Reef Discussion

[Donski]

i have a clown fish and he only stays at the top of the tank pretty much with his top fin out of the water. I have seen him going under chasing food but still only goes around 2cm under the surface.
he just does not look like he can go down lower
What could be wrong with him?

 

[MTG]

my clowns seemed to do the same thing. they allways stuck to the top 6cm of the tank and would never go down deeper. in saying that they would never move out of their spot. it doesent look like it is struggling to breath is it?

 

[Donski]

his breathing seems fine

 

[MagicJ]

Can to put up a pic? Is this the only fish you have in the tank at the moment?

 

[marineclass]

My clown stayed at the top of the tank, on a weird angle for the first month - as soon as i introduced an anemone he went down in it and now loves the lower part of the tank

 

[jashay]

my two clowns do the same, they have a cave that they like to get in aswell but most of the time they are at the surface. no breathing probs. maybe just a habit for clowns in tanks without a host?

 

[Dr. Schell]

what species of clown is it. My Percula clowns slept at the surface of the water for the first 3 years of their life. Spent this time within the top 1/4 of the tank as well. As they matured and gained confidence, they began to explore the rest of the tank.

 

[Donski]

its a tank bred occy. this is where he stays most the day

 

[Dr. Schell]

is it capable of swimming down. If not, coould be a swim bladder issue (often caused by an infection), but is more likely that it just likes the area. Is it near some sort of structure like a pump, overflow or skimmer that it can use as a surrogate anemone. Alternatiely, is there something in your tank that may be causeing fear in the fish (crab, larger fish, etc)

 

[Donski]

i have seen him swim half way down chasing some mysis. he mainly stays near a hang on filter, i think he sleeps in the returning water flow.
the only other thing in the tank is hermits, snails and a coral banded shrimp, no other fish

 

[Dr. Schell]

I think that this fish wants to host the hang on filter. It is common for tank bred clowns to do such things. They really do live up to their name of "clown fish"

 

[MTG]

clown fish can be extreamly boring without them hosting a anemone. were you thinking of adding any other fish?

 

[Donski]

just thinking of adding another clown

 

[Dr. Schell]

adding another clown can cause issues. Make sure that it is significantly SMALLER than the one you already have. There will be agression but you want the new-commer to submit to the existing fish ASAP. The twitching behaviour that the submissive clown does acts to reduce agression in the dominant fish.

 

[MTG]

:eek:have you had other marine fish?

 

[Donski]

i had a 4 foot tank before but moved houses and lost everything, my clowns in there were always swimming all around the tank which is why this seamed strange.

adding another clown can cause issues. Make sure that it is significantly SMALLER than the one you already have. There will be agression but you want the new-commer to submit to the existing fish ASAP.

i know this already, i am waiting to find a nice tank bred black and white occy and get the smallest one i can find to ensure i dont get 2 females.

 

[Dr. Schell]

good to see you have done your research :cool:

 

[marineclass]

yea my clown hosted a small pump in my first nano - it would swim on its side into a tiny gap between the top of the pump and the water level and stay up here - once i added another clown - a much bigger one - he followed the bigger clown around and copied his actions and now they live happily together in the anemone - like the doc said and others have shared - it seems to be pretty normal behaviour that he will grow out of

 

[Talmier]

My Clowns sleep behind the overflow box, they go straight there as soon as the lights go out

 

[Donski]

i got a bta today so hopefully he notices it and starts to host it.