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What are Clownfish dietary requirements?

What is wrong with my clownfish?

  • Since I started my 30g tank, I have had 3 different clownfish. After i fully fishless cycled my tank (ammonia:0, nitrite:0, nitrate:10, salinity:1.023, ph:8.2, temp:79) and added other fish (at the recommended 2 week interval), I got the first clown from Petco, because it was cheaper. After about a week from getting it, it started laying on its side on the ground a lot, or staying near the surface. Petco does not have a return or warranty policy so i was forced to keep the sick fish for another week until it finally died. I thought that this probably was because Petco did not sell healthy fish due to its chain store nature, even though I had kept a close eye on this one before buying and it seemed perfectly fine. 2 weeks ago, I went to a LFS and bought a very social healthy pair of clownfish under warranty. When i got home, while i was acclimating them to the tank, i noticed the smaller (probably male) was not as active in the bag. When I let them into the tank, i saw that his fin was a bit gimpy and he couldn't swim right. I think that the assistant at the store had maybe hurt him while catching him with the net. The larger (female) looked completely healthy, and even ate the 2nd day. The 2 fish stuck together until the exact day the warranty expired when the smaller one died. I took him back for a store credit, with which i got a green mandarin goby. (the clownfish price had raised) The goby is doing absolutely perfect, and eating too. The female clownfish now seems to be getting unhealthy; she is showing almost the exact symptoms as the one from Petco, excapt she is not laying on her side, and she still eats. (she stays either near the bottom corner, or at the top near the filter) My question is: can clownfish become depressed and unhealthy when kept singly in tanks? I know that they can live healthily as the only clownfish in the tank, but have there been cases of clownfish getting sick do to being alone? Other fish: 1 green mandarin goby, 1 yellow tail damsel, 1 striped damsel, and 1 horseshoe crab. note: the damselfish have completely ignored all the other fish. I have never seen them pick on the clownfish whatsoever. They do have their own little rocks in the tank that they are a bit territorial of, but that is it. Please give me suggestions other than the damsels. Thanks for any insight.

  • Answer:

    Whoever told you that the rate to add SW fish was 2 per week is misinformed. About 1 a month is the fastest you should go and madarin gobies should not be added until the tank is a year old because there aren't enough small organisms for them to eat built up in the soil. until then. Also, your tank is overstocked. 3 ocellaris clownfish is about it for a 30 gallon. I would guess that by adding so many fish you started the cycle again in your tank. What are your water parameters now? BTW - clowns can be kept singly and adding another large organism like a anenome is only going to make your overcrowding issues worse.

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See....clownfishes wont do good with the sea anemones...there should be two anemones per clownfish. Without anemones,they'll keep dying...i know the shopkeeper wont say so...coz he wud luv u cuming to his shop evry now n then to buy clownfish,which r expensive!

1. you need to understand, that every time you say you are knowingly doing something that people have said is wrong or difficult and then say that's not the problem, you miss the important advice. Through experience, we've learned stuff and it happens enough that we say it's the most likely problem. in this case it's the damsels. If your water quality is great, then that's the next suspect, regardless of what you claim to "see" . 2. the mandarin will live a few months on average in most home aquariums. So do horseshoe crabs. If yours are alive in a year that will be out of the ordinary. 3. not having an anemone or buddies doesn't kill clowns. But being stuck in a tank with just damsels, and no buddies or other fish, does kill clowns or other small fish. 4. Mandarins being poisonous are not usually bothered by other fish, although if or when he dies, he has the potential of poisoning your entire tank and killing everything. 5. adding one or two fish to a tank often doesn't work and there's a number of things about acclimating fish etc. that have to be done properly to get them to live initially. EDIT: you have a 30 gallon tank ? ok, forget I tried to answer. 1. it's the damsels, 2. you won't have the crab for long, 3. goodbye.

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