Is it normal for a clown to disappear?

[o0xerog0o]

I've had both of my false percs for about 3 months, and they've paired up and been by each other's sides since the first week... I noticed the dominant female getting a little bit bigger, and I though all was going well. Last week I noticed the larger clown would start chasing the other around the tank at least once an hour, which starting to make me angry, because she should just chill out... there's no need to fight. Or maybe they were playing tag, I don't know.

Anywho... On Thursday, my smaller clown disappeared, never to be seen again. I've checked the floor, behind the rocks, in the pre-skimmer box, everywhere I can think of, to no avail.

Is it even semi-normal for one half of a pair to become a ghost, and maybe hide in the rockwork for extended periods of time? If he is alive, he won't even come out for food, which makes me think that he's had an early demise. Thanks in advance

 

[snommisbor]

Do you have a cat? I had a great pair in my 12G Nano that I thought were close to breeding. Then one week one disappeared, the next week the other was gone no sign whatsoever. A few days later I was cleaning in my bedroom and found one under my bed. The cat was guilty. I have since put egg crate on top but have yet to re stock so I am just running a reef with a CUC.

 

[morty696]

4 possibilitys -

1. Cat ate him.
2. Jumped out of the tank some how.
3. Your larger clown rejected him. Then he ate him.
4. He got chased into a hole in live rock, died from stress or couldnt get out.

 

[o0xerog0o]

I do have a cat, who has been known to bat around a dead diamond goby when he jumped, but I didn't know clowns to be jumpers. Plus, I have a sheet of glass over all but the back 2.5 inches of the tank. It is possible that he couold have made it out through that little gap I suppose.

I was just hoping for a "that happens all the time, nothing to worry about" response, but I didn't expect it. Oh well, hopefully he'll turn up, if not, then I'll just keep an eye on my param's and make sure there's not a spike in anything

 

[Slakker]

Clowns certainly are jumpers, and 2.5 inches is more than enough room for one to get out.

 

[sk8rreefgeek]

Is it normal for a clown to disappear?

Do you have a Houdini Carpet anemone?















Bahdum, CHA!

Good luck, hope he turns up

 

[AquaReeferMan]

The smaller most likely never submitted to the female and she likely killed it off. The female will chase the clown until it does the little shake, vibrate, submissive dance thingy(have we ever figured out a name for that?) If the smaller clown didnt submit the female would not tolerate it. This usually ends in death. Clowns can be mean.

 

[vincent6396]

I have 3 clowns that jump to is death, each had landed on my hardwood floor and dried up when I found them.

 

[o0xerog0o]

The smaller clown always did his little "submission jig". At first I thought I bought an epileptic clown, until I did some more research and found out that's normal... I don't know...

After I put the damsel in the tank, I do know that the smaller clown seemed to hang out with him more than the female. Maybe she got jealous, and that's why she was always chasing him around, probably killing him in the long run. But if the clown died in tank, and his body disappeared behind the rockwork, wouldn't I notice my corals reacting negatively to the corpse? I don't have a large CUC, so it's not like the dead body would be eaten instantly.