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black and white clownfish color loss... lack of fdg., data 1/15/09 Okay so... I have a black and white clownfish about 2 years old eats pellet and mysis hates flake. So this week I noticed that she had a white stripe from arm fin to start of tail fin about half and inch wide. Not so much white as it is a pale black discoloration. <Stress coloration... Something/s amiss here> She is still eating spectrum pellets but puts the mysis in her mouth and spits it out? <Another bad sign> I tried to catch her to put her in a qt but she wasn't having it. I've done searches and don't know what this could be? I've had ick before and velvet and I've seen a clown with brook.. it doesn't seem like any of those. The fish is not slimy in anyway just like she was tagged on both sides in the exact same spot...so what gives?? Please help I don't want to lose her. Thanks, Alyssa <Let's default, check on the most likely cause here... water quality... Test for accumulated metabolites... For most folks this is just Nitrates... at any length, serial dilutions (water changes), the use of GAC (carbon)... are useful. Send data please... water tests. Bob Fenner> Re: black and white clownfish color loss
1/19/09 Re: black and white clownfish color loss
1/19/09 Clownfish pair & RBTA, beh., reading -
12/06/08 Clarkii's Swimming Motion 11/13/08 Hi, this is the first time I am writing to you guys. It might be a dumb question but I am really looking for a definitive answer (if there is one) as no one has yet to give me an answer to my satisfaction. <Will try!> Few months ago my LFS had about 6 clarkii Clownfishes in one tank. Out of the 6 I believe there were about 2 clarkii that had a distinct up and down swimming motion (very similar to the saddle back clowns but more intense) the entire time I was observing while the others swam like normal clowns. Those 2 that was bobbing up and down the whole time also looked to be colored a bit different as there fins were a lot more bright yellow and the tail fin being more of a fan shape and bigger. I went back several weeks later to purchase the 2 Clarkiis but they were gone! And all the other Clarkii's they have gotten since then had the normal swimming motions and not the up and down motion. I searched many YouTube videos on clarkii and out of so many of them I only saw 1 Video of the Clarkii's with this up and down swimming motion. 1: I know there are color variations in Clarkiis depending on where they came from but are there swimming variations as well? <Not per se from distribution, but from fish to fish there will be.> 2: If not could that swimming motion be displaying some kind of emotions? <Likely so, getting used to the environment. Possibly the difference between tank bred and wild fish.> 3: And it could be my imagination, but it appears the one's that swim up and down seem to have way bigger tail fins and much brighter colors. They just flat out look better. <No doubt.> 4: Does the tail fins on the Clarkii's get smaller as they mature? or do they just look smaller in relations to the bigger body size? <Smaller in relation to the body; the fins do grow.> Sorry for asking too many questions, hope you guys can put some light on this topic for me as I have been wanting to buy a pair of Clarkiis but wanted to wait and see if indeed its a variation and not my imagination. <Nope, not your imagination. Part of picking an individual fish, they are just this.> Thank you PS: I have put a link to the video I was referring to on YouTube, please take a look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvj_k2rf0Q0 <Ahh, thank you, Scott V.>
Symptoms of an Ocellaris Clownfish changing genders 10/23/08 Hello WWM Crew, <Hi> I have tried searching for symptoms of a clownfish changing from male to female. I have a 30 gallon tank with this livestock: 1 Royal Gramma, 1 Linares Wrasse, 1 Large Ocellaris Clownfish, 2 Turbo Snails. Water Conditions are all normal. I recently added a smaller Ocellaris Clownfish into the tank. I kept the new fish separated from all of the fish in a small breeder net cage. <Did you QT this fish first?> After about a week I let him join the rest of the fish, at first the larger Clown would back up into the smaller one and shake its tail into it. They had seemed to be getting along together. Today, I woke up and saw the two swimming together just fine. When I came home from work, the larger one was swimming alone, breathing somewhat rapidly (not interested in food). <A bad sign when a clown does not want food.> It also seemed to have a large what looks like poop hanging from it (brownish in color). <Something amiss here, see here for more http://www.wetwebmedia.com/clnfshdisart.htm, may just be stress from the new addition but could signal a disease as well. Watch this fish closely.> The smaller Clown seems to be swimming fine and eating normally. Could the larger Clown be turning into a female? <Probably already is.> If so are these normal symptoms? <No, there are not really any symptoms to this, except accelerated growth.> <Chris> Ailing Pagoda and angry Perculas 10/8/08 Hello! <Hi> I have a small 8 gallon BioCube at my office with some live rock, mushrooms, anthelia, polyps, and a pagoda cup coral. I have 2 false percula clowns, a neon goby and a yellow watchman goby. <That is too much life for such a small tank.> My tank has been up and running for about 1 1/2 years now with all the same fish and corals. Recently, my pH became very low (7.4) despite weekly water changes, and adding buffer. Out of desperation (my first mistake) I purchased a buffering powder that after adding 1/2 of a packet would miraculously adjust my pH to 8.2. Yeah, right. As soon as I added it, my pagoda seemed to shrink before my eyes! <Probably pH shock.> It's polyps retracted and it stayed like this for about a week. I was sure I killed it, however it is opening up again although the polyps are smaller? It's just not the same! So my first question is, what did I do and can it be remedied? <You most likely raised the pH too fast, not much can be done now except maintain good water quality.> My second problem is related to the percula clowns. They made their home in the pagoda cup and guarded it if I tried to get near it. I removed the pagoda to put it in a 58 gal we have at home in order to try to nurse it along. They are ANGRY!!! The female is attacking other corals in the tank now and is not a happy camper. <Is looking for a new home.> I didn't know if I should try to replace the pagoda with another coral in hopes that they might take to it, or if once they have a home they never adapt to another one? <Can find a new home if they find something to their liking.> Do I put the pagoda back in the tank and see if it recovers? <I would leave it in the more stable larger tank.> Another tidbit... I tested the 8 gal. and figured out the calcium levels were too high which was causing the low pH. I have since gotten the parameters back to normal. <Good, but the inherent problem of small tanks, parameters can change radically quickly in small water volumes.> Thanks for your tips! Wendy <Welcome> <Chris> Clownfish and coral behaviour. Umm, needing to read re stocking, wet-dries, marine aq. keeping period 9/11/08 Dear WWM crew, <Eric> Thanks for all your help so far... I have a couple of questions today, you guys are truly awesome at helping out. Here is my tank set up 30 Gal glass, 2 small powerheads pointing horizontally towards each other. A Prizm 100 skimmer, and a wet dry trickle filter rated up to 30 gal. <Please do look into converting this...> It is a saltwater tank with 35 lbs of live rock. Water chemistry is as follows. Specific Gravity 1.025, pH 8.2-8.3, Zero Ammonia, and nitrates, phosphates are at about 0.05 ppm. Alkalinity is in the high range right now, as I had to add a fair bit of buffer <Mmm, not directly to the tank please... through it being added to water ahead of change-outs> to bring the pH up over the last few days, it fell just below 8.0 (Ahhhhh!) <In part the wet-dry filter's doing> I use reverse osmosis water for top ups and to make new saltwater for changes. <This is where you need to add the "buffer"> I try to do a small 3-5 gal water change once every 1-2 weeks. I add marine buffer made by Seachem as directed (once every two weeks or so )to keep the pH and Alkalinity in the normal range. Normally the alkalinity is in the normal range. I just moved the tank a few weeks ago. I have 3 ocellaris clownfish (I know, bad number, I'm thinking of getting rid of one, bring it back to LFS). And a small coral beauty angelfish. <This also needs to go elsewhere... to larger quarters> Also, 4 blue legged hermits (small), one scarlet hermit (bigger), about 5-10 Nassarius snails, and 2 turbo snails (medium size). Also one emerald crab, and a cleaner shrimp. I feed the tank once every 2 days with a mix of new life spectrum flakes, mysis shrimp, Cyclops, and Nori for the angel (I alternate between foods every feeding). So now for the problems. Just before the move, the water had been a little cloudy, but i figured this was from friends overfeeding it (i was away for a week on holiday), so i cut down on food, did some water changes and it got a little better, but then we moved. After the move the water was VERY cloudy, though i figured it was from sand dust etc, and would settle. It seems to have gotten better, but there is still some cloudiness that will not go away. <One more time... read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/wdmodconv.htm and the linked files above till you understand your options, reason for changing> That's when i tried the wet dry trickle filter for some extra mechanical filtration, but it only seems to have helped a little. The water has cleared a lot, but when you view the tank from the side you can tell it's still a bit cloudy (white cloudiness). Any suggestions on what this could be? <Microbial growth, populations... conditions that favor, allow them> Side note, every second or third day I'm getting a dusting of what looks like diatoms (brown dust) on the sand. I blast it with a turkey baster, and it goes away, and yesterday it went away all by itself, but today it is back again. <Natural, succession> For algae control I limit feeding to once every two days, with maybe a few flakes in between, the light period is about 8-9 hours, and I have pretty good water movement from what I can tell. I have some really nice coralline growth, including some beautiful encrusting red coralline on a few pieces of rock, which is spreading to other rocks.... this suggests to me my water quality is fairly decent, I think....? <Not necessarily, but propitious at least for the corallines... likely a lack of predators a factor as well> As for my other problem, I just started adding some corals. <Take care here... many are toxic toward other life> I added them two days ago, a finger leather and a flower pot coral (i think that's what it's called... looks kind of like an anemone with flowers at the tips of each tentacle, green tips on the flower things). <... this last, Goniopora sp. (look it up) is a very poor choice> The finger leather is doing swimmingly, retracts at night, and mostly extends during light hours. The flower pot is more of a concern. The clownfish seem to think it is an anemone (they were captive bred) and are exhibiting some odd behaviour with it. <Not atypical> One clownfish is getting bigger than the others, and one of the others, while also a little bigger, tends to attack the third, much smaller clownfish if it gets close to itself and the big guy (girl?). I have a feeling that the large one is becoming the female. The aggressive 'male' (we'll call him that I guess) has started sleeping in the flower pot coral, and the big clownfish hovers around it too, though not as close. The coral didn't seem to mind this too much, being fully extended and not retracting when they touched it. I haven't observed them bringing it food as of yet. The problem is that the third, smaller clownfish repeatedly seems to ram headfirst into the coral, and appears to be nipping at it. <This third clown needs removing. Stat> It retracts whenever he does this and hasn't really extended since. I am worried he is hurting it. Should I just bring him back to the LFS or is this normal? <The former> He also does this little twitchy thing whenever the larger (female?) and larger (male?) <The alpha female is the larger/est fish> clownfish come near him, or charge him, which they both do occasionally, especially the larger male. The coral beauty ignores the coral... thank god. <No superstition please> Any suggestions here? Thanks again for your help, it really is much appreciated. Eric <Read... This time I'll fritter my time away pointing you: http://wetwebmedia.com/poritidselfaqs.htm Learn to/use the search tool, indices... You've got a bunch of reading to do. Bob Fenner> Re: Clownfish and coral behaviour. 9/11/08 Hey there, <Eric> Eric here again, thanks for your time Dr. Fenner. <Just Bob please. I have no doctorate> I clearly need to restock the tank almost completely and will do that today, leaving the two bigger clowns. <Good> Also probably changing LFS as most of the decisions I made were on their advice for stocking, ease of livestock etc. Also, more reading... Ill let you know how it goes! Thanks again. Eric <Welcome and please do. BobF>
Strange Clownfish Behaviour, 8/14/08 Hi guys! <Hello> I have two clownfish (ocellaris) that have been the best of friends in my tank for about half a year (and maybe more in the fish shop). I bought them from the display tank in the store because of their affinity for each other. They used to hang out together all the time. They have always been a similar size but one of them was smaller than the other. <Ok> Recently I noticed that B1 and B2 (yes, named after bananas) have stopped being friends. B1 (the smaller of the two) has started hanging out by himself, hiding in the corner. Otherwise from that he looks healthy, comes out and feeds voraciously when its dinner time. <Good> The only real physical difference is that he doesn't open his fins as wide as he used to - I assume its because he's a little stressed. <Clamped fins can mean a lot of things.> B2 has been chasing him around a fair bit these days too, but only sometimes. <Typical behavior.> I don't see any physical damage to B1, just psychological bullying. <The male pretty much always gets bullied by the female, even when paired.> The other thing I've noticed is during their fights, both of them have a go at the vibration thing. <Submission display.> What could be going on? Maybe one of them is turning into a female? <Possible that the pairing is not working out, however I would guess this is just normal behavior. Clowns are pretty aggressive fish.> I always thought that when I got them they had already been sexed as they were acting as a pair and pretty much as full size as they were going to get... Will they be friends again? <How big are these fish? How they act in a crowded dealer tank with many co-species is not always indicative of how they will act in your home tank. If they will remain a pair is hard to predict, just be ready to separate them if physical damage begins to occur. Otherwise just let them work it out.> Thanks in advance, hoping I don't have to separate them. Lai <Welcome> <Chris> Re: Strange Clownfish Behaviour, 8/14/08 Oh Correction: After closer inspection, only one of them (B1, the smaller one) does the vibration dance.. <Submissive display.> <Chris> Strange clown activity, 8/4/08 Hello, <Hi> Hope all are well today. I have searched your sight for info on this but could not locate anything regarding the activity of my Gold striped clown. Recently he has been fanning the bottom digging a rather deep hole in the sand. Its like he is making a nest similar to a bass in fresh water before spawning. <Normal clown behavior, is a behavior related to breeding.> I moved some pieces of coral rubble over the area he was digging out but he managed to move them out of the way and continued his digging. He is also carrying pieces in his mouth and dropping them around the tank. <Making a cozy home.> I have had him for 10 months and he has always been healthy and happy and nothing new has gone on in the tank for some time but his digging becomes more aggressive as time goes on. He still eats and acts as always <The usual behavior here.> One thing I just remembered is that my Blood shrimp recently moved into the Clowns home and he was somewhat agitated by it, but he was digging before the shrimp moved in. <Unrelated most likely.> Any info you may be able to give me would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Shawn <One of those things with clowns that is best to learn to live with, not much can stop this behavior.> <Chris> Aggressive clown fish, help!, 7/29/08 I currently have an established nano tank, stocked with two clown fish (one false percula and the other is a black percula) along with a damsel, pink spotted goby and a pistol shrimp. <If you mean Nano as less than 20 gallons, you are overstocked.> I also have live rock and a few mushrooms and polyps. My false clown (bigger than the black clown) is chasing my black clown around the tank. He or she is biting the black clowns tail and is dragging him or her to the bottom of the tank. The orange clown will also shake and ram the black clown in the side. The black clown will lay on his or her side and be really still on top of the water almost like it is dead. The damsel occasionally will pick on the black clown too. At first we thought the orange clown was trying to do the mating dance as mentioned in many web sites, but now I think he or she is trying to kill the black fish. Is this true and what should we do? <Sounds like the quarters are too small for both clowns, separate immediately or your black clown will be no more.> <Chris> Clown aggression? 7/23/08 Hi guys, <Hello> Must say again, awesome site. <Thanks from all.> Today I bought a pair of false percula clownfish, both of them just over an inch in length. They are housed in my 25L nano tank by themselves. <They will outgrow such a small tank quickly.> However, they are showing a bit of aggression towards each other. They seem like they are both trying to bite at each other, chasing each other around the tank. <Normal, they are establishing dominance, however it may be magnified in this small tank since there is really no where to retreat too.> They were kept in a tank together at the LFS when I bought them. There were no other fish in the LFS tank. I've turned the lights off to try and maybe calm them down a bit, but so far hasn't worked. Any ideas? <Give it some time, although you would be better served to keep one alone in this tiny tank, 2 fish is too much in my opinion.> thanks in advance, Howie. <Welcome> <Chris> Clown trouble? Beh., comp., sys. 7/22/08 Hi guys! I want to say first, that I enjoy and find your site very helpful. Thanks, for all the hard work! Now, I think I have a killer Black Percula Clown! Here's a little background on my tank: I have a 55 gal salt tank. It's been running well now for a year or so. I now have 2 Black Percula Clowns, a Coral Beauty, 3 Green Chromis, a Serpent Starfish, Blue and Scarlet Hermits, Various mushrooms, and of course, various snails. My female clown has ALWAYS been the boss of my tank! About 2 months ago we tried adding an Orange Firefish <An...? This is a social species... usually best kept in duos...> to the tank (our first Firefish died from Flukes when my tank was only 2-3 mo. old). My Female clown chased the firefish and the firefish was hardly able to eat. <Not likely going to "make it" in a four foot long world...> So, I decided to quarantine the clown in a breeder's net <Good idea... hope it's a big one... I'd use a floating plastic colander myself> via advice from our LFS. After a week or two my LFS said I should be able to release her. I did so, and she still chased the firefish. He eventually died due to lack of food and stress. I decided to try something hardier and bit more aggressive. One month after the firefish died, we added a Bi-Colored Anthias, <... also a social species... and one that really needs much more room than this> but kept our female clown in the breeder's net while introducing the Anthias to the tank. The Anthias was doing well. She made herself at home behind the 'black box' hanging in the back of the tank (her favorite sleeping grounds!). I released the clown about two weeks later. The Anthias stood her ground and didn't seem to let the female clown push her around too much; the Anthias just made sure they both kept a fair distance from each other. The Anthias seemed to have found her place in her new tank. Anyway, one morning (approx. one month after introducing the Anthias into my tank), I found my Anthias dead! Her body was in 3 pieces. One piece was in the sand and the other two on the top of my live rock hidden by some large hairy mushrooms. She seemed fine the night before when I fed her and seemed snug in her 'spot' after the daytime lights went out. Do you think the female clown murdered the Anthias? <Mmm, no... much more likely it died per the items you list, was partly consumed and dissected by the serpent star, hermits> Or could the Anthias have been sleeping and ambushed by some rather large Bristle Worms (which I'm in the process of trapping!)? <Not near as likely> I've also noticed my female clown has been more aggressive to her mate. She chases him a lot more and her white stripes seem to be more reddish. <Mmm, natural> I'm also noticing that since the death of my Anthias, the Chromis are acting abnormally sketchy. One of the Green Chromis hovers close to the surface, up against the glass, or behind the heater, or a flow jet during the day; and at night patrols the perimeter of the tank at the surface. This Chromis hasn't eaten at all (that I've seen) in 3 days. Why is this happening? <The dominant species, individual is claiming all the ready space...> Is this all linked; or are they all separate issues? <All linked> Please help?! My LFS thinks the Female clown killed the Anthias, and the one Chromis is either horrified and stressed out by what it witnessed or is getting old. If it was my female clown, what should I do? Will I be able to add any more fish? <No, not likely a good idea... this "world" is only large enough for the Clowns really. Maybe some other invertebrates...> Thanks, for all your time and help! Thanks again, Mikki Clown Behavior, Shark Keeping, 6/26/08 Hello, I have a couple of questions to ask. <Ok> First, a purchased 2 Clarkii Clownfish about 2 weeks ago and ever since I put them in my 120 gallon tank, they have gotten along without any problems. One is larger, about 2.5 inches, and one is smaller about 1.5 inches. Just a few days ago I purchased a Bulb Anemone and ever since, the larger clown fish has literally taken the anemone for himself. Now the two clownfish fight over the anemone (obviously the bigger one wins), and the smaller clown fish is left to himself while the bigger clown fish lives in the anemone. Is this normal? <Can be, it may straighten itself out over time, although if this pairing does not work out the fish may need to be separated.> I'm afraid the smaller clown fish will wade away over time without his partner. <If the larger fish does not except the smaller over time then it may cause problems, but clowns do fine solo, so a lack of a mate would not cause its demise.> Secondly, I was thinking about upgrading to a large tank to house sharks. Either Smoothhounds, leopards, bonnet heads, or possibly black or white tip reef sharks. <Big, expensive, custom made tank then.> I have been getting mixed messages reading all the information on shark tanks and wondered how big of a tank, and for how long I could keep each shark until they outgrew the tank. <Would need a tank of a few thousand gallons, of a circular design, to keep these types of sharks for any length of time. I feel that these are not appropriate of 99% of fishkeepers, they are just too demanding.> I know Smoothhounds and leopards are cold water sharks, and the reef sharks and bonnet heads are tropical. I purchased the Aquarium Sharks and Rays to help me with my choice but in some ways the book complicated the whole matter. <Good book.> Keeping the Smoothhounds would be reasonable, but if I kept juvenile reef sharks, or bonnet heads what size tank would I be able to get away with, and for how long could I keep them until I give them to my local public aquarium (they already agreed to keep my sharks once they got too big). <I would get this in writing, especially with the way the economy is going and the inevitable shrinkage of their budgets as less public and private money becomes available.> Thanks, Justin M. <Welcome> <Chris>
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