Clowns swimming sideways?

[jtt]

Hi all
Ive got two 1 inch picasso perculas, Ive had them about 5 days now, and ever since i got them, they have been at the back of the tank, near the top, swimming sideways. no, they are not dead, they are swimming around like theres nothing wrong, but they are not leaving the back wall, nor are they swimming any deeper than 4 inches from the surface of the water. and did i mention they are swimming SIDEWAYS? like as if the back wall is the ground floor....
the tank they are in is 12 gallons, water parameters are perfect. the only other living thing in the tank is an equally small cleaner shrimp, its about an inch and a half long, 3 hermits, and 4 snails. so i know they arent being bullied by any other fish. what the heck do i do?
pics to come, i only have my phone to take pics with, and the fish are waaaay too fast to it to catch a shot thats not blurry.
how do i move forward? how do i help my very expensive grade A picasso clowns? i dont want to lose them...

 

[jtt]

i know these pics show them up by the water intake thing, but thats not where they always hang out, right now they are in the middle, and a while ago they were over by the power head on the other side. they never leave each others side. they are always together.

 

[mpdan]

the 2 clows i had did the same thing for the 1st week stayed in the upper right corner in the back of the tank after that they were everywhere in my opinion they are getting used to the tank

 

[nw2salt08]

My clowns did this until I got them an anemone to host. They would swim around the tank but would always go back to the filtration system and sleep under the flow. They're definitely new to the system so they may branch out as they get used to it though. Just thought I'd share my personal experience with it.

 

[jtt]

yeah ive just got PCs and a 4 month old tank. theres no way i can get an anemone... and keep it alive.

 

[nw2salt08]

Nope, not yet. You could start looking into corals that look like anemones though. They usually don't require as much light and are hardier depending on the type of coral. I love your picasso's though. They're beautiful. I have goldstriped maroons. They're great but they definitely own the rest of the tank. lol

 

[-tara33-]

this happend to me to with a pair of occelaris, they did it for about 4 months and i couldnt understand why and there wer lots of lps and softies in the tank and only cleaner shrimp but as soon as i put a med hammer coral up the top of the rocks the next morning they were nice n snug in there all cosy n warm lol, happy little guys they are now venturing all over but quick to get back to there hammer coral!