Death of a clown

leftyblite

leftyblite

Member
My clown(Marlin) of about a year just died tonight.
He was one of my favorites because of his personality(always came to the front whenever someone came to look into the tank). He was in a 150g with a 5in porc puffer, a 4 in foxface , and a 3 in bicolor angel. I fed them all about 3hrs ago and everything seemed fine. My 5 yr old came in about an hour ago and wanted to know why Marlin was sleeping on his side. The puffer was swimming over him and keeping my crabs away. I pulled him out and there were no marks on him. I checked my levels and they are currently Nitrate--0, Nitrite--0, Ammonia--0 Salinity 1.024. Is there anything I did wrong? I called my LFS and they said most clowns only live 1-2 years. Is this true?
Is there anything I could have done to prevent this?
All the other fish are currently doing their normal thing except the puffer who keeps coming to the spot where the clownfish usually rested and then swimming to the top of the tank. Any help would be appreciated. :help:
 
richarl5

richarl5

Member
Originally Posted by leftyblite
My clown(Marlin) of about a year just died tonight.
He was one of my favorites because of his personality(always came to the front whenever someone came to look into the tank). He was in a 150g with a 5in porc puffer, a 4 in foxface , and a 3 in bicolor angel. I fed them all about 3hrs ago and everything seemed fine. My 5 yr old came in about an hour ago and wanted to know why Marlin was sleeping on his side. The puffer was swimming over him and keeping my crabs away. I pulled him out and there were no marks on him. I checked my levels and they are currently Nitrate--0, Nitrite--0, Ammonia--0 Salinity 1.024. Is there anything I did wrong? I called my LFS and they said most clowns only live 1-2 years. Is this true?
Is there anything I could have done to prevent this?
All the other fish are currently doing their normal thing except the puffer who keeps coming to the spot where the clownfish usually rested and then swimming to the top of the tank. Any help would be appreciated. :help:
I definitely know that clowns are known to have a max. of about 20 years, so your LFS wasn't exactly correct there. But in looking at the clown, did you accidently over feed him? I have heard that if you over feed a fish, something could burst (do NOT quote me on that..I just feel like I've read that somewhere online).
 
richarl5

richarl5

Member
Originally Posted by leftyblite
My clown(Marlin) of about a year just died tonight.
He was one of my favorites because of his personality(always came to the front whenever someone came to look into the tank). He was in a 150g with a 5in porc puffer, a 4 in foxface , and a 3 in bicolor angel. I fed them all about 3hrs ago and everything seemed fine. My 5 yr old came in about an hour ago and wanted to know why Marlin was sleeping on his side. The puffer was swimming over him and keeping my crabs away. I pulled him out and there were no marks on him. I checked my levels and they are currently Nitrate--0, Nitrite--0, Ammonia--0 Salinity 1.024. Is there anything I did wrong? I called my LFS and they said most clowns only live 1-2 years. Is this true?
Is there anything I could have done to prevent this?
All the other fish are currently doing their normal thing except the puffer who keeps coming to the spot where the clownfish usually rested and then swimming to the top of the tank. Any help would be appreciated. :help:
I definitely know that clowns are known to have a max. of about 20 years, so your LFS wasn't exactly correct there. But in looking at the clown, did you accidently over feed him? I have heard that if you over feed a fish, something could burst (do NOT quote me on that..I just feel like I've read that somewhere online).
 
richarl5

richarl5

Member
Originally Posted by leftyblite
My clown(Marlin) of about a year just died tonight.
He was one of my favorites because of his personality(always came to the front whenever someone came to look into the tank). He was in a 150g with a 5in porc puffer, a 4 in foxface , and a 3 in bicolor angel. I fed them all about 3hrs ago and everything seemed fine. My 5 yr old came in about an hour ago and wanted to know why Marlin was sleeping on his side. The puffer was swimming over him and keeping my crabs away. I pulled him out and there were no marks on him. I checked my levels and they are currently Nitrate--0, Nitrite--0, Ammonia--0 Salinity 1.024. Is there anything I did wrong? I called my LFS and they said most clowns only live 1-2 years. Is this true?
Is there anything I could have done to prevent this?
All the other fish are currently doing their normal thing except the puffer who keeps coming to the spot where the clownfish usually rested and then swimming to the top of the tank. Any help would be appreciated. :help:
I definitely know that clowns are known to have a max. of about 20 years, so your LFS wasn't exactly correct there. But in looking at the clown, did you accidently over feed him? I have heard that if you over feed a fish, something could burst (do NOT quote me on that..I just feel like I've read that somewhere online).
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
sorry for your loss :( if everything tested out ok and there were no signs of aggression on the fish, then it must be something internal.
have you added anything recently, taken anything out recently of your normal schedule? accidentally drop something in the water?
i've not heard of a fish living for 20 years, but more than 1-2 years.
hate to suggest it, but if you still have the fish, either bring it to a vet to check for viruses, or do an autopsy on it to see if something got stuck in its stomach.
 
leftyblite

leftyblite

Member
I haven't done anything out of normal routine lately. Did a water change about a week and a half ago and then did a top off on the water on Sunday afternoon. I checked the water parameters again this morning and all still seems fine. Unfortunately I don't have the fish still or I would have taken it to the LFS today. All the other fish seem to be doing OK. :happyfish
 
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