New Fish - First week..

T

Tag

My tank has been cycling for 7weeks, and have tested my water, and have had my water tested. It's ready :D .. I have a mated pair of Percula Clowns reserved for me at a LFS tommorow that have been in a coral tank for some time (not new arrivals). I want this to be a pleasant, and successful home coming for my new babies. I just did a final water change and cleaned my filters, so as to let them get used to there new home with out bothering them with this.... Couple of quick questions:

1) I will drip acclimate them, any advise, or rules I should follow with clowns?
2) Should I atempt to feed them the first day, or just let them settle down first?
3) I know to turn off the lights. How long should I leave them off?

Sorry for all the question, but these are living creatures and I don't want to do anything wrong that may put them in harms way....

Thx for your help
Darryl
 
Hi...Could you please include your tank size, amount of LR and if you have a sump/fuge. Seven weeks is a fair amount of time for beneficial bacteria to build up, you just want to make sure there's enough to handle the bioload from adding 2 fish at once. You may also want to consider setting up a QT tank for future purchases. I know I didn't answer any of your questions and I'm sure you already now the stuff I mentioned, I'm just trying to get my post counts up :lol: :wink:
 
LOL :lol: you already have over 900.... I only have 20 :cry:

Ok, I have:
80 gal tank
30 gal sump with ASM G2 skimmer, and Cheato, LR, and miricle mud in my fuge
80 lbs LR
90 lbs Live sand (2" bed)
9 crabs
9 snails

I was supposable ready 2 weeks ago and made comment that my sand was turning brown on the surface, Was told that was a good indicture it was done cycling but to wait till it was gone (about 2 weeks) it gone and back to white now.
 
Should be no worries with adding your new mates. I usually try to add fish late in the evening after I feed, then just burn actinics from the time I add the fish till they switch off. It's not necessary to try to feed immediatedly as they may not be "up" for eating just yet. Not saying this is what you need to do, it's just how I do it. Nice setup!

*edit* you may need to add additional flow, looks like you may have some dead spots with one PH.
Cheers!
 
@Tag wrote:
....Sorry for all the question said:
I'm glad to see you say that. It's obvious that many people don't have that as one of their primary concerns.
It seems you have done your research and you are off to a good start.
Just proceed slowly, and don't hesitate to ask any questions you have. There are plenty of people here ready to provide answers/advice.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
 
I agree with the PH... statment. I have good movement on the surface (I beleave), but did order another PH last week and it will be here wed. I also plan to take the new PH and put it where the return is now and put the return more in the middle and split it into 2 45 degress jets (one shooting left and one shooting right) , or should I just have it shooting straight down the middle. Which do you think would be a better setup? My return is a mag 9.5.

Well let me cross my fingers, its time to go and take a shower and go pickup Mr and Mrs (no name yet). I just hope they will be happy. They are going from a 400 gal coral prop tank to a 80 gal LR tank :?

take care,
Darryl
 
Well there was a change... Got there and showed the guy the clowns they were holding for me. We talked awhile, and feed them to see how they responded. The female was very agressivly eating, but the male showed no interest. There was a concern about the overall health of the male, so after more talking and asking for their advice, he said here is a pair of Clark's clowns. We feed them and both were very agreesivly eating. So I went that route. On the trip home they wern't freaking out in the bag. They were just looking around and saying "cool.... road trip.... are we there yet... are we there yet". They have been acclimated and in the tank now. Now its time to let nature take it's course.

Please wish me luck. They are my first fish, and you know what that means.

I have developed a headache due to my stress, so let me take some tylenol and go lay down.. :lol:

Darryl
 
Congrats...and good luck.

My tank is almost done cycling. I can't wait until I get some fish...it's killing me. I only have the one tank now!

Keep us posted.
 
hmmmmm...Clarkii are very aggressive, especially being the first in. I learned that the hard way and just recently traded in my clarkii, he was the first fish I bought also(true damsel at heart he was). He got out of control the older he got. true percs and false perc's are the least aggressive clowns out there, false being the least. Do consider setting up a QT for future purchases, it can save a lot of headaches and help correct a few wrongs before any "miscalculations" make it to you tank where you will never easily catch it. Good luck bro!
 
Clarkii are hardy... As in bullet proof! Mine were some of the only survivors of my tank getting over 100 degrees back in 2000...

And, they do get HIGHLY territorial, just FYI... Especially once they start spawning.

My female got big, and started attacking me whenever I was working in the tank. She finally bit into my wrist hard enough to draw blood... She found a new home shortly after that incident...

(Not trying to make ya' feel bad or anything, they ARE great fish, just letting ya' know what to expect down the road...)
 
Well made it through day 2.... knocking on wood :lol:

Water parms have not increased
Breathing looks good
Swimming looks good
Agressivly eating

All looks well........ I hate to say that so early!

You say they can be agressive, thats a bummer, because I asked about that. Quote " around their nest yes, overall generally not" I guess at worse, atleast their helping establish my tank by putting a bio load on it.

*** The book says to feed them 2-3 times a day, that will be hard because I go to work early in the morning. How often do I need to feed them? I am giving them Frozen Mysis.

Thx for the help....
Darryl
 
Unlike anthias, etc., clowns can get by with one feeding a day, or even every other day if you have to be out of town.
 
Where's the photos?

BTW I might have missed it, but why wouldn't the parameters be fine? Did they look sick at some point?

They should be doing just fine. That means all is normal. . . :)
 
Ok...get ready and EXHALE.... :D

Made it thru the first week. Fish seem to be really happy and agressively eatting, and playing. Added a second Powerhead, and added a second pump so I could take my chiller off the return pump. That brought my tank turnover rate back up where I wanted it (it's now turning over about 10x per hour).

I just want to take a moment and say Thank you so much to DFWmas and the people here for all your help. This is my first SW tank and so far it has been a success.....


Darryl
 
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