New tank - new clowns & anemone

[Chiya]

Hi,
I've recently got my hands salty with a 10G tank and it has just finished cycling.

I bought 2 red ocellaris (LFS said it was red) and an anemone on Saturday night.
One of the clowns jumped out of the tank and dried up on the floor. (I think it's the male one)

Tank information :
18 x 12 x 15 (L x B x H)
2 pcs of Live rock
About 1 inch of Live sand
DIY LED light fixture (4 x 3W whites & 4 x 3W blues)

Nitrites : 0
Nitrates : <1.0ppm
pH : 8.4
KH : 3 degrees

Questions :
1. What's the reason for the clownfish jumping out of the tank?
Is it an accident or a sign that the waters are inappropriate?

2. The anemone was originally placed in the center of the tank, but it moved to the back almost immediately into the shade. I've since moved the Koralia nano to encourage the anemone to come out into the open but with no luck.

3. I tried feeding them some fish food made by the LFS. The clownfish and anemone have not eaten yet. The only thing that went crazy was the hermit crab in the tank. Is this normal?

4. Is anyone able to identify both clown and anemone?
One of them looks like a percula and the other an ocellaris.
My LFS says the anemone is a BTA.

5. How long does it take for clowns to start hosting in a new anemone?
This pair was bought from the display tank and I understand from the LFS that they have already hosted in an anemone.

6. Lastly, do I need to buy another clown for replacement?

Thanks in advance for the great advice to come =)

Regards,
Ryan

 

[Banff]

I am certainly no anemone expert but a 10 gallon is really small for a nem.

 

[What The?]

..........You said it just finished cycling? I'm sure others will say the tank is not going to be stable enough for a anemone, and also a 10 gallon tank i hope you like doing water changes. Not trying to kill your dreams but i think you are in for allot of work.

 

[Chiya]

Hi,
Thanks for your comments.
I'm ok with the idea of frequent water changes.

9 x 1.5L bottles are stored for emergency water changes if necessary.

This tank was supposed to be a starter tank so that I can learn along the way while I save enough money for a bigger tank =)

Regards,
Ryan

 

[Lannyrx7]

I think the best plan of action would be for you to (helpful not negative advice here) return the anemone which looks like a BTA back to the LFS and just try to keep up with the clown. Also, even though 10g isn't much space it is borderline ok to have 2 clownfish. But honestly no where near enough room for the clowns and anemone.

So action plan:
1. return BTA.
2. pickup new clown to go with old one.
3. Learn, read, and get experience.
4. upgrade tank to at least 30g.
5. get water parameters under check (few months).
6. add anemone.

Also there is no set timeframe when clowns go into anemones. 1 of mine went into my GBTA 3 days after I got it, the other hasn't started going into it yet and only goes down to visit the other clown. It's been a couple months since I got the nem.

 

[Ethan_W]

anemones are doable in a 10 gallon. a boss of mine had an anemone and clown in a 2.5g for some time, however he was very experienced. but it's definitely not recommended to add a nem for a few months, and considering they are one of the harder things to keep in tanks not recommended for your first venture into reef keeping.

try something like a green star polyp. return the anemone if you can as it will probably die. as far as the clown jumping out of the tank i doubt it had to do with your water quality. was probably more like a random act of suicide. if you want to replace it get the same species of similar size and opposite sex of your live one. i dont believe there are any "red" ocellaris

try feeding the clown frozen brine shrimp or something like New Life Spectrum, the finicky eaters blend.

 

[Chiya]

Hi Ethan,
Thanks for your reply..

I've spoken to my LFS but unfortunately the owner did not want to take the anemone back.. =(
Guess I'll have to keep up with the water changes & monitoring of tank parameters.

It's good(?) to hear to hear that the jump wasn't because of the water. It made me worry the entire day about the remaining clown.

Tried feeding both anemone & clown and the clown still refused to eat.
The anemone however, grabbed a huge chunk of food and ate. (fed it directly)

i dont believe there are any "red" ocellaris

Are you able to identify what clown is it? It'll be helpful so I can get a replacement of similar species.

Now the remaining clown looks very finicky and is swimming near the water surface.
Hope it's not planning to join its partner.. :worried2:

Water parameters are the same as before.

Regards,
Ryan

 

[Ethan_W]

looks like a regular ocellaris to me. i just picked up one today and he already ate more than his fair share of brine shrimp

 

[gompfb]

Chiya,

I'm pretty new to the hobby as well starting with a couple clowns and shrimp in a 36g several months ago. There are a lot more experienced peeps on here to advise you but I'd definitely think about putting some sort of top/lid on the tank to keep your fishies off the carpet. I think if you read around you'll find that fish suicide is not uncommon. Egg crate (aka light diffuser) is a pretty cheap and easy material to do this. Its a grid like plastic material frequently used in commercial florescent lighting fixtures. I recently made a 10g quarantine tank in preparation for new incoming fish and this material made a cheap/easy top for the tank. Good Luck.

 

[Chiya]

Just an update..

The anemone is still hiding in the corner despite the Koralia nano blowing at it..
I target fed it some food mix that my LFS sold me and it ate..

The clown's not eating though.. I've not seen it eat anything since saturday..
Hopefully it went after the stray bits of food when I'm not looking.
I'd think that the fish would be exhausted from not eating by now, but it's still swimming around (erratically)

Just saw the anemone open up.. Will try to post pics tomorrow.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

[Chuu]

As above, the tank is too small and more importantly too new for an anemone. You need to have your tank mature for about 6 months before adding an anemone, it will most likely die in your tank as it is right now.

Also your lighting even for a BTA is waaaaay subpar, that will also contribute to it's death.

The clown that jumped was probably bullied by the other. What clowns do is establish a hiararchy and one will "bully" the other til a female/male pairing is worked out. I recently QT'd 2 clowns in my 10g and one jumped simply trying to get away from the other one, so I reccommend a cover of some sorts ( you can buy clear mesh) til they pair up properly.

But seriously you need to slow down and get rid of the anemone. Ask someone local to you to take it.

 

[mthomp]

hi there. a few things come to mind here. first did your lfs tell you a 10gal is a beginer tank for salt? if so I would simply stop listening to them because the simple fact is small tanks are for much more experianced hobbiest.

As for your fish jumping and clown acting funny, you just need to slow down, your tank needs to adjust to the bioload everytime you add something new, and in a tank that small the swings are going to be huge and can completely devistate everything in it.

As far as your nem goes, they are not for beginers at all, they require stable water conditions which is going to be very hard to get in a 10gal, and strong lighting which you do not have. And since you said your LFS wont take it back that again would send redlights off and tell me he is just out to make a buck at any cost and not truely interested in educating anyone.

 

[savageAJC]

Chiya what are you feeding the clown? Might want to try something different, sometimes you have to find what they like to get them started eating. + Who knows why your clown jumped..these fish are crazy sometimes...it could have been bullied and wanted to escape.

Might not want that powerhead blasting at the nem, its new and will move where it wants.
Check out the local club in your area and see if you can trade it for a few nice corals.

 

[Blitzburggirl]

Chiya, where are you located? There are a great many local clubs and organizations that may be able to assist you. If you are local to me, I'd be glad to take your nem for a while, care for it, and give it back to you when you feel you are ready. Your LFS should at least offer that option to you

I agree with the other poster: return, sell, trade the nem, and concentrate on getting your tank as a safe environment for the clown you have. There are always clowns available, I wouldn't even rush to replace your jumper. Did you by any chance buy the 10 gallon semicircle with the led light? If so, I can tell you that light isn't strong enough to support a zoanthid (a type of coral- that is easy to care for) and your light is pretty much useless for coral. Certainly not enough for an anenome- even a BTA Have you gotten your water tested? How do you know your cycle is over?

 

[Blitzburggirl]

Plus a local club member can help steer you in the right direction. It really sounds like your lfs doesn't have your best interests, or those of the critters in mind.

 

[Chiya]

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments.. :beer:

Also your lighting even for a BTA is waaaaay subpar, that will also contribute to it's death.

The lighting is some DIY fixture that I did after looking at the DIY LED thread.
I wish I had a PAR meter so I know the exact numbers but I do not have access to one. The lights seem very bright to me though :spin2:

The clowns are a pair that I've seen in the display for a couple of weeks. There was a maroon pair along with a black ocellaris. Did not see any bullying then.
Maybe my water parameters are out of place, but the tests that I do every alternate day do not show any red. I'm guessing it might be the salinity as I'm using a swing arm hydrometer (trying to get a refractometer, any recommendations?)

Chiya, where are you located? There are a great many local clubs and organizations that may be able to assist you. If you are local to me, I'd be glad to take your nem for a while, care for it, and give it back to you when you feel you are ready. Your LFS should at least offer that option to you

Blitzburggirl, thanks for your kind offer. I'm from Singapore and I'm trying to join a local reefing club. But I'm new and have not made any friends in the local forum yet. (I prefer all of you in reefcentral to my local forum though :inlove

Did you by any chance buy the 10 gallon semicircle with the led light? If so, I can tell you that light isn't strong enough to support a zoanthid (a type of coral- that is easy to care for) and your light is pretty much useless for coral.

The tank is a 10g cube (rectangularish).. And the light is DIY as mentioned.

Anyway, here are the pictures of the anemone at 8pm,9pm and 10pm respectively.
Will try to pass the anemone to someone who can care for it better, in the meantime, I will do whatever I can to keep it alive..

Cheers,
Ryan

 

[ashtree68]

Keep up on your water testings and all of that, and like others have said try and find someone who could take it for a bit. Have you tried feeding your clown brine shrimp? Mine go crazy for them but it isn't a full meal, much like candy floss for clowns. Try mixing some brine and small mysis shrimp, mine love it. Mine will also eat flake food.

If you want to try and get the clown to host, take a flash light at night and flash the nem with it, do this for about a min every night or so and the my clowns have a tendency to go running over pretty quick.