what to do with Rod's onxy clowns?

[t4zalews]

Premium aquatics picked up another shipment of Rod's onyx clowns so I invested in two of them. They come on Tuesday. Now my tank right now is a 65 been running ~3 years. I'm hesitant to put them right into the tank from the get go..even though there are 2 anemones for them to hide in if they go there. But there are some bigger fish in the tank.

1) should I just let them roam free in the tank openly?
2) should I build them a small tank to put inside the main tank til they grow bigger? If I do this option, how big of a tank should I build..room I have for it would be 15"x4"x6"...roughly 1.55 gallons of a small tank. I'd drill holes all throughout the little tank for circulation.

Any other ideas/comments would be much appreciated. I'm excited to get these, wanted them for a long time.

 

[stlrams88]

What fish are in there now?

 

[t4zalews]

hippo tank, melanurus wrasse, flame angel, mandarin, orange spot goby, and a goldstripe maroon pair (i'm removing them this weekend...the female is just too mean for the tank and has been knocking over corals and kicking up sand)

 

[t4zalews]

^ the onxy pair will be replacing the clowns leaving the tank

 

[OrionN]

Better isolate them until your get the maroon out. The maroon will kill the two baby clowns quickly.

 

[jwilliams860]

I got 2 onyx in today and they are in my refugium til they get some size to them, they are already eating flake food.But low flow in there and not much to get them caught in

 

[BeginnerReefer]

I didn't see anything about a QT have you considered that? You could try QT'ing until they get a little bit bigger, depending on the size of your QT tank..


But I would highly recommend QTing them for 6 weeks.

 

[t4zalews]

1) I do not have a QT so that is not an option, I know I know, but with 3 years of fish keeping I haven't had a single problem without one. (UV was my best investment ever)
2) the marroon clownfish will be out by sunday, so the maroons will not be in the tank when the new fish arrive.
3) I'm willing to build a intank tank so to speak, to house the fish and watch feeding habits and while they get acclimated. My only question about doing this is will this small tank be big enough for them. The dimensions I was thinking of are located in the first post.

 

[t4zalews]

I just looked at some monetary figures for a small QT for these fish. How big of a tank would I need, like a 10 gallon? would I pico work or is that too small? I have like 100$ from some corals I just sold so it would go toward a little tank IF NEED BE.

I'd still much rather build a smaller tank inside the main tank cuz it would be cheaper.

 

[joe1584]

Just get a breeder net and keep them in there till they are big enough thats what i did with myn.

Joe

 

[rkelman]

I agree QT until they are big enough to be safe in your tank. UV does almost nothing for Ich or Brook so don't think your safe.

 

[t4zalews]

I might just get a breeder net...thats what i was thinking about doing.

BTW...FWIW, I tend to disagree with the statement that UV does not help with ich. When I first started my 65 I had many problems loosing fish to ich. Since implementing the UV I have not lost a fish due to an illness.

I decided to unplug my sterilizer for a week and in that week my hippo started to catch some ich, I through the sterilizer back on and they all went away. In my personal experience I will always run a UV for fish health.

But some methods work better for some people, UV is my method..nothing wrong with QT'n if you have an extra tank....I dip all SPS corals I recieve as well.

 

[ladyonyx]

My pair of Rod's onyx clowns took 5 weeks to host anything other than the powerhead and were pretty scared of my royal gramma even though she was never aggressive with them, so I would definitely say isolate the clowns from other fish for a little while. A breeder net would probably be just fine for them. If you decide to set up a QT, they don't need too much space; mine were fine in a 2-g for a few weeks and didn't seem unhappy.

 

[t4zalews]

I'm guessing just find the biggest breeder net I can find..I have one that said large, but it's not that big...should I try and see if I can find a bigger one..the one I have is from Lee's Aquarium pet products...just plastic poles, top, base, and mesh bag that you wrap around it..then metal legs to attach to side of aquarium. roughly its 7"x5"x6". Should I try and find a bigger one or will this do just fine for the little guys?

 

[small alien]

a used 10 gallon tank, heater and HOB filter should cost you next to nothing. well worth it.

 

[pecan2phat]

I agree to isolate them. I had a 3 shipped to me but one was DOA in the bag. The DOA was literally 1/2" and the other two are close to 3/4".

IMO, they are too small to be sold but what do I know.
I attempted to put them in a 40 breeder with plenty of mushroom covered rocks. There was a flame wrasse pair, pink margin wrasse, tiny ebili angel in the tank. Everyone went after the babies so I netted them out.

 

[rkelman]

1/2 to 3/4 is much too small to be sold. Much less shipped. You would have to be pretty money hungry to sell them that small. Its a total disregard for the animals and their customers. I'd ship them back and dispute the bill with my credit card company.

 

[t4zalews]

I'm guessing if I do a 10g mini tank I should do 1g water changes every week. It's been such a long time since the nano I had and this tank will have no LR, LS, or skimmer...so don't exactly know how to keep the water prestine like my DT

 

[rkelman]

I doubt 1g a week would be enough with minimal filtration.

 

[block head]

i'm cheap,but spend the 10 bucks and buy a walmart hob filter or pick something off craigslist. clowns are dirty. i'd treat/qt in a bucket or bin for a month. formalin and prazipro would be worth the $10. u have hundeds of $ in fish, no good reason not to qt.