Normal Behavior?

[Grimreaperz]

I have been reading a lot about clowns and know they can be strange fish...just curious if this behavior is normal...

2 Picasso ( percula) clowns Juvies.
Got them yesterday.
In a 5g tank with bubbler and Aquaclear HOB 50 filter running....and nd heater.

They seem lethargic. And just swim into the bottom right corner, sometimes just laying on their side...they will switch positions and sometimes neither will be swimming....just curious if I am doing something I shouldn't be...

SG is 1.020
Temple between 74-79. Depending on night or day.
Dose I bit of prime just to combat ammonia if any....
They don't seem to be eating either...the guy I bought them from did DIY frozen sea food mixes and NLS Pellets.

Anyone have an all inclusive article I can read about everything there is to know about these awesome fish! Here is a bad video about what I am talking about.

https://vimeo.com/192733078

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[ThRoewer]

They act normal for clownfish in a naked tank.

Go to the nearest garden center (Home Depot, Lowe's, Orchards Supply,...) and get a ceramic flowerpot, one of those simple red ones for about a dollar. Clownfish love them as anemone surrogate. Once you put that in they will likely go inside and behave more like clownfish in an anemone.
Best is to lay the pot on the side.

 

[Soluent1]

I am no expert, but shouldn't The salinity be higher?

 

[Grimreaperz]

They act normal for clownfish in a naked tank.

Go to the nearest garden center (Home Depot, Lowe's, Orchards Supply,...) and get a ceramic flowerpot, one of those simple red ones for about a dollar. Clownfish love them as anemone surrogate. Once you put that in they will likely go inside and behave more like clownfish in an anemone.
Best is to lay the pot on the side.

They are in QT though...thought you weren't supposed to have porus surfaces in QT that pests could live on. They are Juvies and Tank Raised. By the same guy that bred them. But I still want to play it safe. There are PVC elbows and such in the QT tank. I have no problem getting a flower pot just thought that was for more after QT.

Just let me know I am new to this after all.

Any advice on feeding? they are about 1inch just over.

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[ThRoewer]

Parasites will live (encyst) just fine on smooth surfaces. Porous or smooth doesn't really matter to them.
I generally use Real Reef rocks or ceramic flowerpot shards in QT. With some fish (jawfish) even coral gravel.

Feeding depends on what they like and doesn't spoil the water too quickly. I usually stick with frozen food and sometimes live tigger pods.

 

[Grimreaperz]

Parasites will live (encyst) just fine on smooth surfaces. Porous or smooth doesn't really matter to them.
I generally use Real Reef rocks or ceramic flowerpot shards in QT. With some fish (jawfish) even coral gravel.

Feeding depends on what they like and doesn't spoil the water too quickly. I usually stick with frozen food and sometimes live tigger pods.

Awesome thanks for the advice. I will be picking up some flower pots tomorrow.

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[Fish Friend]

They find places where the current allows them to rest and "perk" there.
These look exactly like they are tank-raised and used to that behaviour.
I will see if I can find you a good video so you can see them chilling in the corner
Beautiful fishes btw.

They should be more active during the morning & evening and naturally chill in the midday but that is base on watching wild caught ones, so I don't know about yours

Good brand foods will state clearly that they produce less ammonia due to well chosen content.
If you like live foods, you can easily grow a huge and extensive combination of Phytoplankton & Zooplankton (like Copepods, moina Salina, rotifers & mysis, hold back on brine shrimp as they are not nutritious) in some PET bottles in a bucket. Only add a fluorescent bulb, an airpump and a timer and you have free food for everything in aquariums in general.

 

[Fish Friend]

Ah, technical stuff prevents me from linking videos over my phone. Anyway, you can easily find a video or two on YouTube, just search for clownfish babies. You can see how they pick a corner and relax there as there is no LR. They are just chilling

 

[Grimreaperz]

Ah, technical stuff prevents me from linking videos over my phone. Anyway, you can easily find a video or two on YouTube, just search for clownfish babies. You can see how they pick a corner and relax there as there is no LR. They are just chilling

Awesome thanks for the advice!! I will do that...I have a lot a research to do!!! The seem fine...just was worried about the "resting" behaviour as that's how my firefish acted b4 it died....but guess they are just being clowns

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[ThRoewer]

Clownfish normally hang out in their anemone and only leave it shortly to grab food or chase certain other fish away. Otherwise they like to be rather lazy. They are for sure not very active swimmers

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[Grimreaperz]

Clownfish normally hang out in their anemone and only leave it shortly to grab food or chase certain other fish away. Otherwise they like to be rather lazy. They are for sure not very active swimmers

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Yeah I have been doing a lot of research research on Anemones I think I may try my hand at getting a RBTA for these 2. Introduce it to them in QT and then put it in my DT and wait till it attaches and put them in once it's happy...is that a good idea or should I just put them all in the DT at the same time and hope for the best?

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[Fish Friend]

Here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMdzg4Y-IHY

this was the video I thought could help in determining if it is normal behaviour or the other more bad option - I can understand why you would ask, it would look just like the weakness before death but it is just clowning ... I mean, look at them just doing that, who would really know if it was normal first time you see it

I do have to say this:

Clowns will perk on their safespots, constantly, unless.. you keep them alone, and then they play and socialise all over the tank as well. They are tactical swimmers that rely on guarding their turf, sometimes for several generations, so stocking clownfish-tanks with competetion quickly leads to them being rather busy in constant guard mode.

With the anemone I don't know.
If you need to treat the QT tank with copper, you would have to remove it again.
If the clowns are not used to anemones, it might take longer for them to become interested once they are in the tank.

Basicaly, if the anemone wanders to a spot they dont care for, without them having bonded firsts, the fishes might deside to go elsewhere in the tank.

So it is ofc much more important to do it right, if you are unsure if they will bond.

.....and enjoy !

 

[Grimreaperz]

Here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMdzg4Y-IHY

this was the video I thought could help in determining if it is normal behaviour or the other more bad option - I can understand why you would ask, it would look just like the weakness before death but it is just clowning ... I mean, look at them just doing that, who would really know if it was normal first time you see it

I do have to say this:

Clowns will perk on their safespots, constantly, unless.. you keep them alone, and then they play and socialise all over the tank as well. They are tactical swimmers that rely on guarding their turf, sometimes for several generations, so stocking clownfish-tanks with competetion quickly leads to them being rather busy in constant guard mode.

With the anemone I don't know.
If you need to treat the QT tank with copper, you would have to remove it again.
If the clowns are not used to anemones, it might take longer for them to become interested once they are in the tank.

Basicaly, if the anemone wanders to a spot they dont care for, without them having bonded firsts, the fishes might deside to go elsewhere in the tank.

So it is ofc much more important to do it right, if you are unsure if they will bond.

.....and enjoy !

Ahahaha clowns are the best!!! Loving them more and more each day...they have started the battle for dominance. Both will take their turns charging at the other so keeping close eye on them.

I never dose copper....I do TTM with Prazipro on tanks 2 and 4.
Then 2 week observation. Maybe I will place it in during the observation period hopefully they will get used to it before they go into the tank.

Still doing research though as I am a bit paranoid from some of the horror stories.

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[Fish Friend]

Ah, perfect. You got full control so I won't pretend to advice you (just call me supernoob)- I do think they will love to play with an anemone if they figure out that they can, so it sounds like the right plan.

What type of horror has you paranoid ?
If it is really worrying, I would need to know about it

 

[Grimreaperz]

Ah, perfect. You got full control so I won't pretend to advice you (just call me supernoob)- I do think they will love to play with an anemone if they figure out that they can, so it sounds like the right plan.

What type of horror has you paranoid ?
If it is really worrying, I would need to know about it

Just heard about them getting stuck in power heads etc if they aren't happy and move to much. Hoping to get a small one and it can grow with the clowns. Also heard about them tuning away and dying and crashing tanks etc...just want ti make sure I have everything I need in order for it to succeed before I buy it. I think I should be good just need to ensure water parameters are stable. Which they normally are.

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[Fish Friend]

ah yes, the power-head exit I have seen many times at my LFS.
If they really have a dislike to the tank (and my LFS has at least 200+ nitrates right now), they will go towards what they think is a good strong current to get out, unlike things with eyes that has a chance to figure out where they are. Turning off powerheads they can reach for a period to settle in (they can climb the glass unless they prefer sand) seems like a really good choice if it is possible on the individual tank. I turned powerheads off the arrival day and overnight.

They do decompose really fast, turning into a soup of ammonia, giving depth to their name "Anamonia" - In this stage, their stinging cells will release into the water, this can be harmful to the livestock as well. If you see all the tentacles deflate -really- while 1 tentacle is sticking directly up and releasing dark matter, I would worry.
In my observation, this is similar to their version of "final breath".
After that, the aquarian will see wounds in the outer surface of the anemone, this is about the same stage as where the human body burst open and release decomposition but anemones can still move - the anemone should not remain in the tank after that.

I had planned to get Picassos, but fell for another fish while trying to find a picasso-salesman Got a LTA & 2 clown pandas, the LTA is too small My "plan" was that it would get a month or two of growing while I waited on my LFS to find pandas for me. He wanted to surprice me when he got them, so I just came by to get salt etc, and then saw them I had to take them home right away, because the last pair I got from him, I left with him for a week.

He put a BTA in his tank with them.
It tried to flee through the powerhead...
It died, it decomposed, it wasn't removed .......
When I came to pick up that pair, they looked tattered and slightly paled.
I took them home and they were dead the next morning.

On a different note, I found a statistic somewhere, about how long people had anemones survive and how their habits were. It did not find anything conclusive but it found one interesting commonality:

Those who said they fed it 30days a month, still had living anemones.
Some aquarians do seem to prefer their anemones to eat very rarely, so this might be a good statistic to inform about. I will see if I can find that link again so it is not just my word for it, and good luck, you have great control over your aquaria so luck seems to be all you need

 

[Grimreaperz]

Awe man thank you so much for the write up...I am going to be doing water tests everyday this week on my DT to make sure I have stability. My Nitrate are no where near 200 lol....I will just be diligent and watchful on introduction day.

I really appreciate the info....seems like you will have some time before it becomes a nightmare....as long as you are watching it closely. I have a guy that I will be picking one up from on Saturday. My clowns still have a bit to go in QT. (They don't seem to like the flower pot all that much lol. Had to put it in their corner facing the wall and they barely go in it)

I am also getting toadstool and hammer tip. I have frog spawn. They will find something they like lol....

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[ThRoewer]

I found giganteas to be less problematic in regards to moving around.

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[Grimreaperz]

I found giganteas to be less problematic in regards to moving around.

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Only a 36g DT I think I am pushing it with a BTA....even the BTA I will need to keep in check quite often....

They finally started to host the flowerpot so I am hoping the transition to the RBTA won't be to bad.

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[Fish Friend]

Awesome