percula help

[christy1430]

hey guys, i bought a clown fish today at the LFS. When i had gotten to the store they had just finished acclimating the fish into thier tanks. About ide say 5 min later they took out the clown i wanted. i acclimated the clown into my 29 gallon, and isnt looking to good. It is just staing towards the bottom of the tank behind the rcoks and not moving quikly or anything to that extent. Can i be loosing this fish already?

[Marc118]

How did you acclimate it? What are your water parameters?

[Devilishturtles]

In addition, it's normal for fish to hide a little bit. If you acclimated normally, he could just be a little stressed and is adjusting.

[tecwzrd]

Moved to sick fish forum:

Considering the stress of being moved to the store I'm disappointed your lfs even sold it so quickly. I'd never deal with a store like that. Fish need time to adjust to ph/sg levels and also some time to adjust to the tank. IMO lfs shouldn't sell stock for at least a couple of days to a week and it's best to make sure the fish is accepting food before taking it home.

As long as you slowly acclimated (at least a 1 hour drip preferably) and as long as your ph/sg isn't too far off from your lfs then there is a good chance it will do fine. If your lfs or you rushed the acclimation then there is a chance you could loose it. It's not unusual for them to hide the first couple of days but it is if it's truly not moving much at all.

Is it breathing heavy? Has it attempted to eat anything yet?

Is your other clown you added OK? If so the 12 gal isn't going to be big enough IMO when they are fully grown. If not then I'd recommend you slow down a bit.

Keep the lights off and monitor closely for the next couple of days. Make sure nh3/no2 stays at 0 ppm and no3 at or below 10 ppm since you have corals.

[melosu58]

I agree with Micah that the double acclimation in so quick a time probably has him stressed to the max. Hopefully he will recover.

[MT79]

Considering the stress of being moved to the store I'm disappointed your lfs even sold it so quickly... IMO lfs shouldn't sell stock for at least a couple of days to a week and it's best to make sure the fish is accepting food before taking it home.

I absolutly agree w/ that. That was irresponsible for them to do b/c 1. You may have just wasted money on something doomed 2. The fish is most likely suffering due to their actions. I would not be quick to give them my cash in the future...JMO Best of luck w/ the clown.