New with some questions - and one of my new clowns is gone.

devong

Hello, thanks in advance to anyone who will answer my many questions bellow. First off I have a 47 gallon salt water tank(i know it is pretty small, planning on only small fish), it cycled for about a mth with live sand and about 25lbs of live rock in it($150 for that piece of rock, surprised me), went to LFS tested water everything was fine, sorry I do not have parameters(need to get my own kit). Then I added 3 Green Cromis, and 4 hermit crabs(sorry if I do not have exact species name, still learning), then waited about another 3 weeks, and then added 2 Percula Clown Fish, 2 Turbo Snails, and a Diamond Goby(he is cleans more than my wife). That last addition I did little under a week ago. Now for the questions:

1. One of my new clown fish would not eat, one day he stayed to the top, then the next day I found him laying on bottom and would not move but was rapidly breathing and t hen the bigger clown fish was take bites at him. I read a few threads on here, read about the various diseases, and to be safe decided to return him to LFS, and they told me he was dieing and could be do to stress. My question on this one is, is the LFS correct? because I also tested my water there again to be safe and everything was perfect, I have been doing 5% once a week water change.

2. Can I introduce another clown fish of same species so that my remaining one does not get lonely?

3. This question I have searched various boards and could not find an answer, I have a filter like this, looks the same but might not be exact same model because I paid $75 for it:
http://www.aquariumguys.com/emperorpower.html

My question is, if I have this filter, do I also need a protein skimmer and power heads? The filter creates some good movement on top of water, and I am intending on expanding my cleaning crew, a few more snails and a lawnmower lemmy, I will add soon.

4. Last question(at least for now :D ) My hood covers all the top except for 2 areas that are opened on either side of the filter, about 4" x 4" opening on either side, is this ok to have? reason I am asking, last night I caught one of my snails all the way to the top of the water, partially out, starting to come up the black rim, i gave him a gentle tap and he shot back down.

Sorry for this lengthy post, and again thanks for any help in advance.

jumpman23

"1. One of my new clown fish would not eat, one day he stayed to the top, then the next day I found him laying on bottom and would not move but was rapidly breathing and t hen the bigger clown fish was take bites at him. I read a few threads on here, read about the various diseases, and to be safe decided to return him to LFS, and they told me he was dieing and could be do to stress. My question on this one is, is the LFS correct? because I also tested my water there again to be safe and everything was perfect, I have been doing 5% once a week water change."

This type of behavior happen to my clown as well, below the pics.



I quickly add a SEIO powerhead, it is becos lack of oxygen, the filter wasnt enough.



What type of fish food u gave ur fish, i have tried this Tetra but the fish dun eat the red granules



Today i switched to tis food, the blue tang and damsel seems to enjoy eating them.

devong

When you added the power head, was your clown fish fine? because I have another clown fish and do not want him to suffer the same faith, so I will go get one today if need be.

I feed them something similar to your last pic, not home so dont have the exact name, and brime shrimp. I do each once a day so 2 feedings for the day, once in morning and once in evening, is this ok?

jumpman23

As per my knowledge it has nothing to do wiv the food, also, as per the local Aquarium advise, they prefer to feed once a day.

I think it is lag of air, that causes the stress, how abt. the lighting, do u have proper lighting which can reduce the fish stress.

I'm using ADA NA-Lamp 15w but it is good enough for my 1.5 ft tank.



ADA = Aqua Design Amano

First of all, test your Salinity

devong

i have lighting something like this:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2754546

not sure exact watts, going to get all that info once i get home and repost, but i do have a salinity tester and it is fine. Actually tested at LFS today, and all was fine, and chance you have answers to my other questions.

Another question I have, do I need a powerhead? my tanks is 47 gallon

ksicard

imo you should have a skimmer if you have fish it is always a great thing to have and another try feeding them frozen foods. I would never feed fish flakes and pellets. try brine shrimp my blue tang and clown absoloutley loves brine shrimp.