New Clownfish acting crazed.

[Virtuoso]

I have been away from this forum too long! It's amazing how much work keeping up a tank is. Juggling that with work and real life, ugh. I am fairly sure I owe everybody some updates, but quick question.

I just got 2 tank bred Ocellaris Clownfish from Liveaquaria. They are really small, maybe 1 inch or so long. I have them setup in a 10g quarantine tank with a trickle filter for a 20g (I know, need something better) and a fine bubble wand. Made the water yesterday and have had it mixing and aerating for 24 hours. Got the clownfish, floated the bag closed for 15 minutes or so for temperature, and then slowly put water in over 20 minutes, and then took the fish out and put them in the tank. They went from 1.025 SG to 1.024 SG.

The only comparison I have is the Pajama Cardinal I have that seems pretty docile, but these guys are swimming all over the place. They do not seem to be breathing hard but I am concerned they are freaking out or are trying to "escape" because something is wrong. Is this normal for an active fish like a clownfish? Any ideas?

Thank you so much for your help.

[carpenterman23]

I bought mine from the LFS. They had them in small 10 gallon with about 6 of the fish in there with very little flow. When I put them in to QT (20g long) they went nuts swimming everywhere. I think they might be stretching out abit.

[lacosta28]

My clownfish did the same thing when I brought them home. They will calm down eventually. It took mine a few weeks. Then when they went into the DT they did it all over again for about a week.

[greech]

Agreed they should calm down and likely hang in one area. They may even hang by the surface in a corner laying horizontal. That is normal too for short periods in case that happens. As long as your water quality is good, they don;t start breathing heavy and they are eating (may take a day or 2) you'll be fine. Do you have any PVC in the QT to give them a place to hide?

[Lynnmw1208]

did you say the clownfish came in at 1.025 SG? When I got fish from liveaquaria, the SG was 1.020.

anyways, that is normal for clownfish in a new tank. I got my 2 little tank breds from my LFS and just threw them right in my tank. They didn't know what to do with the current and were swimming all over and losing each other.

[MandM]

As suggested, a few PVC elbows in the QT tank can help a fish that may be intimidated by the others. You may want to put some eggcrate or screen over the top to prevent him from jumping out.

[Virtuoso]

Thank you guys for the feedback. I figured they were just a bit more active then the Pajama Cardinal, glad to hear it is normal when they are in a new home. They seem to be doing fine this morning, still fairly active. I have 3 PVC elbows in the tank for them but they do not seem to be taking advantage of them yet. I also have the 1/4'' mesh netting over the top of the tank. On the SG, I think I was in a bit of a rush to post, they came in at 1.024 and I put them into 1.023. They came from their California facility and were tank bred, not sure if that matters.

Thanks again for the reassurances. They are just so very cute and I want them to be happy and healthy.

[tmz]

Sounds ok. The pvc is a good addition. Mine liked it so much I moved some with them to their more permanent home. They may be reacting to reflections . Sounds like you know what you are doing but as a reminder watch the ammonia closely in qt.

[Virtuoso]

That's a good point about the reflections. I can see them very easily and it looks like there is a mirror around all sides. Wonder if that is one of the reasons why. Yeah, going to be very paranoid about the ammonia. Will be sucking out any leftover food after 15 minutes or so, rinsing the foam pads in the filter out every day, and changing out 2g of 10g every day.