New fish in 3 month old aquarium

[AndySmithers]

I have finally taken the plunge and got some fish in my new aquarium. Reading all the advice about 'slowly does it' I cycled my tank for 2 months until Ammonia and Nitrite were 0 (still are), PH is 8.2 and Nitrate is 5ppm. Temperature is 78F. Oh, and it's a 90 gallon with 135lb of LR and about 2in of reef sand.
Then, a few weeks ago I introduced 2 common cleaner shrimp and 5 Mexican turbo snails to control the algae.
The shrimp have been feeding well for a month (and have moulted!) and the turbo snails have done a great clean-up job.
So, with water quality unchanged from above I got yesterday an Ocelaris Percula 3 yellow tail damsels and 4 red legged hermits.
My question:
Well the damsels are feeding voraciously, as are the crabs (of course). My 'problem' (maybe) is the clownfish. He's kind of swimming 'funny' - head down most of the time and looks almost like he's struggling to swim. he's not gasping, doesn't look particularly stressed but he's not taking either frozen shrimp, flake or pellet food.
Am I expecting too much after 1 day? It's just these are my first fish and you kind of feel real responsible for them.....

 

[d9hp]

i think one day may not be long enough to gauge him, but how did you acclimate him. I love the fact that you were patient though.

 

[michealprater]

Is the percula wild caught or tank raised? Remember perculas swimming style is kind of different from other fish. Did he eat at the store? Also, once again, what is your acclimation process?

 

[fishfreek]

those clowns are known to be poor swimmers. they more or less wiggle back and forth vs swimming like other fish with their pectoral fins.

Be very careful not to overfeed your fish.

Clowns are also known for not accepting food right away. This is another reason not to over feed as the food left uneaten in your tank can help rase the ammonia levels.

 

[d9hp]

I just want to say, dont things seem to drift from one suggestion to another?

 

[cmor1701d]

I got a pair of true perculas for my 2½ month old 125 last Sunday. The larger one ate right away (I spent close to 2 hours acclimating them). The smaller one just wouldn't eat. It seemed as if he was blind to the food. He would react when I added food but just couldn't find it. He had no other problems. I called the lfs I got them from on Thursday to discuss this and they told to give him another day. Sure enough he did start eating the next day... voraciously. A drop of Garlic Extreme on the brine or mysis seemed to help too.

 

[AndySmithers]

Hmm.... it seems from some of these replies that I am over-reacting too soon.
The clown seems a bit happier now and I think that the 'funny swimming' thing is simply, as fishfreek says, that these fish really do swim funny.
As for acclimation, I did the 'float the bag in the tank for 30 minutes, then slowly add aquarium water over about 1 hour with emptying half away half way through' process.
The lights are just about to come on in the aquarium so I will se if he feeds today. Yesterday he seemed to react appropriately to the food, took it in then spat it out again. We'll see today.
Thanks for al, the advice, folks!
Oh, by the way - 'lfs' - in Tyler, Texas! Not a chance - there's one 'pet store' with some vastly over-priced marine fish (I did get the tank there, though) and one guy who has some vague knowledge on the subject. It's on-line purchasing only for me, I'm afraid!

 

[Hara]

HI Andy,
I am in the same boat....live in sabine parish louisiana...online is not bad at all.
But if I am not mistaken, Lufkin isnt too far from you (maybe 2 hours?) They have a very nice store there.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Did you quarantine them?

 

[AndySmithers]

I didn't quarantine them. But I only had 2 shrimp and 4 turbo snails in the main tank. I figured there wasn' tmuch chance of passing disease onto them!

 

[Hara]

I never quarantine.

 

[AndySmithers]

Wow Hara - those 3 words! Surely you are leaving yourself open to the forum equivalent of 'flaming' for saying that!

For information - the clown fish still shows no sign of interest in food. Getting worried about him now.

 

[Guest]

I don't quarantine either. I do however, if I see problems starting or the fish does not kick illness or look better after a few days.

 

[Hara]

I am a brave soul
But on this forum,flaming is not usually tolerated too long

 

[Hara]

I understand exactly what you are going through with your clown. My husband bought me a large snowflake eel for my birthday, I believe we got it on the 28th of March. It still has not eaten and it is bothering me to no end. I have noticed that he is losing weight and there is nothing I can do but keep offering assorted foods to him. I thought he had been eating my peppermint shrimp as I had not seen them, but my husband saw the shrimp yesterday. I am not a fatalist and will keep trying until he quits breathing, but I do not know if it will happen.

 

[reefrunner69]

Wow Hara - those 3 words! Surely you are leaving yourself open to the forum equivalent of 'flaming' for saying that!

But on this forum,flaming is not usually tolerated too long

We do our best to shut it down quickly. IMO, the vast majority of hobbiests do not quarantine. It's hard to flame someone for something you don't do, or haven't done in the past. I personally recommend quarantining your fish, I have had quarantine tanks in the past, I try to help people set up quarantine tanks. However, I do not have a fish in my current reef that under went quarantine.

 

[cmor1701d]

It's good to know form the experience of long time hobbiests that quarantining new aquisitions is not always done. My 125 gallon is new (February '02) and my livestock consists of 4 fish,the lates additions being a pair of true perculas two weeks ago. I am comtemplating my next purchase and whether or not to set up my QT tank and using that for a month before introduction into the main tank. I did not do that with my the current livestock, but there wasn't much at stake yet either.

I did worry about the one clown not eating for 5 days, but all the fish are doing quite well right now. Right now I'm thinking of just waiting another couple of weeks, picking up my new aquisition for them lfs and placing it right in the main tank.

That's one of the benefits of have a lfs you can trust. I can see the livestock I want or they can order it for me. The perculas were in their tank for several weeks and were on hold for me for a week before I brought them home.

 

[AndySmithers]

Good news all! This morning I fed the fish as usual. The damsels darted out of nowhere as usual and polished off everything they could see, as did the shrimp - then, like he hadn't eaten for days (which I guess he hadn't) the clown came streaking up from behind the LR and basically had a feeding frenzy for a few minutes! He's a completely different fish now, swimming happily and chasing the damsels!

Thanks to all for words of advice and encouragement....

Only trouble is - I just may be hooked on this hobby now!

 

[Guest]

I just may be hooked on this hobby now!

Welcome to the club..

 

[cmor1701d]

Glad to hear he's eating finally. I too was quite worried for a few days when mine wouldn't eat.
Now, what fish to get next?...
QT first or not?...
and many more questions to come.