Reef nutrition

Clowns Not Eating

magnetar68

magnetar68

Guest
BARcard
I have a mating pair of Perculas that I have since 2011. They have been in my 125G for 3.5 years and since the last seahorse died about 1.5 years ago, they have had the tank mainly to themselves. Last week I started adding some new fish. I added 3 juvenile yellow tangs at the same time last Friday. The bigger female clown was very aggressive and killed one of the tangs within a few days.
  • I removed the clowns for a few days and redid the aquascape and then put the clowns back but the tank but the female was still extremely aggressive and went after the 2 remaining yellow tangs with gusto.
  • I tried a mirror but the clowns ignored it.
  • I removed them again into a barebottom 29G with a couple of PVC Ts.
  • They have refused to eat for the last 3 days.
  • I tried a variety of foods including flake, pellet, frozen mysis, frozen blood worms, and live adult brine shrimp. They spit everything back out.
  • I tried to overnight some garlic extract but it got delayed in the midwest storms, so I plan to get some today at the store.
Any other ideas?
 
magnetar68 said:
I have a mating pair of Perculas that I have since 2011. They have been in my 125G for 3.5 years and since the last seahorse died about 1.5 years ago, they have had the tank mainly to themselves. Last week I started adding some new fish. I added 3 juvenile yellow tangs at the same time last Friday. The bigger female clown was very aggressive and killed one of the tangs within a few days.
  • I removed the clowns for a few days and redid the aquascape and then put the clowns back but the tank but the female was still extremely aggressive and went after the 2 remaining yellow tangs with gusto.
  • I tried a mirror but the clowns ignored it.
  • I removed them again into a barebottom 29G with a couple of PVC Ts.
  • They have refused to eat for the last 3 days.
  • I tried a variety of foods including flake, pellet, frozen mysis, frozen blood worms, and live adult brine shrimp. They spit everything back out.
  • I tried to overnight some garlic extract but it got delayed in the midwest storms, so I plan to get some today at the store.
Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

Ray,

The clowns have had their world turned upside down. A mating pair (especially the female) are very territorial, and they have had the tank to themselves. The tanks were clear invaders and needed to be dealt with. Then they were moved from their home to a new and sterile environment. I suspect it was new water in the 26g, so a change in water chemistry as well.

You can wait it out to see if they eat (3 days is not a huge issue) or, put the clowns back in the main tank and the tangs in the 29 temporarily (yes, I know that is WAY too small for tangs) and see if they bounce back.

Others may have ideas on assimilating new fish into the display, but a mated pair of clowns is a known challenge.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the reply. The water was from their DT, the same temp, and the filter was seasoned for weeks in the DT, so no water chem issues, just the stress of being moved.

As of this morning, I cannot declare victory, but they are eating. I moved their "home" (a very large toadstool coral) and some rock into the 29G and they seem to be settling in. This meant, however, dropping $250 on some lights, getting the old CPR HOB skimmer out of storage , and a few other things to save a couple of fish I bought for $20 in March of 2010.
 
I am going to keep them in their own tank from now on. She did not bother the mandarin or the shrimp, so I might make her tank a deeper sand bed tank and add a goby-shrimp pair. I have plans for the DT to add a fair amount of fish and she is too aggressive.
 
The last couple of days they would only eat Selcon enriched adult brine shrimp and even then they would sometimes spit some out. I was therefore very much relived this evening when they aggressively ate Spectrum pellets and did not spit anything out. I am hopeful we are over the hump.
 
they have their own tank. no more 125G. but its a nice tank and they have their toadstool. they are eating pe mysis, formula one and two flakes and pellets, new spectrum pellets, frozen brine with spirulina, and once in a while they get a snacks like live brine enriched with SELCO and frozen blood worms.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
happy clowns
20170308_194831.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top