Oscellaris Clowns Dying?

[phazer]

Whats the deal with oscellaris clown fish? In the past 3 months, I have gone through 5 clowns. Only one still alive. After speaking with my LFS, they told me that they too have been having problems keeping them alive.

They showed no signs of stress - eating good - and them bam - they're goners! Has anyone had this problem? Has anyone heard if their is a epidemic or something? I wonder if the problem is with farm-raised or ocean caught clowns....

Any suggestions wou be helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

[Ben1]

Do you no wether you have TR or not?

How long have you been set up and what are the specifics on your tank?

 

[Anonymous]

Where in NJ, and what LFS?
~wings~

 

[phazer]

I've been away and don't visit the forums much.

Anyway, my tank is a 135 G Oceanic - been up and running for a little over a year. Its not a reef - strictly loaded with fish and invertebrates ... have over-sized wet/dry, Turboflotor skimmer, Eheim canister, and Coralife UV. Tank has been operating decent considering my sometimes laziness in maintenanace.

Just having problems with clowns. Purchased from Absolute Fish. They seemed healthy at the store but quickly vanished. I just wondered if their was any other problems with clowns the last four months or so???

 

[Kevin1000]

I recall there was a batch of clowns with brooklynella that went through the distribution system a few months back.

Common clown is a pretty hardy fish and if you Qt your fish you should have very few losses.

 

[Anonymous]

This is interesting, and I've been wondering about this.

I bought a tank raised clown, and the thing was psychotic. It would swim constantly, and at night, it would constatnly swim up the corners of the tank and smash into the cover.

After several months, it started gilling, then died. No problems with any other fish or animals.

I recently bought a tank raised neon blue goby. A bit of the same whipping around behavior.

I have a theory on tank raised fish . . . it goes like this . . .

These things are being raised, I'm guessing, in huge tanks. They are competeing for survival for food and overcrowding/toxic conditions. The survival pressure is to live 2 or 3 months and that's all, then out the door to customers, if they're alive. Just like the inbred dogs with all of the hip/behavior issues, the tank breeding is creating clowns that not only couldn't tell an anemone from seaweed, but also clowns that are inbred and unfit for a long life.

Just a theory.
Anyway, no more tank bred for me.

 

[Ben1]

The survival pressure is to live 2 or 3 months and that's all, then out the door to customers, if they're alive. Just like the inbred dogs with all of the hip/behavior issues, the tank breeding is creating clowns that not only couldn't tell an anemone from seaweed, but also clowns that are inbred and unfit for a long life.

I think you will find the vast majority of people have the opposite luck with TR vs wild caught. I have raised many TR fish myself with almost no loss. My TR Ocelaris clown pairs female is going on 7 or so years. TR fish are much easier to feed and care for and less likely to carry disease.

Both of my pairs of TR clowns took to anemones, one pair moved on to a colt that they like better. I feel this is more likely becuase it gives more support for them to sleep and lack of natural predators in the tank limit their need for the anemone. My tomatos love the H. Malu though.

 

[Mouse]

Ive bought tank bred Corydoras before that were useless, i know there freshwater but the same applies. I dont think they get enough weight on young enough, and as a result stunt their growth and damage their metabolisms. I bought 10 panda Corydoras, and ive only got one left after a year, last time i buy anything tank bred by a local. I suppose commercially there making the same mistakes. The damaged metabolism would cause the fish to need more food, which could explain the mad rushing arround to the top of the tank (where the food comes in) and seen as your never going to know its age, id say theres a fair chance its well and truly stunted.

 

[Anonymous]

Ben - thanks for the thoughts on that. I knew that tank raised were marketed to be hardy, which does make sense, but I guess I got a bit jaded. I wonder if there are other folks out there who could offer opinions on tank raised vs. non tank raised.

 

[markfsmf]

I have the same problem as Cupric Poison. My TR oscellaris constantly swims around the tank but at night it swims in the same corner. I don't ever think it sleeps. It is kinda of wierd. All the other fish in the tank go to their respective spots and sleep @ lights out. What is the deal?

 

[Ben1]

here is anouther thread with the same sleeping behavior.

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... lown+sleep

 

[Anonymous]

Thinking some more on what Mouse suggested, and it makes a lot of sense. More than my theory anyway.

When I got the clown, he was about 1.5 inches, which has got to be less than full grown. I had him for a few months before he died, but he never grew at all. He never seemed to be a good eater either. I had a firefish that would eat 10+ brine shrimp. The clown would eat 1 or 2 and that's it. Weird.

 

[npaden]

I think that tank raised fish are MUCH hardier than wild collected.

Maybe you need to try a different LFS.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

npaden . . .
Maybe I will try that. My fear is that I get another gonzo fish that I won't have the heart to remove or get rid of.

 

[npaden]

Just so you know, clownfish aren't the most "normal" fish whether they are tank raised or wild collected. If they have a host and stick with it, it isn't as noticeable, but if they are wandering around the tank they look lost IMO and they aren't that good of swimmers.

I just brought a pair of my tank raised ocellaris up to my office tank and they seem to be doing fine but they do seem a little lost right now and I'm ready for them to figure out that the rose bta is a good place to be.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[krullulon]

also key to keep in mind is that just like with anything else, where you get your TR fish will make a big difference... especially in the last coupla years with more and more folks trying their hand at breeding clowns, it's important to know your supplier and their philosophy/methodology.

inland aquatics, for example, is a thought leader in both methodology and ethics when it comes to captive bred and tank raised fish. these folks pre-quarantine their fish, monitor mated pairs for compatibility and actually take the time to ensure the fish they send are healthy and mature enough to ship. there are a ton of places, however, that do none of these things.

before i buy critters from anywhere online i make sure to do fairly extensive searches for customer feedback, and i'm also blunt in asking about methodologies and philosophy. it's not hard to smell a BS story from suppliers who have no interest in ecology or animal welfare and just want to move as much "merchandise" as possible. ditto with your LFS -- if they've been having trouble keeping clowns alive, then i'd be pretty pissed-off if they continued selling them before they've solved the problem. responsible retailers would absolutely quarantine any questionable stock until they were certain that the things they were selling were healthy.