Worried about Maroon Clown

sal t. nutz

sal t. nutz

Member
Just got my first fish yesterday, a maroon clown. When i put him in the tank, he was swimming like crazy, looked like he was very healthy and happy. I woke up this morning and he is hiding now. Hiding at the very top of the tank back by the water return form my canister. I am worried becasue he was swimming so healthy yesterday. I would understand if he was stressed right away by a new tank and hid, but he wasn't, now he is. Trites and ammo are 0, and Trates are 10-15. PH is low, like 7.8, but I wouldn't think that would cause the prob. In the fish store he had an Anemone that he was very attached to, always hung out and played in it. Do you think it could be the absence of the Anemone? Should I go buy the Anemone? What else could it be?
 
pyro383

pyro383

Member
No, don't go buying the anemone as you don't have enough light for it, also you should slowly bring up the ph in you tank to 8.1-8.3.
 
sal t. nutz

sal t. nutz

Member
Well, I already have a 2x110 Ballast for VHO, I will have it up and running within a week. I figured the Anemone would be ok for a week with standard lighting.
 
jakob4001

jakob4001

Member
well not so much just the lighting for the anemone as the PH is still way too low from what it's used/shuld have; inverts are more suseptible to poor water conditions...you should really wait until you have both the lights installed & going as well as slowing raising the PH to 8.2-8.3
most likely the anemone will still be there or maybe you could purchase or make request that they hold it for you until you have PH up & lighting installed...
 
marty

marty

Member
When I had clowns, there was always a couple clowns hanging out by the filter output. They stayed there alot but would swim around occassionally. This may be normal for the maroon clown. But I would still think your ph needs to be up. Get the ph up and the clown may act differently (or maybe not).
 
stcardoza

stcardoza

Member
Hi,
It's possible that he is just sleeping. My clowns have almost given me a heart-attack before with their sleeping habits. I've had some that will just float on their sides at the top of the tank and then when the light goes on, they snap out of it and act normal again. Clowns do some weird things, so I would first make sure he isn't sleeping, and second, get your Ph up like has been suggested already.
You also probably don't need the anemone. They're really hard to keep alive, and your clown will eventually adopt something else in your tank as his surrogate anemone. I have one clown that thinks the power head is his anemone, he sleeps on top of it every night, and another one who sleeps inside an old clam shell.
-Steve
 
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