Just got my first ocellaris in my 46 gallon yesterday, he's got 2 green chromis, a sand sifting sea star, a nassarius snail, 3 turbos, 5 hermits, a peppermint shrimp, and a new striped cleaner shrimp (got introduced with him, seems to be happy and thriving).
The problem is I can't get him to eat much. I've thrown a few varieties of frozen food at him, flakes, sinking pellets, and freeze dried brine shrimp, he'll occasionally check a piece out maybe put it in his mouth, but it sort of looks like he spits it back out a lot. He's definitely not getting outcompeted for food, I've been overfeeding a little bit to try and entice a feeding response from him.
He seems to like staying in one corner of a tank and kind of swims and bobs up and down the glass there, occasionally swimming to the other side of the tank to spend a minute or two there before going back, always staying near or on the glass. That being said, he is looking lively, not lethargic. I can't tell if he's respirating rapidly, I cant really get that good a look at his gills or mouth.
I dripped both him and the cleaner shrimp for about 50 minutes, and my params are:
SG 1.025
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: looks like zero, hard to tell with my test (API) at least for me, but it's very near the zero for sure
So, is this normal "getting used to the tank" behavior? Should I be doing something different or be worried?
Another question, I didn't think about this before, but if I introduce another ocellaris, will they readily form a mated pair, or should I have introduced the two of them together? And if I introduce one now will it make him feel more comfortable or just add to his stress?
The problem is I can't get him to eat much. I've thrown a few varieties of frozen food at him, flakes, sinking pellets, and freeze dried brine shrimp, he'll occasionally check a piece out maybe put it in his mouth, but it sort of looks like he spits it back out a lot. He's definitely not getting outcompeted for food, I've been overfeeding a little bit to try and entice a feeding response from him.
He seems to like staying in one corner of a tank and kind of swims and bobs up and down the glass there, occasionally swimming to the other side of the tank to spend a minute or two there before going back, always staying near or on the glass. That being said, he is looking lively, not lethargic. I can't tell if he's respirating rapidly, I cant really get that good a look at his gills or mouth.
I dripped both him and the cleaner shrimp for about 50 minutes, and my params are:
SG 1.025
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: looks like zero, hard to tell with my test (API) at least for me, but it's very near the zero for sure
So, is this normal "getting used to the tank" behavior? Should I be doing something different or be worried?
Another question, I didn't think about this before, but if I introduce another ocellaris, will they readily form a mated pair, or should I have introduced the two of them together? And if I introduce one now will it make him feel more comfortable or just add to his stress?
I had a hard time finding a second healthy fish here in town, it took me several months, in fact. Finally the LFS got in a group of juvenile ocillaris, and I added one that was much smaller (probably half her size), and they have paired nicely without any trouble. I alternate feeding mine frozen brine and frozen mysis, and spectrum thera-a pellets for small fish. I soak a drop or two of Kent's garlic Extreme into the frozen foods after I rinse them in RO water; my fish are crazy about food. Hope that helps, and good luck with your clown. My ocillaris are my favorite fish!
