Clownfish color

[havefun]

I've been wanting to get a 2'nd false perc for a while now so I've been checking at the lfs's pretty regularly. A week or so before Christmas Petco received a pretty large shipment of them. Probably 20-30 total in 3 tanks. They all looked very nice - bright colors etc, however I was too busy/broke with Christmas to purchase one then. I went yesterday and they are all very pale and not very active. I'd like to save one (from death) if possible but I already have a fish in QT and don't want to risk adding a sick clown if it is something serious.
I know it's probably difficult to diagnose from my description but is it possible they are just malnourished?

TIA
Steve

 

[fishfreek]

That kind of numbers in a chain petstore its very hard to say. They can liklyi be malnourished although its hard to get a fish to that state. They would have to not have eaten much of anything for well over a week. Having that many in the small display tanks can lead to water problems expecially if they expected the fish to move faster than they did. I know most of the stores like that have tanks that are all plumbed together so its very easy for one tank thats infested to spread to all the tanks in the system.

My advice would be get the one fish you have in QT out via your normal QT timeline and then look to purchase your second clown. WHen you get the second clown shoot for one approx the same size as the clown you have now. If you cant get one the same size shoot for one slightly smaller.