Coral Beauty

[AirRazr]

I got a Coral Beauty last night at my LFS. I acclimated her in the tank like I was supposed to. When I released her, she went and hid for several hours underneath a piece of base rock. She finally came out for a while. I was watching her swim around and squatted in front of the tank. When I did, it scared her and she then wedged herself under another piece of base rock. I coaxed her out this afternoon (by moving the rock she was hiding under) and she swam around the tank for a minute or 2 and now is laying on the ground. Is this normal? She looks healthy and was swimming around the tank in the store. I just don't want her to die.

TIA

It's quite normal for most fish but dwarf angels do tend to be a bit more skiddish in a new tank setting. Give the angel some time to adapt and try not to make sudden moves around the tank area or "coax" the fish when it's feeling threatend. 8)

Cheers
Steve

[AirRazr]

When I "coaxed" it out, I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't dead.

[JamesR]

I too just added a coral beauty to my tank. I got her in the afternoon and covered the tank so it would be dark and hopefully cause less stress. She basically hid until the next day, just peaking out now and again. The following day when feeding my clown, she was pretty bold and eating the food and swimming around then hiding for a minute then swimming in and out of the rocks. Today (day 4) she has very little fear. as long as i don't run up to the tank, she just swims around, picking at the rock and eating. I imagine your's will come around.

Also, be patient. I had a tang that hid for 3 days until it finally came out and swam around, a few weeks later, it would eat out of my hand.

Good Luck,
Jim

[digital_cichlid]

just make sure it's not swimming upside down
i got a pajama cardinal the other day and dripped tankwater into the bag to acclimate him and everything. put him in and within 45 min he was slowling rollong from side to side and in 3 hours he was just swimming upside down. about an hour after that one of my anenomes was consuming him...

[AirRazr]

She died sometime in the middle of the night last night. RIP Coral And I found out the the store I bought her from doesn't offer any type of return policy.

Sorry for your loss

Cheers
Steve

[MarkW19]

Sorry to hear that

How did you acclimate her? Did you notice any aggression from your other 2 fish towards her?

[AirRazr]

I floated the bag for about 15 minutes then 1/2 cup water every 5 minutes method. The other fish weren't aggressive toward her at all. I can only assume that she couldn't get comfortable in the tank. All my levels are right. The only thing I didn't do was turn off the lights. I guess I will have to be more careful in the future.

Keeping the lights off when introducing a new fish will help reduce stress but I highly doubt not doing so would kill the fish. Acclimation is typically a leading cause of death unless a parasite was present.

Raising the salinity to quickly can in fact damage the fish. I would suggest finding out the salinity your LFS keeps their fish at. If low compared to yours, that could easily have been the issue.

Easiest way to avoid this would be having a proper QT tank available for new fish. The salinity of the QT can quickly (in minutes) be adjusted to match the LFS salinity and the fish introduced in the same manner you described above without additional stress to the fish. The salinity of the QT can then be slowly manipulated upwards over days instead of minutes to match that of the display tank without damaging the fish or causing stress. After the 4 week QT period, the fish can then safely be introduced to your display tank.

Cheers
Steve

[MarkW19]

I think 1/2 cup of water every 5 minutes is too much, too often. If you're using this method, perhaps less water every 15-20 minutes would be better. Just keep an eye on the temperature.

When you were floating the bag, was it still unopened?

And, as Steve says, find out the salinity the fish came from so that you can adapt your methods accordingly.

Then again, the fish could have been doomed from the start. It may not be the acclimatisation that killed her...how long did your LFS have her in before you bought her?

[AirRazr]

I am planning on setting up a QT, but the initial outlay of money that I have gone through to get my display tank up and running is leaving me gasping.

Yes, the bag was unopened during the initial floating

Not sure how long the LFS had her before I bought her. I can tell you the my roommate caused a bit of a scene when we took her back to get the money back, so I probably won't be doing business there anymore.