Clown fish help
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Help
Forum Name: EMERGENCY FORUM
Forum Description: If you have an Emergency post here and you should receive a quick reply.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71803
Printed Date: November 21 2024 at 5:24pm
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Topic: Clown fish help
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Subject: Clown fish help
Date Posted: June 15 2014 at 9:46pm
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I just bought a pair of clown fish and they were fine when I got them home but now one has a huge belly, is it just full? ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Replies:
Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: June 15 2014 at 9:59pm
| Following |
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 15 2014 at 10:19pm
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? What do I do? ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: June 15 2014 at 10:28pm
| I dont know hence im following. Sounds lime it might have to do with the swim bladder. Is the other one fine? |
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 15 2014 at 10:33pm
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Yeah the other one seems good, and the one with the big belly seems good also besides that, I feed them 3 times so I'm hoping he is just really full ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 16 2014 at 6:55am
Huge belly - No, it's not just full. Food gets digested and within ~4 hours the belly returns to normal size. What is being fed? Did the pair come from the LFS or another hobbyist? I was thinking of heading north to Layton and Clearfield today. Would either of you welcome a reef  visitor? If so, please call/text me.Mark  808-345-1049 ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 16 2014 at 5:35pm
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He came from someone, i am feeding him prime reef flakes by ocean nutrition, and occasionally frozen brine shrimp. ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 16 2014 at 6:01pm
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Not a very good pic but his belly is pretty big. http://s877.photobucket.com/user/Reefboy4life/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image-2.jpg.html" rel="nofollow">  ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 16 2014 at 8:58pm
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she is looking worse, swimming kinda in circles, i think she has swim, should i skip feeding for a few days? ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: sabeypets
Date Posted: June 16 2014 at 8:59pm
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I think its OK. I'm leaning toward heavy feeding/really full. Clownfish are "pigs" when it comes to eating, Be careful with flake food as I have seen them eat until they float on there side from eating to much. Don't feed them for a day and its full belly should go away. ------------- Shaun American Fork "Would you leave a dead cat in your kitchen till tommorow?" Builderofdreams |
Posted By: 1stupidpunk
Date Posted: June 16 2014 at 9:46pm
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When my clowns were much smaller one of them had a tendency to swallow air during feedings and looked like his stomach was always bulged out. As long as it doesnt appear to affect his ability to swim I wouldnt worry to much, try smaller feedings of things that dont float on the surface... |
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 1:37am
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Ok thanks, I'll skip feeding for a day or so and get some sinking pellets ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 6:04am
Swimming in circles or erratically is not a good sign. I agree that it would be good to stop feeding for a day or more. Fasting promotes good health. It allows the system to clear out and reset. Aloha ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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1stupidpunk wrote:Posted By: 1stupidpunk
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 7:19am
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What is best for our fish and what is found naturally in their environment are not always the same thing. I have yet to see a reef with garlic oil or brine shrimp. I like to feed my clowns a varied diet of brine shrimp, mysis, and various pods. My pair will also hang out over by the nori clip and wait for my tangs to tear off some peices for them to eat. I also feed them veggie crisps as a treat, they are a bit heavier than flakes and dont seem to give them the bloating that the flakes were.
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Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 8:58am
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My long post didn't go through. Try feeding mashed peas. Text me for more info. 850.two2six.3three6six. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 12:08pm
 I seem to remember hearing long ago about Green Peas to deal with constipation/bloating but had forgotten all about it. Thankfully, I've never had to deal with it, so I did some quick research and found an article which seems pretty good. http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_constipated_fish.php" rel="nofollow - http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_constipated_fish.php It's good info. Mahalo Nikki. I'm taking the rest of my comments, inspired by Geoff/1stupidpunk, back to the recent thread about better foods. http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=68390" rel="nofollow - http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=68390 This is good discussion. Aloha ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 12:14pm
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should i wait a day or two before i feed him mashed peas or should i try it today? ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 12:17pm
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Let me try again. Swimming in circles is BAD news. It's often a sign of an internal bacterial infection, which is hard to treat at the hobbyist level. Swim bladder problems are rare in non-deep sea fish. They usually stem from internal bacterial infections...see above. I wouldn't recommend trying to treat with antibiotics or puncturing the swim bladder at the novice level. Peas can help clear blockages, so let's just hope there's a blockage. I would stop feeding other foods for a couple days as well. Then, resume with sinking pellet food. Eventually go to a nice frozen mix that includes protein and veggies. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 12:21pm
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Try the peas ASAP. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 12:40pm
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+1 ASAP. It's a blessing the fish has lasted this long. Keeping my fingers crossed. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 2:14pm
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ok ill try the peas, frozen or caned?, also his stomach now looks sunken in, it seems like it is swollen after a full day of feeding then back to normal or sunken in like it is now, in the morning? ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 5:21pm
Did you not read the link I gave earlier?  fresh frozen.Forget the peas. Now we know that you are indeed overfeeding. Have you read either of the two links that I referred you to? ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: sabeypets
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 6:52pm
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Still think its OK, just overfed. ------------- Shaun American Fork "Would you leave a dead cat in your kitchen till tommorow?" Builderofdreams |
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 7:09pm
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The swirling still has me worried. Is it still doing that? ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 7:19pm
no its not swimming in circles anymore, and yes i skimmed threw them  ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: sabeypets
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 7:35pm
That is a concern, but he is feeding flake food witch can cause bloating and abnormal swimming. ------------- Shaun American Fork "Would you leave a dead cat in your kitchen till tommorow?" Builderofdreams |
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 8:08pm
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yeah i just ordered some new life spectrum sinking pellets ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 9:42pm
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Awesome. Glad to hear it. Those are good pellets. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 17 2014 at 10:12pm
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now i have another problem, the bigger black clown fish is chasing the black onyx around the tank relentlessly and bitting her, at first they were fine with each other but now this, i think it might have to do with the anemone, should i separate the two or will this stop, they are doing this little shaking thing every now and then to each other but im afraid he might kill her, what should i do? ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 18 2014 at 8:04am
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You are doing great to bring this up. Did you know that the larger clownfish is the female? Yep, the smaller one is the male. All clownfish grow this way as they live together. The larger, female clownfish is always the dominant one of the pair. This chasing and shimmying means that she likes him. Don't worry, she won't hurt him too bad. It's part of the pairing up process. The shimmying is part of it. It's all kind of a love dance.  You can help keep the aggression from going overboard by getting a long thin stick and when she looks like she is being too mean, try to poke at her with the stick and chase her a little. Don't worry, she won't let herself be poked but when she chases him and you poke and chase at her it will scare her a little. Each time this happens she will learn a little better that you don't approve of that action. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_%28ethology%29" rel="nofollow - You are the Alpha (click and read). Usually 30-60 minutes of your stick training will be enough to help them be friends and not be so rough with each other. Please read this Reefkeeping Tip, don't just skim it, read it because it goes into a little more detail about the whole new fish and training thing. http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34014" rel="nofollow - http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34014 You are becoming a great hobbyist. In 1997 I had a pair that were so rough in the mating dance that his lower jaw got ripped/broken. She was not as rough with any of the other 4 clownfish in the tank because she really liked him the best. In time his jaw healed, I sold the other four and a year later they had babies. Below is a pic of him caring for the eggs. Aloha  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: June 18 2014 at 5:25pm
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but they have been paired up for a while before i got them? so i figured all that would be done with, but now the female has control of the anemone at night and things have calmed down so i figured that was it. ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: dbb123
Date Posted: June 20 2014 at 11:53pm
i have 5 different clowns, one of which i got from reef boy (thanks, he is doing well!), and i feed them omega one micro pellets, which they seem to like, and do really well on. |