Clown won't leave surface

[LTrain]

After about 6 months I've recently tried another small clown in my 10 nano. No other fish. 6 months ago I tried one and he never left the surface and eventually jumped...Now I'm gettting the same behavior. Last time I felt stray voltage was the culprit, so I've got a grounding probe now, but maybe to no avail...water params are to specs and frogspawn, ricordia, zenia, star polyps and aiptasia ): are thriving.
Any possible other causes beside voltage?
Possibility that ground probe doesn't work?
(I did feel stray current sting once with my fingers with the ground probe in place, how is this possible?)
Any and all advice is appreciated...

 

[Anonymous]

Another thought is that the oxygen content of your system is too low. Are you certain there is enough current in the tank? Is there a film on the surface of the water? Perhaps the clown is just chilling at the surface because the water there is slightly more oxygenated.

 

[Anonymous]

I would guess the O2 thing also. Are you running a skimmer?

 

[mandible]

Are they floating close to top on their side, mine used to sleep like that when I first got them but the must've grown out of it

 

[cdeakle]

Mine used lay on there side on the top of the tank as well. Mostly when sleeping, sometimes not. They eventually stopped as well.....

 

[Juck]

I'd guess low oxygen too,,,, try running an air pump through the tank for an hour or so,,,, if he 'percs'-up then I think we have the answer.

My sincere apologies to all for the dreadful perc pun.

 

[LTrain]

Thanks for the replies. No skimmer. I just now put on a surface skimmer (the only current for the tank is rio 600 powering an 18x4 HOB refugium). I may try adding an airstone to the refugium or seeing if I can find an old powerhead to drop in...
Also, he isn't doing the lay on the side thing, as I've seen that before...
Thanks again for the replies, any further ideas are appreciated...

 

[John_Brandt]

Could you elaborate on the clown's behavior please? Does it ever swim away from the surface? Does it leave the surface to feed normally? When it is at the surface does it always seem to want to be touching a wall? So it is not laying on its side at the surface?

If you think you feel a voltage sting when you touch the water it could be because your probe is not properly connected to a true ground. If you have a voltmeter we can talk you through a test of this.

Are there other fish in the aquarium acting normally?

 

[Anonymous]

No skimmah, eh? If there's a film on the surface of your water, that is going to be greatly impeding gas exchange.

Also, what is the volume of your aquarium? Without knowing the size, this is just a guess, but you might want to add more circulation power (more pumps).

 

[fishfanatic2]

Is your tank like sealed off from the outside world with a tight cover with no space? That could impede gas exchange.

Just for other ideas, is ypour tank like warm on top and cold on the bottom...just guessing. :?

 

[LTrain]

Thanks again for the replies. As for elaborating the behavior, the clown was basically just cruising around the top, like a shark, rarely dipping below about 2 inches into the column. I've put in an overflow box and dropped an airstone into the refugium...however, I noticed last night after lights off that the clown dropped down and began exploring. Today, lights on, same old behavior, but I unplugged lights and again, he dopped down and began to explore. I put an acrylic sheet between the lights (10 gal. tank, diy light box w/ 2x NO bulbs) and now he seems to be acting more like a newly acclimated fish should...Could my diy lights be emitting some sort of magnetic field, attracting the fish to the surface?...I'm very curoius about this, the fish still favors the top, but now not exclusively like before...no other fish in the system, corals doing great.

 

[Anonymous]

Could you be shocking (electrical) the water when the lights go on? ...just a thought.
~wings~

 

[UnderGrad]

LTrain,
He's captive bred, right? Is it a perc or ocellaris? We purchased three baby percs about 13 months ago. They did this exact same thing... they stayed at the top swimming sideways most of the time. Two of them did this for about 2 months... the third one did it for about 4 or 5 months (until one of the others jumped...). Eventually they all came down and found a host. Yours should be fine so long as he doesn't jump like your last one. It has nothing to do with the oxygen levels in your tank. I think this is not a rare behavior of captive bred percs. I've read other posts on this board regarding this exact behavior (including one of mine about 1 year back!). HTH.

Arlan

 

[LTrain]

I'm pretty sure he's captive bred, it is a small gs maroon, which I plan on moving into my 75 after he grows up a bit... putting the cover between the lights and the tank seems to be helping greatly, but it does raise future O2 concerns....

 

[Unarce]

LTrain,

I'm just a little curious about the other inhabitants in your tank. Particularly inverts. One of my buddies had the exact same experience with his GS Maroon.

 

[John_Brandt]

LT, you mentioned feeling an electrical sting when touching the water. You also mentioned that the clown only acts normal when the lights are off or when the acrylic sheet is in position. Given that, I wouldn't rule out voltage leaking from the DIY light system. Is the light fixture grounded (triple-prong plug)? Where is the ballast(s)? Is the reflector or light shell made of metal?

Do you have a voltmeter to run some tests?

 

[LTrain]

Inhabitants: pink zenia, orange ricordia, small frogspawn, small star polyp colony, numerous aipaptasia of various sizes, tons of pods and bristleworms.
Light box: just wood with no reflector, inside painted gloss white, normal endcaps and ballast is grounded, but I can't be sure how well, because like I mentioned before, even w. the grounding probe I sometimes feel a tinge of sting, it comes and goes...the wiring in this rental house is suspect, anyway...

 

[Anonymous]

LTrain, I agree with UnderGrad, I've read about this behavior many times, and my own experience is the same, my first ever goldbarred marroon did this for a couple of monthes after being brought home. At the time, I assumed, since he had a faint haze, that he had a touch of velvet on his forehead, and was deliberatly holding it out of the water in order to kill the parasite. Seems to have worked, but it took him long enough, LOL
I have also witnessed it at work, again, always with newly added clowns into system tanks.
Seems perfectly normal until the fish settles in and loses either its parasties or its fear of your depths :lol:

Still, it is always good to rule out all other problems to ensure that yes, it is just clownfish behaviour and not a serious problem.

 

[shr00m]

my false percula that has been in tank for about 3 years sleeps at the surface. i really want to get the guy a nice BTA, he sleeps on the surface but spends the whole day roaming the tank.

 

[teknopanda]

I received 2 captive bred clarkii that I put in an established ten gallon nano that had one damsel. One of the clarkii clowns would stick to the surface and sleep there. The other would stick around corals and behave normally. After 2 months the surface dweller died and now the other clown is still thriving. Maybe it is just a behavioral anomaly?