Maroon Clown swimming weird

[joecon]

Hello,

I bought a maroon clown recently and for the past 2 days it only swims on the top perimeter of the tank. It doesn't dive down or swim across the tank, just the top perimeter, kinda like a shark as its dorsal fin protrudes from the surface. Also, it hasn't eaten anything since I got it. Again, its only been 2 days, should I be concerned??

Thanks

[Samper]

Is it breathing rapidly?

[joecon]

It's hard to tell how it is breathing as the mouth does not really open and close like other fishes. Its mouth is half open (does that make sense?). Its gills indicate that the fish appears to be breathing normally (comparing to damsels).

thanks

[Samper]

Was this fish properly quarantined either at your place or the shop you bought it from?

[joecon]

no, i did not quarantine the fish, i just followed the acclimation process as recommended by salwaterfish.com here is the link: http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11_03/acclimation.php

So, is this a bad thing?
Thanks

[Reefland]

Clownfish often stay pretty stationary in a tank, finding one place that they like and hanging pretty close. If you've only had it for 2 days and it appears to be breathing fine, I would just keep watching it closely. For feeding, just keep feeding normally and it will most likely eventually eat. What do you feed?

[joecon]

I feed it Wardleys Marine flakes. The damsels love it. Is there a better brand of flakes I should consider?

[Samper]

For a clownfish get you some cyclop ez in addition to your flake food. My clowns eat everything and anything I feed.....

[ksfireman]

With my maroon clown I tend to feed it a mix of frozen brine shrimp, frozen mysid shrimp and some flake food, although it too would eat just about anything I put in the tank. I feed my sailfin tang the mix as well as some dried seaweed and the clown attempts to eat that as well. As far as the fish swimming a little weird you might try supplementing the food with some garlic. It sounds weird, but a little garlic has done wonders for me on the few occasions I have had odd behaving fish.

Hope this helps,

Bradd

[zhenya]

ksfireman,

Welcome to Reefland!



joecon, what is salinity like in your tank and how did you acclimate it exactly?

Most fishes tend to dive to the bottom when first introduced to the tank but some clownfish tend to hang closer to the top ( I noticed when I visited LFS on one occasion and they were acclimating/releasing fish). Like Scott said, keep your eye on the fish and see how it's behaving and good luck!