OMG!!! My clown is gone!!!!
- Thread starter seth16
- Start date
skinnyjoe1976
New member
just my 2 cents i also thought you are talking about the 75 unless your fish got depressed to see you setting up the 75 and didn't put them in and commeted double suicide. ammonia at .25 in a 5.5 gallon is huge and what happen to the ph? what test kits are you using and how many fish are in the 5.5 since the other fish are fine and danddy?
seth16
New member
I had a small blue damsel, and two clownfish in there. in my 5.5....they never touched the 75 yet, they would have had they survived. and the Ammonia levels and Nitrates werent like that the second i noticed it was gone, so that was due to the dead fish.....i have no idea where this fish could be. i mean, even if the hermits and crabs got to it, there would be some sign of bones or something, and there wasnt...???
chrisstie
Premium Member
Um, I personally wouldn't put a fish in a 5g tank unless it was like, that little flaming shrimp goby that doesn't get bigger than like 1\2 "...
3 fish in a 5.5???? No wonder they are dying
I have 3 small fish in my 12g aquapod and I feel I am pushing it and plan to move one to my 125g when i get it set up - i'd put one in my 55g but the species wouldn't mix
Unless I read your post totally wrong and that wasnt the situation then please forgive me but if thats the case, i'd say overcrowding is to blame
3 fish in a 5.5???? No wonder they are dying
I have 3 small fish in my 12g aquapod and I feel I am pushing it and plan to move one to my 125g when i get it set up - i'd put one in my 55g but the species wouldn't mixUnless I read your post totally wrong and that wasnt the situation then please forgive me but if thats the case, i'd say overcrowding is to blame
waterfaller1
New member
And nitrates at 40 is'nt great either. How about phosphates? How much surface movement/flow is in this tank? What are you using for filtration? How about temp, PH..as was mentioned?
On a side note, a UV is'nt going to "remove ich" from a fish, it may prevent it. The life cycle of ich is such that they will jump on & off a fish. Ich does not want to kill fish, it needs it as a host. There is a life cycle...they can be on substrate/ rocks. It's just when a fish gets stressed,loses it's slime coat, that the ich attack in great numbers.
On a side note, a UV is'nt going to "remove ich" from a fish, it may prevent it. The life cycle of ich is such that they will jump on & off a fish. Ich does not want to kill fish, it needs it as a host. There is a life cycle...they can be on substrate/ rocks. It's just when a fish gets stressed,loses it's slime coat, that the ich attack in great numbers.
FloridaFishMan
New member
Low pH can mean high CO2 levels and at night the oxygen levels might decrease significantly while CO2 increases. This can stress the fish and even kill it by suffocation. Increase the surface agitation (or even aerate with outside air) and that could help with that. I lost some fish when I first started my tank a couple years ago and I attribute the deaths to my low pH. What is your alk? If you alk is high and you have low pH you have high CO2 in your house. I had an apartment that was kinda crappy and the high CO2 kept the pH at 7.8 with my alk very very high. Aeration with outside air and using kalk for top off water solved that for me.
seth16
New member
Well, the clowns were not going to stay in the 5.5, they would have been moved, and i did water cahnges like every other day, there are three filters, one Whisper HOB (clown not in there), and one Duetto that is an inside tank filter, i also have a small palm filter (HOB). There was a 50gph powerhead in there that moved the water pretty well, creating good surface aggitation too. The water was always sooo clear and clean, and the PH and Nitreates and Nitrites and Alk. were always where they should be, but the reaosn they were hight when it ested last and posted them was because a fish died somsewhere in the tank. When i got the clown, they were very small, and the male still was, the female was not much larger, and the blue damsel was also very small. I was told by many people that i would be fine with just those fish for a while, but eventurally when the clowsn got too big, or i got my 75 setup, i would have to move them. i never had any problems with any parameters, and that leads tot he mystery of why my clown is gone. i searched ALL OVER the tank last night, moving rocks and eveything...no carcass, no bones, nothing. I have had crabs eat fish before, and they always leave some trace behind... and the crabs i had in there were only porcelean crabs and fiddler crabs, and hermits, no stone crabs or any of that other carnivorous stuff....
and if they would have lived up to today, they could have had this...
and if they would have lived up to today, they could have had this...
chrisstie
Premium Member
It sounds like a harsh reality but I have to agree with loosbrew.
I know there aren't any rules to follow to a T when it comes to trying new things- new tank equipment, mix of species, and even sometimes trying a bigger fish in a smaller tank but in a tank so small if you even so much as sneeze despite being diligent about your water it could have bad bad side effects
There have been SO many times when I have seen something at the store and been like "OMG i want that so bad!" and just end up not buying it because I know I am not prepared\cannot offer a good home for it.
I thought I could get away with a foxface in my 55g- he had tons of swimming room and was happy and eating like a pig, but at the same time he was knocking things over, would startle and end up getting a knick here or there from dashing behind a rock and he kept my other fish from coming out into the open as much as they are now. While he wasn't too big for the tank per se, the whole community inside is better off without him.
I wouldn't get discouraged though. You now have a bigger tank to work with and can plan more carefully about the species going in especially without another big tank waiting in the works (i dream of what to put in my 125g but i don't even have a job anymore so yeah.. that'll be a while)
I'd also wait a while before putting more fish in the 5.5 and when you do make a good firm decision on a fish that can be small enough to fit in there and be happy and not have to be moved - there are some tiny tiny nano ones that would be worth it
I know there aren't any rules to follow to a T when it comes to trying new things- new tank equipment, mix of species, and even sometimes trying a bigger fish in a smaller tank but in a tank so small if you even so much as sneeze despite being diligent about your water it could have bad bad side effects
There have been SO many times when I have seen something at the store and been like "OMG i want that so bad!" and just end up not buying it because I know I am not prepared\cannot offer a good home for it.
I thought I could get away with a foxface in my 55g- he had tons of swimming room and was happy and eating like a pig, but at the same time he was knocking things over, would startle and end up getting a knick here or there from dashing behind a rock and he kept my other fish from coming out into the open as much as they are now. While he wasn't too big for the tank per se, the whole community inside is better off without him.
I wouldn't get discouraged though. You now have a bigger tank to work with and can plan more carefully about the species going in especially without another big tank waiting in the works (i dream of what to put in my 125g but i don't even have a job anymore so yeah.. that'll be a while)
I'd also wait a while before putting more fish in the 5.5 and when you do make a good firm decision on a fish that can be small enough to fit in there and be happy and not have to be moved - there are some tiny tiny nano ones that would be worth it
cowboyswife
New member
You can get a 10 gallon starter tank at like walmart for like 30 bucks. It comes with a filter and lights, and that is what we use for our QT.
