All fish but clown keep dying is he/she the culprit?

[gtp0083]

I have a standard 29g tank with hang on filter 2 orbit IC lights.

Stock list includes
GSP, small acan frag, a couple small zoas, trumpet coral, sympodium, a clove polyp, a couple mushrooms,

All the corals are doing great couldn't be happier

For fish I started one large percula A couple months later I added a platinum clown. The larger percula and the platinum lived on opposite sides of the tank. Eventually I believe the platinum died of stress because the large percula would pick on it occasionally. No signs of any other diseases.

After the platinum clown died I added two standard fire fish. They beat the crap out of each other one died.

The remaining fire fish and clown lived happily together for 3 weeks.

Now the firefish is dead no signs of stress or disease. Happy one day dead the next. Is this the clown doing this? Is the clown just happy by itself?

Water params are all good no ammonia or nitrite 2/5ppm nitrate. Salinity 1.025. 10%Water changes every week like clockwork. Calcium 420 mag around 1220.

Other stock
Small Rose bulb tip anemone ( size of a quarter)
Hermit crabs all happy
Turbo snail happy
Conch snail happy
Skunk shrimp alive and well molts once every couple weeks
Margarita snails

I have some small white tube worms growing and an outbreak of pineapple sponges. I also may have the start to some flatworms.

Any thoughts?

 

[Slarti]

Well I can't really answer your question but I can tell you if my hand was a fish it would have been killed by my clown a long time ago! The thing is vicious and after every clean I look for bite marks...got a similar size tank and the only other fish currently in there is a Pajama Cardinal. They have been together since the beginning and the PJ is bigger than the clown and may be it only saving grace.

 

[CarrieB]

Or you have a parasite/ disease in the tank that the clown has developed an immunity to, but new fish succumb to.


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[billdogg]

A single clown will own a 29g tank. If you trade it in, get a couple fish in and established, and then put in a small clown it may work for awhile, but IMHO, it will just happen again when the clown grows up. Even in a 40b you will run into problems if the clown is the first fish in.

 

[BigBlueTang]

Or you have a parasite/ disease in the tank that the clown has developed an immunity to, but new fish succumb to.


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I disagree with this point. Unless he/she has an incredibly strong strain of velvet or brook OP will see some sign of disease with the amount that fish have died.

OP it also may be a case of bad luck. I know I've had my share with bad luck with fish.. Although if you can set up a quarantine I would highly recommend it, as it gives the time to adjust to captive life.

I also agree that it may be aggression. Clowns are a member of the damsel family, and are very territorial. If you decide to buy another fish, research the hell out of what it needs. I would recommend a watchman goby, as the occupy a completely different niche of the tank than the clown. If that dies, you most likely have a disease on your hands.

 

[gtp0083]

I appreciate the input everyone. I'm going with aggression for now. Now that the clown is the sole survivor of the tank he swims everywhere. He usually stays in the upper corner of the tank in between some power heads. Now he is swimming around exploring.


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[ajoe]

How are you measuring your salinity? Refractometer, Hydrometer ?

 

[gtp0083]

Refractometer


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[Sk8r]

Clowns are one of the most aggressive damsels. And if you toss in Maroon Clowns, probably top of the scale for that kind. Few fish can be rated aggressive per se, but these will bite the owner.

 

[kapoofta]

I had the same problem. No matter what kind of fish I had in with my clown he would attack them, often at night eventually killing them. I eventually got fed up with it and got rid of him. I replaced it with another and everyone has been happy since.

 

[reret10]

Yeah I've had similar problems with clownfish and to me, the only real solution to keeping clownfish with other similar sized fish is add them when they're really young and add them last. And even then, that doesn't always work but so far, it's worked alright for me. But yeah, if your corals are happy, there's a good chance your clown is the culprit.


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[monkeysee1]

Clowns are one of the most aggressive damsels.

Yep. TOTALLY agree!
I have a pair of Ocelleris clowns and when they go, NO MORE CLOWNFISH!!
My female literally harassed my beautiful Pearl Jawfish to death about six or so months ago.
Thought I was safe adding the Jawfish after looking at those compatibility charts. WRONG!! *BUZZER*
You don't know how close I came to introducing her to the Tidy Bowl Man!
Any more fish I get in the far future ( I have 10 now - so I'm maxed out for space - won't be getting any more for a long time ) will definitely be ones that will be larger and will NOT put up with their krap!