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View Full Version : Clown I've had for 6 months just started acting strange


pammy
07/11/2008, 11:34 AM
Hey all. I bought two small wild caught percula clowns a year ago. I still have the female. She killed the other clown before I made it home from the LFS (he bagged them in the same bag...and I watched her badger him all the way home). The LFS replaced him with another, and I found that one 3/4's of the way in the mouth of my duncan about 6 weeks later. I then replaced that clown, with a tank raised clown. I was told it was a true percula by the LFS, although it looked more like an ocellaris to me. I've had this second clown for about 6 months. They get along fine, although not together a lot until recently. She hosted within a day or two in a Sabae Anemone, and the male never attempted to host in anything. They would swim together here and there, and bicker now and then, like normal clowns. All of a sudden, she has really started following him all over the tank in the past two weeks....leaving her Anemone alot. Chasing him a lot more than usual, and I noticed he was starting to look a little ragged (fins and tail looked a little ratty). Then all of a sudden this week, I noticed that he wasn't anywhere to be found when I fed the tank. He ALWAYS eats. I then found him laying sidewards at the top of the water in the rear corner of the tank. I thought he might be dying. I put a couple pieces of flake near him, and he bolted across the tank like nothing was wrong. The next day, I couldn't find him anywhere in the tank and finally found him hiding underneath a frogspawn. Again, he didn't come out to eat. The next day, I kept an eye on the tank from work on my internet cam. I watched the female clown swim back and forth all day from her Anemone, to the frogspawn. Looked like she was pacing, and checking on him. She didn't appear to be harrassing him at all. I wondered if he was dead or alive. I could barely see him under the frogspawn. Every minute, she'd go between him and her Anemone. I get home last night, and I searched the tank looking for Jerry and couldn't find him anywhere. I kept staring under the Frogspawn, and between the heads, and couldn't spot him there at all. Looked under the rocks, every cave, the powerheads...everywhere. Nowhere to be found. Thought he must have died for sure and either the crabs got him after he died or my longnose hawkfish. Then a couple hours later, I saw the female go into the Frogspawn....and there was Jerry!!! So he's still hiding. I did see him swim out once and he swam to the other side of the tank, then he went back into the frogspawn. He looked fine other than the hiding. It's not that he's trying to host the frogspawn, he's just sitting underneath it in one spot. He doesn't have any spots on his body indicating any obvious health issues. Where they have been hanging out together so much lately when they normally don't....it got me wondering.... Male clowns don't watch eggs or anything do they? Any guesses on this behavior?

Also, someone from an online fish store, suggested that wild caughts and tank caught clowns fight. Is this fact or fiction.

Thanks, Pam

Toddrtrex
07/11/2008, 11:56 AM
Last part first --- fiction. One being WC, and that other TR won't help/harm them getting along.

Male clowns do watch the eggs. IME, with Maroons and Clarkiis the males actually watched the eggs more then the females.

sandyc
07/11/2008, 07:16 PM
I have a pair of ocellaris that lay eggs every 2 two weeks. You could set your watch by them. Anyway, The female lays them just beneath the frogspawn. The male does all the egg tending. If he goes to far from the nest the female chases him. The behavior you describe may be nothing more than a nest of eggs. Take a flashlight tonight, a couple of hours after lights out, and take a look.

pammy
07/14/2008, 04:09 AM
Ahhh....very interesting that your clown also lay eggs beneath a frogspawn. I red my tank frozen cyclopese on Friday, and I realized, that the clown was going after it and eating it like crazy, under the frogspawn. So he is eating, even though he isn't coming out from under the frogspawn. I then fed the tank some frozen mysis, and I saw him eating what floated under the frogspawn too. So that's a good sign! This is really exciting if they have laid their first hatch of eggs. I'm sure chances of babies surviving in a tank with other fish are slim to none, but any chance at all?

Thanks, Pam


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12929422#post12929422 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sandyc
I have a pair of ocellaris that lay eggs every 2 two weeks. You could set your watch by them. Anyway, The female lays them just beneath the frogspawn. The male does all the egg tending. If he goes to far from the nest the female chases him. The behavior you describe may be nothing more than a nest of eggs. Take a flashlight tonight, a couple of hours after lights out, and take a look.

sandyc
07/14/2008, 04:18 AM
Sorry to say, I have never had any survive.

Slakker
07/14/2008, 07:47 AM
Raising the fry can be challenging enough in a tank without predators...IMO too many variables at play in a populated tank for the fry to survive past the night of the hatch.