Clown Question

[littleme1969]

I just got my first fish today and a cleaner shrimp..
Im just a little concerned as the little guy seems quite manic, swimming backwards and forwards at the front of the tank.
Is this normal behaviour or is he just settling in do you think? I would of expected him to be swimming around checking out the tank, but as Its my first clown i'm not sure if this is just normal behaviour.

 

[shibby]

normal behaviour there qwerky! my 2 spend most of there first day swimming into the side of the tank .... they still sometimes like to manic swim

 

[littleme1969]

Right..lol Now a few hours later he just looks knackered poor little guy and spat out all food I offered him . I'm a little worried, the other one died in transit and never even made it into the tank. Should I switch out the lights? Ive only had them on for an hour or so?

He looks well enough in himself...

 

[shibby]

yeh they usually knacker themshevles out, i doubt it would feed really on first day .... what u feeding it i no of some foods that my clowns just spit out!

 

[n3ont3tra]

awesome pics.
Maybe it's just me but the fins look a little torn. Especially the side fins, I forget what they're called though.

 

[littleme1969]

Hes a True persula Clown and hes looking a bit ragged as hes just done 16 hrs in a fish bag transported by overnight courier I'm Begging a lift tomorrow to go to a shop about 50 miles away to try and get him a friend as the other died in transit

Food.. well I asked the shop where I bought him what they were feeding him on and asked them to supply the same stuff. Pellets and flake is what they said he was eating and thats what they sent. He just spat both out. I also tried him on some Tetra Prima Vitamin enriched daphnia.. no look there either.. Ive get a new brine shrimp hatchers comming tomorrow and I'll also try and pick up some other types from where I get the new fish from. Lets just hope he takes something.
After a few hours with the lights off and the room dark hes quitely trying to host in a large clump of spagtti alge..lol Bless him.

 

[norite]

It sounds like your fish is very stressed...16 hours in a bag is a long time. Where did you get them from? I live in darlington, and I get mine from cyberaquatics in Gateshead, only 30 miles away. Just give him some time, let him settle in.

I had an issue with one of my perculas not eating...he got really thin, while the other one got really fat (ate everything I put in front of it).
So I started feeding frozen brine shrimp, but chopped up a fresh clove of garlic really fine, and added this to the shrimp. I put the block of shrimp in a cup of aquarium water to defrost and mixed the garlic in with it, then give it a stir let it sit for a few minutes before pouring it into the tank. My yellow tang really likes the pieces of garlic !
This seemed to work, the clown is now eating flake food, pellets and shrimp, and is fattening up. Garlic enhances the flavour of the food, you could try it.

 

[littleme1969]

I dont live near any goo shops that sell marine fish so i got him from down south sent up by courier, hense the 16 hours in a fish bag I'll get him a good selection off foods tomorrow and try hima agin when hes had a good nights rest. Hes more settled now with just the moon lights on in the tank so hopefully he should be OK if I can get him to eat and a new friend Fingers crossed hes still alive when I wake in the morning, I'm not used to loosing fish

 

[norite]

Yeah, don't be too worried if he doesn't eat immediately. A stressed fish won't want to eat, so just give him a few days to chill out properly and get used to his new home

 

[littleme1969]

Many thanks to everyone for all the advise, its much appreciated and I'm not flapping quite so much now

 

[AK77]

My clown was pretty much the same when I bought him. He did nothing but swim into the powerhead current for about 2 days. Always in the same spot, just swimming up and down, but never actually moving forward.

He'll probably start eating in a day or two and will need some time to settle in and adjust to his new surroundings. Being caught in a net, put into a small bag and then a dark box for 16 hours, bouncing around in the back of a noisey van. If it happened to you, you'd have post traumatic stress syndrome too.

I use King British marine flake food. Seems to be his favourite... the damsel fish also prefers this. He does like bloodworm. Daphnia he is pretty impartial to, and he totally ignores mini river shrimp and tubiflex. They do seem to be particular about what food they will eat.

I also have a couple of sinking pellet foods, which I drop in very sparingly for the shrimp, which sometimes the crabs get hold of.

 

[xNOTLOCx]

You also shouldn't worry about tattered fins, most fish when they come hit their fins or are nipped at by other fish in the tanks at the store... Fin rot is pretty rare, and usually their fins are barely there. and plus he was in a bag for 16 hours...