Clownfish acting odd

[schatzi]

I have a tank bred Ocellaris that is currently the only fish in my tank. He's been in there about 6 weeks. He rarely ever leaves the back corner. I know clowns are by nature pretty timid about swimming around because of predators but it's gotten to the point he won't go after food that isn't within a couple of inches from him. He eats great, but only when it's right near by. I have a dottyback in QT that will be added to the DT in about 8 days, I figure maybe having another fish in there will draw him out more. As I said this is a progression of timidity. A few weeks ago he would at least venture away from the back wall, sometimes to the front glass, although he has never been in the middle of the tank unless he gets caught in the flow and has no choice. I've considered adding another clown so he would have a friend but that would be at least 4 weeks away since I would have to QT first.

Does this sound common?

 

[guarda]

I wouldn't worry about it. Clowns ARE odd.

 

[bigdog1428]

He is mad at u for leaving him in the tank by himself ..

 

[guarda]

Mine stayed in a 3" x 3" area for the first 9 months. Hosted my return pump and never even looked at my rbta. Added a juvenile clown and after 3months the juvie hosted the rbta then the original one kicked the smaller one out. Both tank bred false percs. I was worried too but after asking and researching, I've come to the conclusion that they're just weird like that...

 

[schatzi]

Yeah I've read about their weird behavior just thought I'd check. Thanks for the feedback

 

[KathyC]

What kind of Dottyback do you have in your QT tank?

Since your clown is being a little skittish to begin with, I'd be very concerned about adding almost any of the Dottybacks to the tank as they can be quite aggressive and will often pick on more passive fish.

I'd also be sure to have a cover on the tank.

 

[schatzi]

Orchid Dottyback - Tank-Bred (Pseudochromis fridmani)

DT has a canopy

 

[KathyC]

Nuts!!! - I just erased my entire reply...I hate when that happens!

Ypu might want to consider adding at least one other fish at the time you add the Dottyback in case there is any aggression, you don't want it entirely directed at your timid Clown.

Is the canopy fully enclosed? If not, you might want to add some netting to the open areas

What else are you considering adding to the tank?

 

[schatzi]

The canopy is pretty complete.

This is the list I'm working from, in order of planned purchase. I don't think I'll be getting any more fish until February, I've got some other purchases to make plus want to start adding corals and I've got to pace the $ outlay.

Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) In the tank
Orchid Dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani) In QT now
Resplendent Anthias (Pseudanthias pulcherrimus) Planning 2 females, 1 male
Spotted Cardinalfish (Sphaeramia nematoptera) Qty 3
Schooling Bannerfish (Heniochus diphreutes)
Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus)
Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens) must have for the wife

I figure this will take most of the next year to complete.

 

[KathyC]

I love it when a reefer has a plan!

The upside for you is the tank is a 125, so you have room for the fish to avoid each other if they so chose. Is it 5' long?

..and if you've noticed anything about Manhattan Reefs...we love pics...can you post any?

..one more thing - Welcome to MR

 

[schatzi]

it's 6 foot. pics from when I started the cycle.

The kitten has since been replaced with a Reeflo Dart. Seems to work much better and require less food.

The livestock list isn't 100% set, but that's where I'm at now. Anything from this point revolves around a basically peaceful reef and they have to fit in with the fish already there. We're also enjoying a nice showing of green hair algae right now, fun to watch but starting to get out of hand. I have 150 snails coming from reefcleaners early next week to add to the handful I got from the LFS.

 

[KathyC]

The kitten has since been replaced with a Reeflo Dart. Seems to work much better and require less food.

LMAO :cat: Good one.

That is one beautiful tank..looking forward to seeing the progress with it!!

 

[JonnyJ]

Awesome tank! From the photos it looks like you did some custom rockwork.

My tank has custom rock and I've been battling HA for a while now.

What did you use?

 

[schatzi]

Thanks! I Zip-tied rock to egg crate and then filled in the spaces with pond foam. After the foam set I covered it with slow cure epoxy and poured sand all over it. Let it sit for a few days and then used silicone to attach the sections to the back glass and the overflows.

I suppose I could be getting some phosphate leaching out of the egg crate but I think my algae growth is more just the new tank getting settled in plus I'm over feeding a bit for just one fish. It's been growing for weeks and other than water changes and a small number of snails I'm not really trying to control it yet.

 

[schatzi]

Well by accident I think I figured out why my clown has been in the corner. I shut off my CL pump to feed him. Since he would hardly budge I wanted to be sure he had time to get the food. After he ate he started swimming around a bunch. So I valved back the CL output more than I had been, from about 30% to 50% or so and yesterday we found him doing laps around the tank! It was so exciting. So maybe it was too much flow for his taste. I estimate I had been doing about 2700 gph from that pump. I'm using the Dart impeller and will be switching to the Snapper impeller when I get time. So maybe that was it.