True Percula Clown - Problems

[Flumpus]

We got our first fish for our nano reef this past weekend, a wild caught true percula clown. From what I've read about their swimming habits, this might be normal, but here goes... He likes to swim in place, usually one of the corners near the top (but it doesn't look like he's gasping for oxygen). Sometimes he'll even be sideways, or almost upside down. When you come up to the tank to look at him, he'll usually swim normal and look back at you, and he eats fine in the morning (very good eater), so is this normal?

Also, would an anemone be ok in a 10g nano, or would it be too much? Is he going to suffer without one? Would the anemone limit what else we could have in the tank? Thanks.

 

[Navarre]

Many feel this is abnormal behaviour but this happens quite often in clowns. They are poor swimmers and easily fall prey to creatures that lurk in liverock. This means they will suaully swim well away from liverock if they have nothing to host in and feel safe. i have had my clwons in the tank now for 9 months and they have only just taken to sleeping on the bottom near a powerhead, until rcently they also slept at the top of the tank and even now during the day mine will remain in the center of the tank away fromthe liverock or even keep tothe upper waters of the tank.

Dont try keeping an anenome in a nano, they need massive amounts of light such as a MH and theheat that this would create would cause all sorts of problems. Clowns dont need anenomes to survive nor do theyneed one to feel happy. You could get an anenome and even then there is no gaurentee that the fish will take to it I have a bubble tip in my tank that has been there since before the clowns even arrived (ok its a small one) and so far they have totally ignored the anenome completely.

 

[fish_keeper2]

i have a tank raised true perc. ive never noticed any of the abnormal swimming behavior that a lot of others have seen.

 

[Flumpus]

Thanks for the reply. That makes me feel better. I'd read a couple other people comment on strange swimming patterns and stuff like I'm seeing, so I just wanted to make sure.

Also, could this be a wild caught vs. tank raised issue?

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Well mine is wild, and stays in one corner all the time except at night, when a while before the lights go off, he starts swimming around. And when he gets woken up in the morning, he is almost motionless just hanging out at the top. The wierd things you described are also things mine does.

 

[fish_keeper2]

maybe its just wild ones that do it then..........

 

[crazyelece]

All my clowns are tank bred and raised and they all swim in weird ways. I think its just in their blood.

 

[Flumpus]

Just a quick little update on the situation... The clown fish is doing fine, and swimming more normally now. He started that when we put another fish in the tank. He was immediately curious and came down from his corner to check out the firefish. He's since gone back up there, but swims around the whole tank much more regularly.