weird acting

[jmangione]

I have a new gold strip maroon. Its been being really wierd since i got it 2 days ago, going under rocks and i litterally have to pick up the rocks to find em. Now he is swimming all around the tank but doing like flips and turns and swirls then darts to the oter side of the tank.
Is this normal? Never seen this before
i did tests on the water and everything has gone crazy since i put him in 2 days ago. Nirtates are near 80 and yesterday it was 20 and ammonia is not at 0 anymore

 

[kevin34]

If you have only had the clown for 2 days then yes it is normal. If he hides in the rocks just let him be. He is just trying to get settled. What size tank is it in? Are there any other fish in the tank with it? How old is the tank?

 

[jmangione]

20 gallon tank. No other wish. It is almost 7 months old

 

[rudedog40]

High nitrates and even a small spike of ammonia can irritate a new fish that was previously in more stable water conditions. Have you done anything to try and lower the levels? I'd do a 20% water change and see if the nitrates and ammonia drop. Also, how much have you been feeding your new clown? If you've been feeding him a lot trying to get him to eat, the leftover food would cause the nitrates and ammonia levels to rise.

 

[nietzsche]

Originally Posted by jmangione
I have a new gold strip maroon. Its been being really wierd since i got it 2 days ago, going under rocks and i litterally have to pick up the rocks to find em. Now he is swimming all around the tank but doing like flips and turns and swirls then darts to the oter side of the tank.
Is this normal? Never seen this before
i did tests on the water and everything has gone crazy since i put him in 2 days ago. Nirtates are near 80 and yesterday it was 20 and ammonia is not at 0 anymore
not at 0 anymore? hmm.. well, since youve been moving the rocks around i can only imagine that youre causing detritus in the sand to come back out into the water, i would seriously not move the live rock around anymore. just let it claim its own territory and a place to hide and sleep. itll come out when its hungry
how large is this tank?

 

[nietzsche]

ah just saw it was a 20. 20 is too small for these guys. the female gets up to 6" if i were you id try to look around for a new home for it. same thing happened to me when i bought my aquarium. it came with 2 GSMs and they were just cramped in my 28, had to give them to my LFS and traded them for a smaller pair of clowns