light fixture. One time the urge was so great to nip at me that one of them took a run at me as I pulled my hand out and he wound up carpet diving. Fish are stupid.

 

[davocean]

I also would avoid the fire out of those choices, but see no reason against a mix.
Clowns are not first to mind when I think of jumpers, but they do.
I would MUCH rather have a screen top like BRS sells, or you can make one.
I had one on my rimless cube, but for the rimless look, I made mine fit INSIDE the perimeter and used clear clips to keep in place, it was hardly visible/noticeable in person.
Sorry to hear man, if I lost my clowns I'd be pretty bummed for sure.

 

[davocean]

Pics of mine, tank was newish kinda cycling/dirty, but you get the idea.

 

[6Speed]

Sorry about your loss. Personally I don't like to mix clown species eventhough it is possible to do. I would just add another true perc, picasso, or an onyx.

Mixing a perc with a non perc could result in hybrids that are sterile. Of course if you just want a tankmate for him any of those would do except for the Fire Clown. NEVER put a fire clown in with any other clown. It's the meanest of the tomato complex. Not sure what you mean by spotted, but if it's a non-percula complex be wary. The others should be fine. Percs and Ocellaris tend to get along ok.

I had a couple of percula clowns who would nip at my fingers whenever I did any tank maintenance. It didn't hurt, but was always so surprising that I'd wind up banging my hand on the light fixture. One time the urge was so great to nip at me that one of them took a run at me as I pulled my hand out and he wound up carpet diving. Fish are stupid.

I also would avoid the fire out of those choices, but see no reason against a mix.
Clowns are not first to mind when I think of jumpers, but they do.
I would MUCH rather have a screen top like BRS sells, or you can make one.
I had one on my rimless cube, but for the rimless look, I made mine fit INSIDE the perimeter and used clear clips to keep in place, it was hardly visible/noticeable in person.
Sorry to hear man, if I lost my clowns I'd be pretty bummed for sure.

Seems like everyone is against the fire. I'll take it off the list. I do like the idea of a picasso or some other ORA variant. I called a local ORA distributor and he said that I won't be able to add any clown, no matter how small it is, b/c my female will kill it. I am surprised by this. I always thought it was possible to reintroduce a male...and you guys seem to agree that it is possible, as well?

Pics of mine, tank was newish kinda cycling/dirty, but you get the idea.

That's not too distracting! I definitely wouldn't mind going that route. I sent an email to glasscages to find out about getting a sheet of starphire. I think it could look pretty cool with polished edges. That screen material is pretty cheap, too...so honestly I could try both and see which I like better.

 

[Samcro]

I also would avoid the fire out of those choices, but see no reason against a mix.
Clowns are not first to mind when I think of jumpers, but they do.
I would MUCH rather have a screen top like BRS sells, or you can make one.
I had one on my rimless cube, but for the rimless look, I made mine fit INSIDE the perimeter and used clear clips to keep in place, it was hardly visible/noticeable in person.
Sorry to hear man, if I lost my clowns I'd be pretty bummed for sure.

agree 100% any clown is good, but if you want to stick to the Percula side of the clown, then a Picasso, Onyx, Plat, Snowcasso and im sure there is a few other variants.

most people sink it in and use clips to hold it. if you use white metal screen frame, it will be hard to spot unless your up close.

 

[davocean]

^^Well, not ANY clown, but mixing any variant of perc or occ would be fine.
I would also avoid any metals, HD has the vinyl screen kits, those are best, BRS does sell them already made to your measurements if you don't feel like making one.
My screen was way more noticeable in pics than in person because I took pics at an angle to show it, sitting down and viewing never really noticed it.
I prefer an open top to glass, cooler, better gas exchange.

 

[6Speed]

^ Yeah, he was saying I couldn't even add a small male Percula bc my female was too mature.

I really like the Semi-Picasso and Snowcasso clowns.

I can't seem to find the premade kits on BRS. I see the netting and instructional video.

 

[davocean]

Maybe it was BFS, I can't recall, but I did save this from a thread that might help.
It should not be that tough to pair, not sure what LFS says no for?
I would just get a smaller one than you have, make sure juvy size, and intro in specimen container to be safe(or the floating cheapy breeder boxes they sell at petco)

http://www.spsholic.com/entry/Making-Tank-cover-with-mesh

 

[MelloW33]

Seems like everyone is against the fire. I'll take it off the list. I do like the idea of a picasso or some other ORA variant. I called a local ORA distributor and he said that I won't be able to add any clown, no matter how small it is, b/c my female will kill it. I am surprised by this. I always thought it was possible to reintroduce a male...and you guys seem to agree that it is possible, as well?

It is most definitely possible to reintroduce a male with your female. Granted that the new male is significantly smaller. He shouldn't have too much of an issue catching up in size. There might be some "tough love" during the initial introduction but you should be OK.

 

[tcwells23]

My tank is fairly new, just a few months old. My first fish was a pair of ocellaris clowns. Something happened to the females mouth and she died 8 days later. I waited 1 1/2 weeks and added another the same size as the male. I left the house for a couple hours and came home to find the new clown dried up on the floor. I imagine the established clown chased the new one out of the tank. So I thought I'd try one more time and got a much larger ocellaris clown than the male. I also put egg crate on top of my tank and have had no more problems. The two I have now seem to be bonded and did not fight at all. Again, I haven't had them long so I know your situation is different.

 

[Saltwatergurl]

The aquariuam looks GREAT! Im so sorry for your loss.

 

[phender]

Large female percs can be difficult to re-pair, but it sort of depends on the personality of the female. I had one that I tried for over 5 years to find a new mate for her. I tried every trick in the book to no avail. I floated the male in a container, took out the female and let the male get used to the tank and the anemone for 2 weeks before reintroducing the female, rearranged the tank, added more than one male, put male and female in a bucket together so they would be stressed and bond and probably some other things that I have forgotten. Nothing worked. In other cases the new males are accepted with no problem. Your dealer is not crazy, he's just sharing his experience.

I too am sorry for your loss. Losing a clown seems more painful than losing any other kind of fish for some reason.