Nervy New Clownfish Owner

LaserKiwi

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Hi all - brand new clownfish owner here (Ocellaris misbars) and feeling a bit of new owner jitters, hoping some kind folks would be willing to put my mind at ease/let me know if anything should be pinging my radar. They're my first fish, and I brought them home on the 24th; tank had been fully cycled for a month or two, and I acclimated them over a bit less than an hour before setting them loose into the tank (20 gal).

Parameters as of today are:
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
~10 Nitrate
1.025 Salinity
Using RODI water and Instant Ocean.

Overall, things seem to be going well; they swam around the tank sticking close together for the first day, then settled into one of the corners, where they spend most of their time now. They ate a little bit day two, and are on two feeds a day now (removing anything they don't eat in a few minutes :) ), a mixture of frozen and pellets.

My main concerns:
- How much is a reasonable amount of dominance establishing? One is a fair bit larger than the other and throws their weight around, but hasn't been overly aggressive that I can tell (smaller ones fins look fine, all I've seen is the larger one kind of shoving them aside/chasing them away). They tend to spend a lot of their time apart, though, with the smaller one hanging out in the back corner, and the larger one lounging around in the pipe/rockwork right next to the corner. If that's just how they vibe, that's fine, but I'm a bit worried it means I need to be more on the lookout for future aggression or bullying.

- They have a habit of going up to the surface. I know that if they're gulping at the surface, that's a sign that there's a problem with the oxygen levels, but I haven't seen any gulping/heavy breathing behaviour, just them going up to the surface, breaching the water a bit with their backs as they swim along (usually with the powerhead flow pushing them) and then swim back down. Clowns being clowns, or a sign I should be adjusting something?

- Lastly, how do I make sure the little one is getting enough to eat? I watch them while they eat, and he does manage to eat, but the bigger one is definitely very happy to chase him away to get the food.

Have resisted the urge to mess about with things and am just watching and testing, but would appreciate more experienced folks putting my mind at ease if it's warranted or holding me to the fire if I'm missing something :)
 

*GAREEF*

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Hi all - brand new clownfish owner here (Ocellaris misbars) and feeling a bit of new owner jitters, hoping some kind folks would be willing to put my mind at ease/let me know if anything should be pinging my radar. They're my first fish, and I brought them home on the 24th; tank had been fully cycled for a month or two, and I acclimated them over a bit less than an hour before setting them loose into the tank (20 gal).

Parameters as of today are:
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
~10 Nitrate
1.025 Salinity
Using RODI water and Instant Ocean.

Overall, things seem to be going well; they swam around the tank sticking close together for the first day, then settled into one of the corners, where they spend most of their time now. They ate a little bit day two, and are on two feeds a day now (removing anything they don't eat in a few minutes :) ), a mixture of frozen and pellets.

My main concerns:
- How much is a reasonable amount of dominance establishing? One is a fair bit larger than the other and throws their weight around, but hasn't been overly aggressive that I can tell (smaller ones fins look fine, all I've seen is the larger one kind of shoving them aside/chasing them away). They tend to spend a lot of their time apart, though, with the smaller one hanging out in the back corner, and the larger one lounging around in the pipe/rockwork right next to the corner. If that's just how they vibe, that's fine, but I'm a bit worried it means I need to be more on the lookout for future aggression or bullying.

- They have a habit of going up to the surface. I know that if they're gulping at the surface, that's a sign that there's a problem with the oxygen levels, but I haven't seen any gulping/heavy breathing behaviour, just them going up to the surface, breaching the water a bit with their backs as they swim along (usually with the powerhead flow pushing them) and then swim back down. Clowns being clowns, or a sign I should be adjusting something?

- Lastly, how do I make sure the little one is getting enough to eat? I watch them while they eat, and he does manage to eat, but the bigger one is definitely very happy to chase him away to get the food.

Have resisted the urge to mess about with things and am just watching and testing, but would appreciate more experienced folks putting my mind at ease if it's warranted or holding me to the fire if I'm missing something :)
 

Mr. Mojo Rising

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What size are your clowns? If they are still juveniles they are sorting themselves out of who will be male and female. A bit of infighting is normal, but if you feel its excessive, take a short video and share so we can see.

Saltwater does not hold oxygen as well as freshwater does, so we must consciously oxygenate the water. The 3 ways of doing this is with an airstone which is messy, with a protein skimmer but your tank is a little small for a skimmer, or by agitating the water surface. You should have a powerhead pointed at the surface to agitate it, you should see ripples going across the surface, more agitation the better. 2 powerheads at the opposite ends of the tank, pointed up and towards each other, will create random flow patterns and keep the surface well agitated. Have a look at the sicce voyager nano powerheads, they are small and not too strong for small tanks, I use 2 on my 15 gallon.

Each clown can eat 5-6-7 pellets or pieces of mysis each. Feed that amount 2 or 3 times a day. Get yourself some hermit crabs and other carnivore critter to eat up the left over food that the fish miss. The biggest newbie mistake is overfeeding, which will cause algae issue's, so try not to feed so much that food sinks to the bottom and rots.

Good luck
 

Mr. Mojo Rising

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I can give you advice about coral worth thousands of dollars but I Can not give you advice about fish.
Because apparently I’m not educated enough…lol
But yet there is this and 30 years of scraping by and able to save hundreds of fish.
It’s so strange
#fishm#fishmedic

Personally I have enjoyed reading your good advise these past weeks, sorry that something has happened. Hope you stick around, good luck.
 

*GAREEF*

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Personally I have enjoyed reading your good advise these past weeks, sorry that something has happened. Hope you stick around, good luck.
I’m here to stay so I am going to okay by the rules.
I just get frustrated sometimes.
Nothing personal to anyone.
I will stay in my lane.
 
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LaserKiwi

LaserKiwi

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What size are your clowns? If they are still juveniles they are sorting themselves out of who will be male and female. A bit of infighting is normal, but if you feel its excessive, take a short video and share so we can see.

Saltwater does not hold oxygen as well as freshwater does, so we must consciously oxygenate the water. The 3 ways of doing this is with an airstone which is messy, with a protein skimmer but your tank is a little small for a skimmer, or by agitating the water surface. You should have a powerhead pointed at the surface to agitate it, you should see ripples going across the surface, more agitation the better. 2 powerheads at the opposite ends of the tank, pointed up and towards each other, will create random flow patterns and keep the surface well agitated. Have a look at the sicce voyager nano powerheads, they are small and not too strong for small tanks, I use 2 on my 15 gallon.

Each clown can eat 5-6-7 pellets or pieces of mysis each. Feed that amount 2 or 3 times a day. Get yourself some hermit crabs and other carnivore critter to eat up the left over food that the fish miss. The biggest newbie mistake is overfeeding, which will cause algae issue's, so try not to feed so much that food sinks to the bottom and rots.

Good luck
Thanks for the advice. Yes, they're both still juveniles; one noticeably larger than the other, but both still small. I'll keep an eye on them, but yes, I think it probably is just them getting things sorted out, then.

And ah, yes, I actually do have a little HOB skimmer, and two powerheads on opposite corners, pointed at the surface. So, likely that it's just my clowns having a bit of fun near the surface, it sounds like?

Is that an adult clown, or what I should be feeding my little guys? At the moment, they eat about 2-3 pellets each per feeding, because that's about how much they seem to be able to eat quickly. Is that enough, or should I bump it up a bit? And I actually don't think I can get any hermits where I am, but I'm planning on adding a cleaner shrimp as soon as one is available.

Thank you for your help :)
 

RockyMtnFish

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A little over a year ago I started what I hoped would be an anemone/clownfish tank in addition to my large reef tank. I put a candy corn BTA in a 55 gallon with two captive bred ocellaris clowns. The only other inhabitants were a filefish and four cleaner shrimp (to rid the tank of aiptasia which they did quite well).

My BTA split and grew well. The clowns grew well. At first they only ate very small TDO pellets but as they got bigger began to eat mysis as well. But the BTA would not host the clowns. :confused-face:

A few days ago to my delight the smaller (male) of the clowns was nestled in the BTA. I cannot stop watching this amazing interaction.

My point is...feed your clowns a couple of times of day. They're not fussy eaters so don't overfeed. My 55 gallon has mechanical filtration and an ATO but no skimmer. I do regular water changes. In other words keep the water clean.

Clownfish are a delight. Good luck.
 

winxp_man

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You might see even clipped fines. But until the fighting gets to the point of big damage they will be okay. Remember they do have teeth not sand paper lips haha. So some fun edges can get clipper. I personally noticed if there is a decent size diff the fighting is not too crazy.

Did you get tank mates from your LFS?
 
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LaserKiwi

LaserKiwi

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You might see even clipped fines. But until the fighting gets to the point of big damage they will be okay. Remember they do have teeth not sand paper lips haha. So some fun edges can get clipper. I personally noticed if there is a decent size diff the fighting is not too crazy.

Did you get tank mates from your LFS?
That does make me feel better, mostly I've just seen the bigger one kind of bunt the little one out of the way or chase him away from food; seems like as far as things can go, they're being pretty chill haha.

And yes, they were both in the same tank at my LFS along with a handful of others, so they aren't brand new to each other; and they're currently the only things in the tank, though I'm planning on also getting a cleaner shrimp and a fire goby at some point in the future.
 
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LaserKiwi

LaserKiwi

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A little over a year ago I started what I hoped would be an anemone/clownfish tank in addition to my large reef tank. I put a candy corn BTA in a 55 gallon with two captive bred ocellaris clowns. The only other inhabitants were a filefish and four cleaner shrimp (to rid the tank of aiptasia which they did quite well).

My BTA split and grew well. The clowns grew well. At first they only ate very small TDO pellets but as they got bigger began to eat mysis as well. But the BTA would not host the clowns. :confused-face:

A few days ago to my delight the smaller (male) of the clowns was nestled in the BTA. I cannot stop watching this amazing interaction.

My point is...feed your clowns a couple of times of day. They're not fussy eaters so don't overfeed. My 55 gallon has mechanical filtration and an ATO but no skimmer. I do regular water changes. In other words keep the water clean.

Clownfish are a delight. Good luck.
Thank you :) They're already great to watch; though I think, at least for a while, I'll be leaving anemones to those with more experience than me haha
 

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