First Clownfish, Questions about pairing

[kenman345]

Hello everyone,

I am fairly new to the hobby, but enjoying the learning process quite a lot.

I have two misbar ocellaris in a 10G QT right now that I just finished a treatment of cupramine because I noticed Ich like symptoms (most prominently, white spots on their body). They have now been in my possession and tank together for about 3 full weeks. They seem fairly healthy to me and are quite amusing to watch in my free time.

I bought them from LA, and they were both separate when they arrived to me. They are both extremely close in size, to the point I cannot tell if either one is bigger than the other right now. They are both around 1.25-1.5" in length. I think one might be slightly wider than the other though.

I was wondering how long it may take to pair up. I have noticed both of them wiggling around the other in a seizure like fashion which I have read as being a way to show submissiveness to the other. I am worried that maybe they might never pair if they were both females, but I thought they might be too small to have already become females.

I would appreciate everyones input and advice they can give me as I am in the observation period before I eventually add them to my DT.

 

[davocean]

Sounds to me like they are fairly young and most likely will pair up w/ no effort on your end at all.
Post some pics.

 

[kenman345]

Sounds to me like they are fairly young and most likely will pair up w/ no effort on your end at all.
Post some pics.

What site should I use? I only have pics from before treatment/middle of treatment. I ended treatment last night but I just upgraded the light so it should give me better pictures tonight when I try.

I am using a feeder which has some stuff I use with the rest of my livestock and some of the foods that LA sayss they feed them at their facility. I also am adding in Fauna Marin soft clownfish food to the mix starting today.

 

[kenman345]

Just two from my webcam while I'm at work. I'll happily post some more tonight or tomorrow.

 

[davocean]

Cool, they look great, I'm sure they will do just fine together.

 

[kenman345]

Cool, they look great, I'm sure they will do just fine together.

I really do hope they're okay. I have had to keep a big garbage pale in my room to help me always have water on hand and I would really like to be able to move it out of the room soon.

 

[kenman345]

Okay,

So I have a "Finnex FugeRay Aquarium LED Light Plus Moonlights" on the QT right now and I was thinking about an anemone. Should I quarantine it if I get one? Any recommendations or advice for a beginner?

I am still on the fence about wanting one. I love them, they're really cool and interesting, but I definitely will not be getting one until my tank is a little more mature (I have a 56G FOWLR that was started 2 months ago). I also think I need to upgrade my lighting and that will not be happening for a good deal of time as I am in the middle of a waiting period to kind of figure everything out with my current tank stuff and also, to see where Digital Aquatics is headed to figure out if I stick with them and find a controllable light fixture or go outside the realm of controllable light fixtures from the Aquarium Controller, or even potentially ditching my Reefkeeper and going for the Apex.

Really, I think what I mainly want to know is do I have enough gear currently to support an anemone, which is best for a starter (I hear the BTA is a good starter Anem) and what type of quarantine procedure I might want to perform on it when I first get it. I like to be prepared for things and planning is always best in these situations, so I want to continuously do research.

 

[davocean]

I would wait until you are done w/ QT, tank is established at least 6 mo, and you have proper lighting.

 

[kenman345]

Some things I noticed,

The clownfish act the same under normal daytime lighting and at night. They will pair up and swim on top of eachother peacefully, fight infrequently, and one of them (same one every time) will hang out in one of the PVC pipe ends I have in the tank and relax there while the other fish does his own thing.

Interestingly though, if I turn the light to only be blue, instantly the roles switch. The fish that usually is in the PVC pipe seems to become the aggressor and have the lay of the land. The other fish will instantly rush to safety or the top corner of a tank and stay far away from the other fish.

Is that something normal? this behavior will happen within a few seconds of turning on the blue lights and will return back to normal once the light is completely turned off or the white light is turned on. Does this indicate anything about which one may become the female? or is it too early to tell?

 

[kenman345]

To add to my previous post,

The odd thing about what I noticed is that the clownfish that is normally out and about while the other is hiding is also the one I was most worried about as it was the first of the two clownfish to show any signs of Ich. It also was not eating much at all during my feedings the first few days, while the other one was always swimming around and couldn't get enough to eat it seemed.

Even now, towards the end of the feeding time, the clownfish that was once unhealthy and not eating is the only one in the open and collecting food while the other clownfish hides in a PVC pipe end. I didn't even notice any of the usual fighting or anything before he went in there.

These clownfish are such interesting fish.

 

[kenman345]

Latest Pic from my webcam

 

[kenman345]

Okay, so, they're in the main tank. Nice and healthy. The clownfish at first scared the two firefish I have, but they all now eat at the same time and get along quite well.

The clownfish still seem to be similar sizes. I have seen them start to separate from each other, but when I start watching them be together again, they both seem to switch off as to who does the shaking behavior. How long should I expect it to take to get them paired and one larger than the other in a noticeable amount? I expected this may take a month or two, but am I going to have to wait longer to see that happen?

 

[oh207]

Nice misbar clowns. I've got a pair as well.
I'm curious which webcam are you using? The pic is very clear.

 

[kenman345]

Nice misbar clowns. I've got a pair as well.
I'm curious which webcam are you using? The pic is very clear.

D-Link DCS-931L

That model gives 480P video without being too expensive and having a bunch of unneeded items. Then I have a simple wide angle lens meant for an iPhone attached to help me now have to keep the camera so far from the tank.

 

[oh207]

Thanks. I'll check it out online. I really like their webcams. I have the D-Link DCS-5020L but the quality is not that good.

 

[kenman345]

Thanks. I'll check it out online. I really like their webcams. I have the D-Link DCS-5020L but the quality is not that good.

Interesting, as your camera has better specs than mine.

How are you viewing it? am using VLC to watch the stream directly through my dynamic dns provider and the UPnP port number. That's the best way to get lagless viewing.

PM me if you want some assistance with that.

Also, pics of your clowns please

 

[oh207]

I'm using IPCam Android app. And I also use the D-Link Android app sometimes. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. I do have DYNDNS setup.
I've tried to get VLC on my desktop to stream directly from the camera but was unsuccessful.
Here is a pic of my misbar pair. I love them. They spawn regularly even though they are in my refugium which is only about 5 gallons. And it has some macro in there too.
In another month I'm moving them to a 60g Cube that I'm currently setting up.

 

[kenman345]

I'm using IPCam Android app. And I also use the D-Link Android app sometimes. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. I do have DYNDNS setup.
I've tried to get VLC on my desktop to stream directly from the camera but was unsuccessful.
Here is a pic of my misbar pair. I love them. They spawn regularly even though they are in my refugium which is only about 5 gallons. And it has some macro in there too.
In another month I'm moving them to a 60g Cube that I'm currently setting up.

I only use dynamic DNS, but I have that set up from my router level, not the camera level. I suspect it'll be faster that way since the camera is somewhat low end and less capable than the router.

Please PM me to help you with the camera

 

[kenman345]

So it's been a while now since the clownfish joined the big tank. I have watched closely and not noticed any actual damage from what little fighting I had noticed. a few weeks back I noticed the clownfish not swimming together most of the time, but they always seemed healthy and I figured they were maturing, so it was okay. Today I came home and it was the first time I actually saw any damage to one of the clownfish. Is this a good sign that one is getting stronger than the other? The hurt clownfish isn't doing too bad, just seizures to show submissiveness.

 

[kenman345]

How long might i expect it to take after i notice one clownfish clearly is the stronger of the two before it'll get bigger? does that happen while it grows the female parts or is it more they grow and then grow the female parts?