sgonzal6
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Good Afternoon Fellow Tankers,
My amazing girlfriend got a sweet tank, sump, and light set for my birthday.
The tank is 125 gallons with a CYP194 sump and a Odyessa lighting system that has 3 HQIs, 4 T5s, and LED moon lighting.
We subsequently filled the tank with filtered water. We picked up an RV water filter after deciding that RO water was a little out of our price range.
We mixed the salt filtered water and then went to our local marine fish store and picked up 80 lbs of live sand, 40 lbs of live rock from Fiji, and 40 lbs of base rock. We allowed the tank to cycle for 8 days adding Stability every night.
I took a sample of my water to the store last night and received the following reading:
pH 8
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Salinity 1.026
Temp 80 (I know it was a little high so I turned down the temp)
The sales guy, who I trust, gave me the ok to buy fish and coral.
I picked up one large portion of coral and two frags and two clowns.
We got home and acclimated the clowns per the directions from the sales guy. We placed the clowns in a bowl with a bit of original water and started a syphon and allowed the bowl to fill by dropping our tank water in the bowl slowly. We got home arranged the coral, which did cause a bit of sand agitation. Which concerned us due to the fact that the clowns were in the tank.
But the sand cleared fast enough and the clowns seemed happy swimming around a bit but mostly hanging out in the corner. We chalked it up to agitation with the move.
I set the T5s to turn on 1 hour before my HQIs and my HQIs to turn on 30 minutes before dawn and stay on for 8 hours. Per the directions of the sales guy.
This morning we awoke to a nicely lit tank and the corals look great, but the clown fish were just hanging out under one of the rocks and won't seem to leave. Now I looked around online a bit and I found discussions about clowns hosting corners and other areas and that seemed to be my case. But we attempted to feed them. I admit that I am not 100% sure how to feed them. We purchased some flakes from the shop. They are rather large so I crushed them in 4s. I dropped one flake (in 4s) into the tank with no succes or notice from the clowns.
I used a turkey baster to remove the unnoticed flakes 3 minutes later per the directions on the package. I then attempted to drop the flakes closer to the rock that they are hiding area that the clowns seem to be in with still no success. I also removed the uneaten flakes. I have since tried this now three times.
We also thought that they just might not like the HQIs but they have since gone off and still they just hang out under the rock with little movement out.
My concern returned as I noticed a lack of swimming and what I perceive as rapid gill movement. I admit that I do not have a point of reference and may just be letting my emotions get the best of me.
These are the first fish that I have ever attempted to take care of and I don't want to let them down.
I re-tested the water and got these reading:
pH 8.2
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Temp of 78
Any insight would be very helpful and I may just need a little reassurance.
What is the best way to feed hiding clown fish?
Is this normal clown behavior?
Any other recommendations about my current set up?
Thank you
SMG
My amazing girlfriend got a sweet tank, sump, and light set for my birthday.
The tank is 125 gallons with a CYP194 sump and a Odyessa lighting system that has 3 HQIs, 4 T5s, and LED moon lighting.
We subsequently filled the tank with filtered water. We picked up an RV water filter after deciding that RO water was a little out of our price range.
We mixed the salt filtered water and then went to our local marine fish store and picked up 80 lbs of live sand, 40 lbs of live rock from Fiji, and 40 lbs of base rock. We allowed the tank to cycle for 8 days adding Stability every night.
I took a sample of my water to the store last night and received the following reading:
pH 8
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Salinity 1.026
Temp 80 (I know it was a little high so I turned down the temp)
The sales guy, who I trust, gave me the ok to buy fish and coral.
I picked up one large portion of coral and two frags and two clowns.
We got home and acclimated the clowns per the directions from the sales guy. We placed the clowns in a bowl with a bit of original water and started a syphon and allowed the bowl to fill by dropping our tank water in the bowl slowly. We got home arranged the coral, which did cause a bit of sand agitation. Which concerned us due to the fact that the clowns were in the tank.
But the sand cleared fast enough and the clowns seemed happy swimming around a bit but mostly hanging out in the corner. We chalked it up to agitation with the move.
I set the T5s to turn on 1 hour before my HQIs and my HQIs to turn on 30 minutes before dawn and stay on for 8 hours. Per the directions of the sales guy.
This morning we awoke to a nicely lit tank and the corals look great, but the clown fish were just hanging out under one of the rocks and won't seem to leave. Now I looked around online a bit and I found discussions about clowns hosting corners and other areas and that seemed to be my case. But we attempted to feed them. I admit that I am not 100% sure how to feed them. We purchased some flakes from the shop. They are rather large so I crushed them in 4s. I dropped one flake (in 4s) into the tank with no succes or notice from the clowns.
I used a turkey baster to remove the unnoticed flakes 3 minutes later per the directions on the package. I then attempted to drop the flakes closer to the rock that they are hiding area that the clowns seem to be in with still no success. I also removed the uneaten flakes. I have since tried this now three times.
We also thought that they just might not like the HQIs but they have since gone off and still they just hang out under the rock with little movement out.
My concern returned as I noticed a lack of swimming and what I perceive as rapid gill movement. I admit that I do not have a point of reference and may just be letting my emotions get the best of me.
These are the first fish that I have ever attempted to take care of and I don't want to let them down.
I re-tested the water and got these reading:
pH 8.2
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Temp of 78
Any insight would be very helpful and I may just need a little reassurance.
What is the best way to feed hiding clown fish?
Is this normal clown behavior?
Any other recommendations about my current set up?
Thank you
SMG