New clowns distressed or normal behavior?

[mfaso24]

Think about your new clowns as being in an ocean where they don't see any other fish. This is a disturbing situation in the ocean and it means that there are predators around so stay hidden. Once you get a few more fish in the tank they should become more active and not just hanging out at the top corners.



As far as the picking on the other that is going to happen a lot until and even after they have paired up. My Mocha Ocellaris pair constantly fight even though one is clearly the female and the other male. So don't worry about them fighting, it's to decide dominance and who will become female.



So start thinking about your next fish addition, you're pretty safe adding a fish every two weeks allowing the bacteria enough time to grow to handle the additional load. I would not add anymore than two fish at a time as you could end up with ammonia problems until the bacteria has grown to handle the new load on it.

+1 when I upgraded and transferred my clowns over, they were the only ones in the tank for a while and hung out in one spot. Once more fish were added they started moving around quite a bit.


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[mattyg18]

mfaso24 - what were the first fish you added? just curious.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Dkuhlmann - That definitely makes sense about ocean comparison. I'm just on the fence about what to add because these guys are pretty small. I was thinking about a green mandarin since they tend to hang low. I do have a bunch of snails in the tank already and several corals which i'm not sure if they can see. Its a tall tank (2' x 2') . When the snails go near them they seem to get pretty scared. I don't want to cause them more stress than they already have by adding an additional fish. Does that make any sense?

A good choice would be a Midas Blenny, pretty much any of the gobies but don't overdue bottom dwellers since the size of your tank is only 24x24. You could probably get a few flasher wrasses but I'd think might be an issue due to the tank dimensions. Wrasses like to swim around and I think are better suited to say a bit longer tank than tall. You can also get a pigmy angel but again might have issues due to not enough distance swimming. Hmmm there are also firefish that would work. Any of the fish in this link would work with the exception of more clowns. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+2124 Take a look at the three pygmy wrasses those are awesome too. I think they're on the last page of that link for nano fish.

Kind of a boring fish but the Cardinals come to mind. Yellow Candy Hogfish is another great fish I love mine as well as my Midas blenny. My Cherub angel can be a bit of a butthead but as he gets older is better behaved. He gets great fun and joy out of hiding and then ambushing my McCosker's wrasse LOL

Take a look at Live Aquaria's website http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15 for other options. It lists the tank size as well as behavior and compatibility of any fish listed.

So take a look at what's available and let us know what you're thinking and we can recommend what to add and when. IT's always best to add more aggressive fish last for instance if you pick a pygmy angelfish they should go last in most cases. There are also some fish to stay away from due to their collection practices of using cyanide which kills the fish months after collection. :hammer:

Anyway good luck and have fun picking out your fish.

OH and stay away from the Mandarin for a while until you have a huge population of pods for them to eat.