First ask for help - clown fish

[Maplewood20]

As I have been chronicling in my other thread, I am setting up a 20 nano. Right now I am about two months into the setup and have my live rock, clean up crew and two clown fish. Since yesterday, the clowns have been cowering in the upper corner of the tank. Yesterday, they only ate one tiny bit of dry food each and today they totally ignored the frozen reef mix I gave them.

I assume that ick on marine fish looks the same as freshwater, and I don't see any white spots. I don't see any outward signs of distress (except the cowering and lack of eating). Have they just bonded with my heater and don't want to leave its side? They have crammed themselves into a limited little space between the heater and filter return and don't seem to want to leave.

Is this normal?

Should I move the heater so they are forced to be someplace else in the tank?

The only thing I can think of is that I added a surface skimmer to my canister filter. I think it is allowing air to get into the system and micro bubbles are flowing in through the filter return. I don't like it aesthetically, and turned it off tonight to see if my theory is correct. Maybe the bubbles are bugging the fish out?

Thanks for any help or ideas.
Steven

 

[TanksNStuff]

It's actually pretty normal for clowns to choose a corner of a new tank to call home, especially if there is a heater or something they can "hide" behind or next to. You will probably see them swimming up and down or wiggling side to side a lot.

If you get an anemone they will likely leave the corner and begin hosting it. It may not happen immediately, but eventually they do.

As for not eating, that's not normal and could be a concern if it lasts more than a day or two.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[trivan]

I'll jump on the typical bandwagon and ask if you have tested for ammonia. It takes time for your bio-filter to support each addition. When stocking my tank in the beginning, I used a rule of 1 new thing in the tank each month. I'm sure your fine, but with a new tank there are a lot of factors. Going slow is the key to success.

 

[mnat]

It could be the opposite with the micro bubbles, you could have taken too much oxegyn out of the water.

Keep an eye on them, test as trivan says and report back.

 

[Sobo's Reef]

My clowns live in one corner of the tank, they only move from it when its feeding time.

 

[Maplewood20]

Good news to report. They have moved out of the corner and are swimming around much more. I also fed them and they attacked the food like they used to. I guess it was the micro bubbles from the surface skimmer freaking them out. Too bad because I liked the way the skimmer removed the surface scum from the tank. I will play around with it to see if I can set it low enough so it does not create bubbles.

Thanks for your suggestions. The first thing on my shopping list is an anemone. As I mentioned in my other thread, my daughter gave me a pico 2.5 tank before Sandy with a clown fish. I bought an anemone and he started hosting it the minute I put it in. My favorite part was when he would grab food and give it to the anemone. I hope these guys do the same.

I am off on vacation next week, so fingers crossed that everything survives for the week without me. My biggest worry is evaporation, but I will put my tank cover back on which should slow it down a bit. But, once I am back, I am free to go finally get some coral and stuff. Not sure if I am more exited about that or the vacation!!

 

[trivan]

I have a tunze micro ato you can borrow. I'm not going to be using it for a bit since I broke down my DT. I'm in summit. PM me if you want to pick it up this weekend. That and a covered 5 gallon ro/di bucket should be good for a week.

 

[Maplewood20]

Thanks Trivan for your generous offer! For a variety of reasons, including the fact that I won't have time to get it before I leave, I am going to have to leave the tank to the elements for the couple of days. I am sure I will be OK, but I am certain that a ATO will be one of my next purchases. I do a manual top off every night and I am running through about a gallon a week (remember its only a 20 gallon tank) so I am learning that it evaporates very fast. Not the worst problem to have, but hooking up a machine to take care of it sounds attractive.

I have to say that I am struck by the sharing nature of this little community. I am glad that I have joined and look forward to being able to share once I get further along with my tank.

Thanks again trivan and everyone else for your comments.
Steven