male clownfish dying?

[batrug]

hello,
I think my male clownfish may be dying...
Heres the scoop. I just started my first 30g saltwater tank. I went to the petstore and got everything i needed including 30lb's of liverock. after cycling I got 2 small clownfish (i forgot the type but its not moroon or anything tricky) and a tang. They were all happy as can be, swimming together and eating together, then I decided to get an anemone for them. At this time one clown was about 1" and the other 1.5" so I thought the male and female battle was basicly over. The larger clown took to the anemone within a few hours. The smaller one, was forced to stay away from the anemone at all times (basicly stayed in the corner hiding all day and night). Now the larger clown hunts down and chases the smaller clown all day and insted of the smaller one shaking to show submissive behavior, he just swims away trying to escape from the female. Its been only 4 days since i got the anemone and the smaller clown is close to dying. all his fins are torn right up and even the shrimps are taking shots at him. Arg! why wont the small clown just shake to show hes backing down!? hes done it a couple times before but he seems to scared to even try now.

 

[GSMguy]

[welcome]


you should do some research try reading the FAQS at the top of the thread there is lots to learn
i worry about your anemone your tank sounds really young. and anemones neeed mature tanks.
Nick

 

[batrug]

yeah hes gone now..
and my tank is quite young, only about 5 months old. Everything seems to be doing well though. The anemone grounded itsself nicely, is sticky, active and seems healthy so far. Can anyone give me any advice as to getting a new clownfish for my tank? my goal is to have a happy pair living in that anemone.

 

[stykthyn]

ahh, clarkii clowns.
they are highly territorial and not overly bright. get another fish that is around 3/4" and you should be ok. have a QT tank handy in case the new comer is also not wanted.
FWIW I have seen an established pair break up and proceed to kill each other.

 

[batrug]

I have another concern about my anemone.
Every peice of food the clown gets it quickly brings over to the anemone, which then eats it. Becuase of this the clown hasnt been eating nearly as much as it used to.
Is this normal for most clownfish? usually I see the clown grab food then swim backwards while chewing, but my clown seems to just grab food then swim straight forward to the anemone to feed it. Last night my anemone spat up a whole wack of flakes and it was not a pretty sight.

 

[GSMguy]

the clown will eat if its hungry
feeding the anemone is totally cool

 

[batrug]

hey guys and gals,
I finally got a hold of another clarki for my tank today. Its about 3/4" long and I just released him after about 45 mins of floating in the bag. While he was in the bag the female clarki stared him down the whole time while shaking once in a while and the male didnt seem to be bothered by it. Now that hes out, the two are doing the same thing as the last pair. geeeeeeeeeeeez are these males just stubborn or the female too *****y?? haha

 

[cvrle1]

Just a quick heads up for you. It is not wise to keep a tang of any sort in aquarium smaller then 50 gallon. They need a lot of swimming room and 30 gallon does not provide that. I heard a lot of stories where peoples tangs were good and then suddenly snapped and killed the rest of the fish. Every one of those was in a small aquarium.

In no way am I tang police, but just a heads up that you may not have known about

Hope your new clown is doing good. Post some pics.