Just got my first adorable clownfish!

meemo

Member
She is ssooooo cute! I will try to post a pic after I charge my camera batteries. There are 3 lfs in my town now and they have all been sold out of perculas & ocellaris! I finally found 2 perculas (supposedly-they look like oc. to me) today, just in off the truck. The smaller one was perky and colorful so I got it. The other one was larger and more yellow, which I was actually looking for. But she didn't seem as well. She was moving slow, breathing heavy, and I kind of thought I saw a scratch on her. At first I thought about buying them both as a pair and asked them to put them together so I could observe them. They picked at each other a lot, esp the larger one. So, I don't know, they might have been able to pair off but I didn't like the limpness of the larger one. I may wait a while and get one smaller than this one. It is about 1 1/2 inches. Although, I am not really interested in breeding them, just don't want them to be lonely. Especially since I can't have an anemone in my regular lighted tank.
I had a molly in qt-priming the tank, and it started picking at "Meemo" (as my 2yo has dubbed our new clown) as soon as I put her in there. So I took the molly out and put him in the main tank. I have 15 various hermits in the 30 gallon (which I love watching), but hadn't put any fish in there until now. We've been waiting for a special Meemo. :) Anyway, Meemo is doing well, waggling around, resting on the pvc now that it is dark. We are all in awe of her right now. I'll leave her in qt 3 weeks now.
1. Any suggestions for making her more comfortable or favorite foods/treats she might enjoy? I have only bought flakes so far and can't decide what to alternate with. Too many choices! I got a fake coral/anemone but it smells like paint so I didn't use it. It says safe for all aquariums, but I am going to return it.
2. Will the molly keep picking at Meemo when I move her to the main tank or was he just defending his territory/hierarchy, a temporary battle?
3. Should I return the molly to lfs instead of having it in main tank since it wasn't in quarantine 3 weeks, only 1 1/2 weeks? I am thinking I should anyway to make way for a prettier fish later. LFS gave it to me free to help prep my (already cycled) tank for a clownfish. I was going to let the molly live in the main tank now and let it be building up bio during the 3 weeks Meemo is in qt. Does this make sense? The molly is sort of clearing the road for Meemo. But I don't want this to backfire and bring on parasites or excessive nitrates. I could just leave the main tank free of fish for the 3 qt weeks to be sure that any parasite life cycle would be broken. Molly didn't appear to have any illness though. Lfs doesn't recommend quarantine, but from here I have learned to be cautious. What are your thoughts?
4. How do I easily make pics small enough to post here?
Thank you so much to everyone who has helped me get started with my very first swf tank! I think I need to post a thanks on the newbie board too.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Yours seems to me to have wider black bands and the white band around the head seems to come together closer than a false perc, so it looks to me more like a true perc.
Nice flowerpot coral
 

meemo

Member
Yeah, I think I'm going to put the flower pot in the display when I move her! It makes good camaflauge too being orange!
 

viper_930

Active Member
Cool fish. Looks like an ocellaris to me. His black bands on his white stripes are not as wide and his dorsal fin is higher than a perculas.
 
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