New clowns acting funny

[mrmrburke]

I got two baby dwarf wyoming whites and added them to my tank which has two baby picassos and one domino damsel. None of the fish in the tank have bothered the newbies after acclimating them to the tank. From day 3 the baby whites have sat on the bottom of the tank in the sand laying on their side occasionally only when the lights are on. They try to eat but only get scraps that float to the bottom. As soon as the lights go out they immediately get off the sand and start swimming around the power heads and acting normal and playful. They will be swimming fine and no issues at all the entire time the lights are off, but as soon as the light comes on they immediately sit at the bottom of the tank in the corner and look like they are dying. Right now I have my lights on at 2 pm and off at 10 pm. This is the only light pattern they have known since being introduced to my tank.

My water params look normal
ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - <5
ph - 8.0-8.4

30 gallon rimless tank about 25-35lbs of live rock

all the other fish act normal and eat normal and all my corals are doing wonderful and fully open and thriving.
Any help would be awesome!

 

[heathlindner25]

you're going to try and keep 4 clowns in a 30 gallon tank? this is going to end badly.

 

[mrmrburke]

heathlindner25;945007 wrote: you're going to try and keep 4 clowns in a 30 gallon tank? this is going to end badly.

i introduced them all at the same time from the same family apart from the 2 being different breeds. they are both very small breeds, but they keep to themselves. they have behaved for the better part of 3 weeks with no activity. i know the warnings of clown fish and the aggressiveness but these fish were free so i have no issues giving them away for free if thats the issue, but its just strange that the 2 whites are acting in this way.

 

[jc_k]

heathlindner25;945007 wrote: you're going to try and keep 4 clowns in a 30 gallon tank? this is going to end badly.

I thnk it would be fine until the clowns are mature. I keep clowns in 10 gallon tanks to themselves.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

It might be that the lights are to intense for clowns.

 

[jdavid]

JC_k;945022 wrote: I thnk it would be fine until the clowns are mature. I keep clowns in 10 gallon tanks to themselves.

The problem is not the bioload, it's that clowns are aggressive.

There will be territory issues. Some have success with multiple pairs long term because the clowns are able to have seperate territories, like opposite ends of a 6' tank.

Once these clowns reach sexual maturity if not before then it will be a battle royale. Not sure exactly but I think the one that turns female will only tolerate one male and kill the rest

 

[mrmrburke]

LSU_fishFan;945029 wrote: It might be that the lights are to intense for clowns.

That's what I was thinking as well I only have 1 kessil a350w about 18 inches above the tank adjust it regularly for morning night time etc


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[heathlindner25]

JDavid;945032 wrote: The problem is not the bioload, it's that clowns are aggressive.

There will be territory issues. Some have success with multiple pairs long term because the clowns are able to have seperate territories, like opposite ends of a 6' tank.

+1 whether you like it or not there's only going to be two clowns in that tank..

 

[jdavid]

The reason why you see a bunch of clowns in one tank at a LFS if you ever do is because these clowns are from the same clutch of eggs and there is a natural hierarchy still in place- one female, one male, and the rest gender neutral.

That's the only way it could ever work. They will still be aggressive toward eachother even as juveniles so you might want to go ahead and seperate them. This is also a possible reason why the pair is laying on the bottom, that's what my make used to do when he was first introduced to the female. It took a good 6 months for them to become a bonded pair, before that he would lay on the bottom at times to keep from getting his butt kicked.

 

[mrmrburke]

Thanks guys definitely sounds reasonable ... I knew this was a strong possibility when I introduced them, but they were free and all 4 so small. I really couldn't see any of them interacting with eachother let alone being aggressive. One pair stays on right side one on left side but it is not a 6' tank as you said ..it's just strange since they all act normal after lights are off pairs keep to themselves. I'll try getting them into a friends tank to see if that helps.


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[jc_k]

They probably will end up killing each other once they get mature... Unless you have a 100gallon tank or something...

 

[jdavid]

JC_k;945050 wrote: They probably will end up killing each other once they get mature... Unless you have a 100gallon tank or something...

More like 200+ from what I have read

 

[jc_k]

My moms ex-boyfriend has a 120gallon mixed reef. He has 4 pairs of clowns- a saddleback- tomato- maroons and clarkis... And those are four pairs so that would be 8 fully grown clowns..... He has a 55 gallon sump so that bio-load isn't really a probablem... And two of the pairs are laying..... I really do not encourage anyone to do this but I just don't get how he does it....

 

[jennm]

The clowns WILL fight.

Even in (my) LFS tanks, if I put a group on the same tank for more than a couple of weeks, the smallest one would get picked right to death if I didn't intervene.

If a group didn't start selling within about 10 days, I'd divide them into pairs and put one pair per tank.

It won't end well, especially in a small tank like a 30.

Jenn