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Clown MIA ?


dandelion

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Timeline:

 

~10:30pm to 11:00pm

Fed fish. Clowns not eating as frantically as before, but I didn't put too much thought to it. Firefish was acting normal. Snails were normal. Peppermint shrimp was normal.

 

12:00am

Cuddling with my cat Oreo and fell asleep on the couch.

 

2am

Woke up from sleep, decided to go upstairs for the bedroom. Passed by my tank and decided to take a quick look: only female was there. Male was missing.

 

Started looking for the missing fish. My tank is a 29G FOWLR with no sump, overflow, or back chamber. I have a glass lid with a gutter cover on the back that is cut to fit all my HOB equipments, with maybe 1/3 inch gap at the most. Nothing on the floor beside or behind the tank. Completely MIA.

 

Saw the thermometer while I was looking for my fish. It's at freaking 72°F, vs normal 78.

 

I have 2 100W aquatop heater, 1 set slightly below the other as a backup should the primary fail. The back up one was on, but it didn't seem like it's doing its job. Moreover I see water seeped into it. I check my heaters at every WC and last WC was less than a week ago. I moved the knob on my primary heater a bit and it kicked on, not long before I see bubbles rising from between the knob and the plastic casing.

 

I blew at the rocks. I stirred the sand bed. The missing fish was nowhere to be seen.

 

Spent the next 2.5 hours trying to heat the water back up by scooping half a gallon in a Tupperware and microwaving it. Brought it back up to 78°. Tossed in my 50W heater from my saltwater mixing bucket, and set home heat thermostat to 75°F 24x7. Dosed some prime in case the fish rots somewhere unreachable. Ordered a Cobalt NeoTherm 100W from Amazon. Should be here Monday.

 

Questions:

1. 72°F isn't terribly cold. Should a clownfish perish within hours just because of that?

2. It was only 3-4 hours from when I last saw him to him disappearing. I only have 1 peppermint shrimp (and 1 ~5 inch long bristle worm that parties with the shrimp). I do have snails though I doubt they got to him so fast. Would a 1.5-2 inch healthy clown struggle, die, and be completely consumed within this timeframe?

3. Should I get another smaller clown, or do you have suggestions on another easy but fun to watch fish? I'm down to 1 clown, 1 firefish (hopefully still alive... It hides in the rocks at night), and a royal gramma that's graduating from QT in 2 weeks.

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My 34 has been without a heater for 10 years. Temp stays in the 70-78* range. My clowns have been with me the entire time. I doubt temp had anything to do with it unless it happened suddenly. If you have one bristol worm you probably have many they will make quick work of a dead fish. Hopefully yours is just hiding. Do you have a nem in the tank?

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72 degrees is pretty cold for a reef, but I don't expect that would kill a clownfish. If you didn't find a body, there's still a chance that it's just hiding. See if it doesn't come out when the lights come on.

 

If it has died, replacing him with a very small juvenile works. Or you more might consider a Pink-Streaked Wrasse.

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Wow do you live in the south? I live in Michigan. Without a heater things can go south pretty quick. But with the heat now at 75 I guess I can wear short sleeves over the weekend.

 

My tank is a FOWLR. I certainly hope that he is just hiding, but has anyone had a clownfish hide in rocks? I thought they'll stay with me for a long time too.?

 

I did open the lid for a while trying to flip some flipped snails. Maybe he jumped without me noticing (unlikely), and landed in the stomach of my cats.

 

My 34 has been without a heater for 10 years. Temp stays in the 70-78* range. My clowns have been with me the entire time. I doubt temp had anything to do with it unless it happened suddenly. If you have one bristol worm you probably have many they will make quick work of a dead fish. Hopefully yours is just hiding. Do you have a nem in the tank?

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Just saw the firefish come out. That's good at least the majority of my fish survived. I've been talking about getting a temperature controller, but I supposed that won't do anything if BOTH heaters failed to turn on. The same brand heater in my QT died on me in December too. I guess I should have upgraded then.

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Total ammonia and nitrate are both 0. Either it somehow jumped through tiny gap between my lid and my equipments, or it teleported. Most likely the latter.

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That sucks. I was hoping the clown would turn up alive. Look on the bright side Oreo probably had a nice snack.

 

How long have you had the pair? Are they still juveniles? Has one become female? If so which one did you lose? I know some people will disagree with me but I have had better luck introducing tank raised juveniles over wild caught. Its been a long while since I lost a clown but found introducing a smaller male (or undecided) to the tank seemed to go better than introducing a larger female clown. They will go through the typical dominance dance. One usually submits. if it is getting bad I noticed you have a QT tank. Toss it in the QT trade it to the LFS and try another. 20 years I have only had 1 clown kill another.

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Yea I have accepted the fact that it has teleported. Sad it didn't bring me with it.

 

 

They're wild caught when I got them, and they have grown to somewhere between 1.5 to 2 inches. The male was the one that went missing (or at least so I believe.... the male is only slightly smaller but I never see them fight.)

 

I guess I'll get a juvenile clown like you said around 1 inch, quarantine then add to the tank and see how it goes. If they fight I can always put it in a breeder box or back into the QT and trade for a different fish like you suggested.

 

Any idea how he could have jumped? The biggest gap on my lid is behind the intake tube of my skimmer, which is less than 1".

 

IMG_6236_zpsy7rdluik.jpg

 

IMG_6237_zps6bzfiriy.jpg

 



That sucks. I was hoping the clown would turn up alive. Look on the bright side Oreo probably had a nice snack.

 

How long have you had the pair? Are they still juveniles? Has one become female? If so which one did you lose? I know some people will disagree with me but I have had better luck introducing tank raised juveniles over wild caught. Its been a long while since I lost a clown but found introducing a smaller male (or undecided) to the tank seemed to go better than introducing a larger female clown. They will go through the typical dominance dance. One usually submits. if it is getting bad I noticed you have a QT tank. Toss it in the QT trade it to the LFS and try another. 20 years I have only had 1 clown kill another.

 

 

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Wow your lid looks to be very tight fitting - that's good because I had a clown jump. I'm not sure yours did - I have also had fish go MIA within hours - between the peppermint, bristle worms and who knows what else- It's crazy how they can dispose of a body.

 

+1 to adding a juvenile 1" or so- that should work fine.

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Yea I have accepted the fact that it has teleported. Sad it didn't bring me with it.

 

 

They're wild caught when I got them, and they have grown to somewhere between 1.5 to 2 inches. The male was the one that went missing (or at least so I believe.... the male is only slightly smaller but I never see them fight.)

 

I guess I'll get a juvenile clown like you said around 1 inch, quarantine then add to the tank and see how it goes. If they fight I can always put it in a breeder box or back into the QT and trade for a different fish like you suggested.

 

Any idea how he could have jumped? The biggest gap on my lid is behind the intake tube of my skimmer, which is less than 1".

 

IMG_6236_zpsy7rdluik.jpg

 

IMG_6237_zps6bzfiriy.jpg

 

 

 

 

Wow so I'm guessing you've had these for a year or so at this point then?

 

It's certainly odd for a clown to disappear like that though... Usually they can be found with relative ease chillin in a corner or something at night...

 

I'm assuming there's no anemone since you say FOWLR? I've read a few reports recently of host anemones eating their clownfish...

 

 

Did you check inside your HOB? I've had it happen before where a fish jumps into the HOB filter. Other than that though I can't think of anywhere in a 29g that could hide a fish for that long. Good luck with whatever else you get. If you do add a juvenile clown (as I agree you probably should) then try to get a captive bred one. Less of a chance of Brooklynella etc...

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Tank was set up May 2015, so 8 months?

 

No I don't have any anemones. I checked all my HOB's. No sign of that fish. All my pumps and intake tubes have grates on them too so I don't see how anything could have gotten in there.

 

They've grown so much since I got them and are becoming more playful too the last couple of months. :(

 

 

Wow so I'm guessing you've had these for a year or so at this point then?

 

It's certainly odd for a clown to disappear like that though... Usually they can be found with relative ease chillin in a corner or something at night...

 

I'm assuming there's no anemone since you say FOWLR? I've read a few reports recently of host anemones eating their clownfish...

 

 

Did you check inside your HOB? I've had it happen before where a fish jumps into the HOB filter. Other than that though I can't think of anywhere in a 29g that could hide a fish for that long. Good luck with whatever else you get. If you do add a juvenile clown (as I agree you probably should) then try to get a captive bred one. Less of a chance of Brooklynella etc...

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  • 7 months later...

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