Worried!!!

[jmarler]

I just bought two Percula clowns yesterday. Brought them home nad they ate fine. A few hours later the smaller of the two started swimming crazy the other soon followed. My water levels are fine. They have made it throught the night but still are not eating. Does anyone have any suggestions? <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[twoods71]

This could be thier way of establishing who will be the dominate one.
Sporadic swimming in kind of a side ways jerking motion is what I witnessed when my two were establishing themselves.
Also when I first added my percs it took them at least a week before eating on a normal schedule.

 

[bob the builder]

Took me 10 minutes of investagation. Im an 100%sure on this.They are getting ready to mate. The first sign is the MALE jercking one way and another for about 1 day, then the FEMALE kicks in and does the same thing to show that she is ready. There is no reason to be worried. This proccess could take from 1 day, to 5 months depending on the fish, and percs tend to be the fasted at becoming a mated pair. Very exiting to watch i might say. Again, i am 100% sure on this. If it was your water, the fish would be breathing hard and swimming side-ways. I have seen on discovery in time laps motion, the start of the clowns becoming a mated pair, and the first sing, is dancing, the second sign is "kissing" and the third sign is tackling eachother. I hope this helped!

 

[jmarler]

Thanx. I am just a little worried. This is the first time that I have had a saltwater tank. Well they have began to eat, but are still swimming crazy. How big do they have to be to want to mate? These guys are fairly small.

 

[bob the builder]

Just to tell you, one will start to grow really fast, and one will not grow. The female tends to be much bigger than the male, and the male, is a tiny little guy. If this continues for about 1-2 more weeks, they are likly mating. If it stops ina about 3 more days, they just want to get there teritory settled out. Hope i helped!

 

[karlas]

they may act weird for a couple of days. when i added our pair of percs the female was mean, nasty, and terrorized the other fish. thought i had to return her. she even grabbed ahold of the male and shook him. but after about a week chilled out and is one of the calmest fish in the tank