The impatient aquarium

[wickedpaul]

Originally Posted by Firedog
Another sidebar here is that the two species of clowns may fight. The general opinion is that only one species per tank.
Also those clowns might not be sebae clowns, as I have read that true sebae clowns are actually quite rare in the trade.
And give the tank some time before you add more. It may tank a while for conditions to get bad and for the tank to start showing problems.
The two different species of clowns are not fighting, however the 2 "sebae" clowns do fight with each other over the anemone. The two perculas "tank raised" do not fight with the sebae, but they do occasionally take a charge at each other. I will probably remove 1 of each type in the very near future to make room, and to prevent them from hurting each other.
Thanks for all the good information that is on this site. It has been very helpful in getting this running, although I did a lot of things contrary to what it says here the advice is all greatly appreciated.

 

[symon]

Just for the record, When you put 2 clowns in they will seem to fight till 1 dominates, that 1 generally is the female, then the male will be taking care of her from then on, they call that mated! you have 2 sets of differant clowns they may be going through that process.
I was suprized with the Damsels too, It's not how i would have done it! But I am thinking that you LR was the Key, Good Luck and Continued Success!

 

[wickedpaul]

Originally Posted by Symon
Just for the record, When you put 2 clowns in they will seem to fight till 1 dominates, that 1 generally is the female, then the male will be taking care of her from then on, they call that mated! you have 2 sets of differant clowns they may be going through that process.
I was suprized with the Damsels too, It's not how i would have done it! But I am thinking that you LR was the Key, Good Luck and Continued Success!

Hmm, that is pretty neat to know. In fact the two tank raised perculas have not been fighting or nipping at each other at all for the past few days. They just kind of swim in tandem constantly now. They will not go near the anemone though. The other two clowns, the sebaes, fight over the anemone constantly. The bigger one is probably 30% bigger then the small and that one is always chasing the small one away. Although, the small one does sneak over and drop flakes on the anemone when the big one is not looking.
I just think that is hysterical that they compete to feed another animal. Pretty amazing.

 

[wickedpaul]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
I think this statement is what is causing concern for folks...

I can understand this. I guess coming from the freshwater clique, maybe I have a slightly different perspective on small fish. I have kept aggressive south american cichlid tanks for years, and anytime a new tank was started it was always started with some small tetras, or other very inexpensive fish. These fish eventually evolved in to food for the larger fish which would call the tank home.
From reading this board I am getting the feeling that maybe salt water enthusiasts are more sensitive in regards to being careful not to hurt an animal then freshwater enthusiasts are. I keep a tank with Oscars, Terrors, and a Gar in it, and that tank consumes 30+ live goldfish every week. It seems like the idea of introducing a fish to an aquarium where there is a good possibility that the animal will die is very frowned upon here, while in freshwater tanks it is commonplace.

 

[dragonzim]

Originally Posted by WickedPaul
I can understand this. I guess coming from the freshwater clique, maybe I have a slightly different perspective on small fish. I have kept aggressive south american cichlid tanks for years, and anytime a new tank was started it was always started with some small tetras, or other very inexpensive fish. These fish eventually evolved in to food for the larger fish which would call the tank home.
From reading this board I am getting the feeling that maybe salt water enthusiasts are more sensitive in regards to being careful not to hurt an animal then freshwater enthusiasts are. I keep a tank with Oscars, Terrors, and a Gar in it, and that tank consumes 30+ live goldfish every week. It seems like the idea of introducing a fish to an aquarium where there is a good possibility that the animal will die is very frowned upon here, while in freshwater tanks it is commonplace.

I think the issue that people has is not with supplying live fish as food for other fish, but in putting live animals in while a tank is still cycling. The ammonia that is created during a cycle will burn the gills of a fish, causing them undue stress. When you consider that you can easily cycle a tank without living fish in it, that is why people get upset.