clown

[crollison]

I bought an "Australian Percula Clown" (thats what the lable said) on sunday afternoon. I aclimated him and added him to the tank. My question/problem is my clown seems to stay up high in the tank rarely coming below six inches. He is eating fine, that is the only time he will dive below the height listed above. Also he never seems to coast in a strait line it is a consistant dive and pull up, like ~~~~~ Is all this normal new clown behavior? At the LFS he was swimming mid to low water and was eating fine. He shows no signs of stress and I can not detect any harmful chemicals.

[SLOreefer]

your fish is fine. mine tend to stay near the surface also. they dont venture through rock or anything like that.

[MKramer]

True perculas tend to prefer the top of the water column, so the behavior is not out of the ordinary on its own. It does seem a little strange after observing it playing comfortably in th mid- and low- regions at the LFS, though.

 

The difference is most likely either:

1) that other fish in the tank at the LFS restricted his territory some and he found space in the lower parts.

or

2) There is actually something about your setup that he doesn't feel completely comfortable with.

 

Unless he was in a rather crowded tank at the LFS, I do tend to favor #2 there.

 

The fact that he was sold as an Australian Percula gives some hint here. This could indicate he is a strain that has adapted to cooler waters. Not positively, as the Australian and reefs vary, but it's definitely possible. If your water is too warm for him, he will tend to stay near the surface, because the water is more oxygen-rich there (like his possible cooler native waters).

 

What is your tank temperature? Are your powerheads generating enoguh circulation? Is the surface rippling?

 

The bobbing up and down is pretty common for a clown and their funny swimming methods. But it's also used to try to get more water flow over their gills, especially if they're doing it against a moderate or strong current.

 

It is possible, and not even that unlikely, but the oxygen-depirvation/warm-water is a very definite possibility as well. I'd make sure everything is okay in those categories. If so, then I'd write it off as weird clown behavior (WCB, there's antoher acronym for you, Dave... god knows I use the term enough).

 

Matthew

[crollison]

My water temp never leaves 79F. There are not many surface ripples. I do have and overflow that falls about an 1 1/2-2in. There are two power heads returning the overflow. they are a rio90 and something else that does 100gph. The inhabittance at the time, clean-up crew and a peperemint shrimp. I plan to get one more powerhead soon to see if that will help. I have placed a mirror on the side where he hangs out. He seems to really enjoy the company so maybe he needs a roommate?

[crollison]

MKramer thanks alot! I took your theory on not enough flow for the clown's gills. I moved my rock to promote even more flow, as soon as I did this the clow went strait to mid-water:D! Thanks for all your guys' advice.

[MKramer]

Hot damn, I may have actually been right for once!

 

Glad to hear he seems to be doing better.