Clown Fish Acclimation

[elm0]

I'm new to the hobby of marine aquarist, so I'm trying to start small and learn the pitfalls before I jump into a huge and expensive setup. I'm curruntly running a 10G reef and fish setup. Its been active for about 2.5 months and I've had pretty good success, which i attribute mostly to reading and research before action. I have only lost one damsel fish which I beleive was sick before he got to the tank.
Anyway, my most recent additions to the tank include a med. sized true percula clown fish, and I'm concerned about his behavior. The only other fish in the tankk are 3 small three striped damsel fish. The clown has been in the tank about 36hrs at this point and the whole time he has hovered in a very small space at the top front corner of the tank at the surface of the water. Most of the time he kinda lays on his side or nose downward, barley moving his fins at all. I think that he has chosen this particular spot because it has the calmest water in the tank. He does swim into the tank periodically but only briefly, during feedings and such, and then speeds back to his "security corner".
I'm just wondering if this is typical behavior for clown fish during acclimation or if I should be concerned.
Any info will help.

 

[fender]

Welcome!!!
I appreciate the fact that you like to do some research before jumping in, makes things much better, easier and cheaper in the long run.
You didn't say exactly how the clown was acclimated, most folks do a drip method of introducing tank water into the fish's bag. Others do water swap outs to replace bag water with tank water over a couple hours time. (NEVER add fish store bag water into your tank). Doing the slow water change in the bag introduces the fish to your tank environment slowly. Also feeding the other fish in the tank and turning out the lights before adding the fish minimizes stress to the newcomer and decreases aggression in the tank mates....
Speaking of aggression... the damsels have a nasty reputation for beating up tank mates. A 10gallon aquarium doesn't give your new clown much room to hide from them and is pretty crowded.
Damsels are very territorial and may be picking on your clown. I had a cute domino damsel that was the size of a quarter that would terrorize everything in a 90gallon tank, and it took about 4 hours to catch him.
Unless you really like the damsels and are content to keep them alone, I would think about taking them back to your local fish store.
Tell us your long term goals for the tank and maybe we can offer some advice having gone down that road before.

 

[elm0]

Well i was not aware of the drip method of acclimating the fish until today. When i introduced him, I just floated the bag for about 20min. turned off the lights, poured the bag into a net and then added the fish to the tank Do you think that the lack of proper acclimation will have permanent damage on the fish?
The damsels dont seem to be bullying the clown fish, the clown will even chase the damsel fish breifly when venturing into the tank.
I would like to keep the tank, even after building a larger tank..but that will not be any time soon...but I do not intend to add any more fish to the 10G.
Thanks for the advice

 

[elm0]

Anyone else got any info that might help me?

 

[dugan]

What are your water parameters like? With 3 fish in a 10G, you may have built up some levels of Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites that the damsels have been tolerating over time, but the new fish is unable to handle the change in water quality.
10G is too small for 4 fish. Especially 3 damsels who are likely harassing your clown. I would get the clown out and return him to the LFS.
Katie