Lonely fish or crazy fish

[gkotlin]

I got my first inhabitants today. The first fish is a tank raised clown fish. He seems content to stay in the middle to upper parts of the tank. He's been in there for about 7 hrs. Was looking pretty calm and content to me. Then I went to give him a little food before bed. I turned on the light to the tank to see the food. He's now swimming around like crazy with is reflection. He swims along the sides and the top of the water table going nuts.
The lights been off for about an hour now, and he just seems to want to swim back and forth at the very surface. But not as wildly as before.
I have a 10 gal tank and there is a plain blue background on the back. I have a plain old florescent bulb in the cover.
Is this normal? Will he eventually get used to this? Is there anything I can do long term and short term to help him acclimate?
I have some large live rock in there, so he has places to hide if he wants to. But he never goes near the bottom. Just hangs out mostly mid tank. That is till he went nuts...
I feel guilty like I overlooked something for the poor guy.
Thanks for any input.

 

[mikeyjer]

Originally Posted by gkotlin
I got my first inhabitants today. The first fish is a tank raised clown fish. He seems content to stay in the middle to upper parts of the tank. He's been in there for about 7 hrs. Was looking pretty calm and content to me. Then I went to give him a little food before bed. I turned on the light to the tank to see the food. He's now swimming around like crazy with is reflection. He swims along the sides and the top of the water table going nuts.
The lights been off for about an hour now, and he just seems to want to swim back and forth at the very surface. But not as wildly as before.
I have a 10 gal tank and there is a plain blue background on the back. I have a plain old florescent bulb in the cover.
Is this normal? Will he eventually get used to this? Is there anything I can do long term and short term to help him acclimate?
I have some large live rock in there, so he has places to hide if he wants to. But he never goes near the bottom. Just hangs out mostly mid tank. That is till he went nuts...
I feel guilty like I overlooked something for the poor guy.
Thanks for any input.
It's because it's a brand new surrounding for him. He's just adjusting. Leave him alone for the night and turn off your lights. He should calm down within a day or two. Double check your water quality to be on the safe side. How long has your tank been running? :happyfish

 

[gkotlin]

The tank has been running for about two weeks. I had my LFS do water tests for me as I was doing them. This way I could be sure that I was doing my tests correctly and interpreting the data correctly.

 

[mikeyjer]

Originally Posted by gkotlin
The tank has been running for about two weeks. I had my LFS do water tests for me as I was doing them. This way I could be sure that I was doing my tests correctly and interpreting the data correctly.
Your gonna get flammed big time!!! You need to cycle your tank first before you add any live stock. You can get some uncured live rocks and live sand to cycle your tank with and you'll get ammonia spike. Until Ammonia and Nitrite are at 0 and less then 20ppm for Nitrate (0 is better) then your tank is cycled. I don't think two weeks is sufficient for a tank to cycle unless your lucky IMO...

 

[ezee]

gkotlin,
That may be why the clown is freaking out, if there is ammonia developing in the water it is probably not making him very happy.
E

 

[danedodger]

No flames from me (I've done some goofy things in my time :hilarious ) but a 10 gallon with liverock and a fish all in two weeks??? :scared: :scared: :scared: Test your ammonia right away!!!
You posted yesterday. Is he still ok today?

 

[cushen123]

i wouldn't worry to much about the cycle, i'm not a pro or anything but I cycled with a damsel, and at the end of 2 weeks my tank cycled. I even added a nother damsel to see if the bioload could manage, and he was fine as was my tank. now I have a sponge, cleaner shrimp, yellow tang, lawnmower blenny, the original yellow tail blue damsel, emeralds, and snails, and everyone is happy in my tank, oh yeah, a sand sifting star. I have a few feather dusters as well that are looking good as well. I think your tank is o.k, as long as you test. I tested for 2 weeks straight after mine had finished just to be sure and it is. I keep everything at zero and my trates are below 10
good luck.

 

[gkotlin]

I posted that already. All the tests were good. The amonia cycled, then the nitrites. It's only a 10 gallon tank so it must have gone quicker? I had the local store (not a pet store, an aquarium only store) do all the tests as well. Last test, amonia and nitrites were both at 0. He's actually much better today. He's been eating. The lights stayed on all day, and he's calm. Though he seems to like the areas with strong water currents. He won't go anywhere near the bottom though. He's a yuppy fish, won't eat off the bottom. He hangs in the middle and top of the tank. He's not interested in hiding or any of the rock structures I have.