Warning for Aqua Pod people...

[doin' fin]

My son received a 12 gal a pod for his birthday. A month after being up (seeded with lr, sand, and water from our 90) with no noticeable cycle or spiking he used his money to buy two of the three saddleback clowns from the lfs. We bought him an anemone to go with the clowns. Last night, the smallest of the two clowns was found in the middle filtration chamber. We had no idea that the clown could clear the back wall with the plastic clover on the lid so close but he obviously did... Is there a mod to prevent this, has anyone else had this happen? Any suggestions on how to break the news? Thanks-

 

[24gnanonewbie]

I saw... some where on this site... a guy that added additional plexi-glass to the top, adheared by an epoxy.

 

[doin' fin]

Thanks-
I cannot imagine we would be the first to encounter this as an issue but you never know. We thought of egg crate but it is to thick. We are sick as this is our first loss since we have had sw. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Kigs]

healthy fish shouldn't try to jump in the first place. unless they are gobies or blennies that scare easily. clowns, ime, doesn't jump unless they are stressed out from tank environments. along with the mod cover, check the water parameters and your fish supplier as well. just my 2c.

 

[doin' fin]

Water was okay (not perfect but nitrates were <10 and that was the only thing out of range). The clowns were not locking lips so we thought that they were going to be okay...the larger of the two was chasing and pecking some but we thought that was just establishing dominacy and territory over the anemone. We also have a cbs in the tank. The clowns were together in the same tank (with a third that was purchased just a few hours to my picking up the two) for over a month without problems. No anemone or lr present though. My husband thinks that the larger clown chased the smaller one and he jumped. We don't really know for sure- The smaller clown displayed some of the quivering and laying on its side so we thought they were going to work it out. We are all sick about it.

 

[Kigs]

there were 3 clowns in the tank? if so, it's possible that the other two bullied the smaller one to the point of jumping. also if it's a common cbs, it might have been too big for a 12g AP and they tend to get aggressive towards other tankmates when short in space. you might want to consider more peaceful inverts, such as skunk, fire, or peppermints. when pairing up clowns for the first time, you should always keep a close eye on'em. they usually work it out after much bickering, but from time to time, they just don't get along, in which case, results in the death of the less dominant one if left alone in a small space.

 

[doin' fin]

sorry- there were 3 in the tank at the LFS. Someone bought one of them about 11:00am and I bought the other 2 around 1pm. The three of them had been together for over a month without any incidents. I bought the smallest and largest. They appeared to be getting along okay no bite marks or damaged spots on the smallest clown until we found him in the filtration. We took the CBS back today (just in case). My son spotted an emerald crab so we got him. Thought about the peppermint but were afraid that maybe the anemone would eat it. We have a skunk and blood/fire in our other tank. They are both pretty big and cool to watch. Blood shrimp is very shy though. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

 

[paradicio]

My clown sleeps at the top of the tank against the divider for the chambers. I've found him in the rear chambers a couple of times. It's not that he's trying to jump, I think he just "slips" over.

You may consider a plexiglass mod, or even some egg crate if it becomes too much of an issue.

 

[kingfisher62]

I found my perc clown in the chamber with the pump! thank god he is fine. Maybe i will do a mod ,next time he might end up on the drip tray!

 

[schristi69]

For the first 3 months my jawfish spent more time in the sump area than he did in the tank! He was a very shy fish anyway and not seen that often. When I hadn't seen him for about 3-4 days, check the sump area and there he would be. Stupid fish. Extending the wall could have one bad result. If the overflow got blocked, the pump could drain the sump into the display area and cause an overflow. As it is now, the water would just flow back over the partition. Might want to make drainage slots in any extension you put in.

 

[Water Box]

I came home the other night to find my male ocellaris (of my breeding pair) laying flat in the drip tray of my BC29. Luckily still alive. Plopped him back in and the next morning he was fine. I have since blocked the back of the tank with a rigid filter pad and will be epoxying a strip of eggcrate to that area to avoid fture escape attempts.

 

[kalireefer]

I have one clown in my AP 24 and he has been in the back chamber 3 times since i got him. He seems to be fine. All of the tank parameters are good. I keep my tank full to the brim. I think he just slips over the edge. It usually happens during the night.

 

[drjuice28]

Exact same thiing happens to mine on occassion. No big deal, as long as you pay close enough attention to notice that he's missing!

 

[doin' fin]

We checked within an hour and he was there and then he wasn't... We have lr but we have left the bio balls and rings in the middle chamber until the spike hits and then we will phase the man made filters out... He was in the "wet/dry" chamber and there wasn't enough water for him.

I guess this happens to more people than I thought- luckly for you guys your back chambers weren't running bio balls or had enough water in them for the fish to be okay. Just wanted to let others know our experience so it doesn't happen to them.