strange behavior

R

rbobi92

Reefing newb
Hello, i am somewhat new to saltwater aquariums, but have been successful for about two weeks with all of my fish. I have two clowns and a black and yellow heniochus. I used live sand and fresh sea water with a temp always between 76 and 82. Recently the clown fish have been displaying strange behavior such as swimming in place, but moving extremely fast. The heniochus is now floating upside down and drifting then coming back into consciousness almost as if he has narcolepsy. I know it cant be a salinity problem since I have not mixed any water and have been using the fresh ocean water from the bag.
Thoughts or suggestions?
 
I think it could be that the tank is waaayyy too small. It might be stressing them out. On liveaquaria i says a heniochus needs a minimum of 120 gallons. It might even be too small for 2 clowns.
 
yes i do...the salinity of the tank is right around 1.021. I just did some water exchange to see if that would help, but no results yet.
 
reefnoob said:
I think it could be that the tank is waaayyy too small. It might be stressing them out. On liveaquaria i says a heniochus needs a minimum of 120 gallons. It might even be too small for 2 clowns.
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I went off of what the guy at petco was saying...i know there not the most reliable place but he does custom tanks on the side so he knows his stuff. At the moment its a juvenile so its only about 2 inches.
 
Oh lord. Did you cycle your tank? 2 weeks is not considered success. In sw tanks, 10 years is considered successful fish keeping. Please take all of the fish back to the store, read all of the articles and stickies on this site about how to start a reef tank, water chemistry, and basic equipment that you need, plan out and start your tank, and then add your first fish after you have everything set up and running and cycled. And you should only add 1 fish every 3-4 weeks when you are starting out. And for future reference, we really can't help unless you provide us more info - actual numbers for water parameters, info about how much live rock you have, info about how you cycled your tank - just for starters on this thread.

And NONE of the fish you listed can survive in a 15g tank. Please please please return them to the store and do your research before buying anything else!!!
 
i know most tanks take longer then 2 weeks to cycle i got lucky my tank was done in 2 week but (dont know if it really made a diffance) but i had 5 gals. of ocean water i brought back from the beach but it sounds like to me you bought a tank dumped the water in and the fish all in the same day and with 3 fish and the tank not cycled the ammonia went thru the roof and your water is toxic to your fish
 
I had the tank up and running for about a week before I added anything. There is no live rock, only the live sand. And the temp is always a constant 78 degrees give or take a degree.
 
Adding three fish in such a short period of time is never good. I am with emmett. Your ammonia spiked to toxic levels and is hurting your fish. The clowns might make it since they are fairly hardy, the other, is most likely not. Please in the future, research the livestock you want to get before you purchase. It makes it a more enjoyable hobby to watch your animal thrive than to watch them suffer.
 
The heniochus requires a 120 gallon tank -- regardless of how big or small the fish is. They are difficult to feed and often starve to death because we cannot provide them what they need in their diets. Even in a 120 gallon tank, there usually isn't enough food for them.

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Heniochus Black & White Butterflyfish

For the love of god, please do not take fish advice from Petco associates!! :mrgreen: This one especially clearly doesn't know what he or she is doing.

Your fish sound in bad shape. You should return them to the store. You should buy a full set of test kits and a refractometer so you know what your water parameters are checking in at.
 
It's barely large enough, but you definitely can't add more. Just keep up with your water changes, and they should be fine :)
 
You also need 1-2 lbs of live rock per gallon in your tank - so you need at least 15lbs of live rock. Bacteria that break down ammonia into less harmful nitrate grow on the surface of the rock, and rock also provides places to hide and establish territory for your fish. You cannot have a tank w/o live rock. You really need to return your fish, get some rock, and properly cycle your tank. Just waiting a week before putting stuff in is not the same as cycling the tank. As I said before, please read up on the stickies in the new to reef tanks section and also read the articles, particularly the water chemistry article, in the articles section of this website. I can tell you right now that w/o any live rock and with an uncycled tank your fish are not going to live.
 
rbobi92 said:
Thanks for the advice, for future reference, is a 15 gallon tank large enough for two clowns?
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It depends on what type of clowns - if they are the regular occelaris or black and white occelaris, or perculas, then you should be fine. But if they are maroon clowns or some other variety then they will need a larger tank.
 
Thankyou for all the help... I'm going to try and return the fish, get some live rock and cycle the tank. Any thoughts on a anemone in the tank? I read somewhere how they help clownfish by producing a symbiotic relationship.
 
Anemones need very stable tanks and high quality lighting. I would not add an anemone until you can keep the tank stable for about a year and get the basics of tanks and their maintenance.
 
rbobi92 said:
Thankyou for all the help... I'm going to try and return the fish, get some live rock and cycle the tank. Any thoughts on a anemone in the tank? I read somewhere how they help clownfish by producing a symbiotic relationship.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan and you will soon be well on your way to a having a great tank! Clownfish will host pretty much anything, and not necessarily host the anemone you buy them! As far as the symbiotic relationship, I think the clownfish are probably more important for the anemone as they will feed the anemone, but that the anemone is less important for the clownfish. Once you get your tank established, I'd think about maybe adding some easy corals that your clownfish might choose as hosts instead of an anemone - hairy mushrooms are a great choice :) As BJ said, anemones are really hard animals to keep alive and have very specific needs for high lighting and stable water parameters - and when they die they can release a toxin that can wipe out your tank, especially a small tank like yours!

And welcome to the forums by the way - I forgot to say that earlier!
 

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