What's the secret in keeping Clownfish

[jancorwin12]

Just want to ask if there's a secret on how to successfully keep clownfishes alive. I already have several attemps in keeping them but within a week or two the fishes just die. I bought these fishes from Carti, I also bought African (that's how they call it in Carti, looks like clown) and they are very healthy and seem very happy . I also have corals like plates, brains, hammer, mushroom, bubbles, and some that I don't know the names. Also have an anemone which is doing well.

Is it just a fact that fishes bought from Carti will most likely die or is there a special way to keep them? For the first few days the clown will eat pellets but then will stop eating, turn slightly white and just die. They are the only fish that I want to keep and want to focus more on corals, but no luck in keeping the fish.

By the way, my tank is 75g with 36g sump.

[roland_0313]

You've pretty much answered your own question. Don't buy from Carti for fish. Even the best looking shops in there aren't exactly refutable. I was there yesterday looking around and I saw some fish already have ich. Buying from our exporters is the safest way. You're already capable of taking care of inverts so I guess your water parameters are already good. Clowns are pretty much the hardiest fish you can find so it shouldn't really be complicated to keep one.

[calvin_91993]

Also had the same problem before, when my setup was fairly new. I had a full-blown reef and my fish keep dying, some mysteriously like my damselfish. None of my fish then were from Cartimar. I did manage to keep alive one African clown (more properly called Clarkii clown). I lost 2 clownfish which were from Gatchalian, and another from sir GraHf11. They all died from Brooklynella infection. Several months later after keeping several wrasse and some other fish, I had the courage to try clownfish again, and I managed to keep them alive, two from Cartimar and another from jourdy. They've been in my tank for I think a month now and very healthy. The problem could possibly be cyanide caught specimens or intestinal problems. Cartimar just isn't the best place to get healthy fish, "tsambahan lang" as per many other reefers' experience.

Hope this helps. There's no point in giving up on clownfish, every tank IMO needs one or two. Good luck!

[seth]

first things first, ganito ang diagnostics ko sa mga nadedo na isda bago ko i-rule out ang illness:


did you quarantine your purchases?
did you acclimate properly? how long?
was it showing any sign of distress during purchase and while at the tank? were there any stressors like aggressive tank mates?
was it feeding and was it fed properly?

most likely tama si calvin at roland na may sakit yung isda. but given the right food and treatment most of the times nabubuhay ang isdang may sakit. unless cyanide caught or may brook or other severe internal illness.

ps

nakakamatay ng isda ang hindi pag-acclimate, lalo kung severely stressed ito.

[jancorwin12]

Thanks po sa mga reply. Sa ngayon, may isa pa natirang buhay, parang yung yata yung mga ka-batch nung clarkii ko.

I was not able to quarantine dahil wala pa po ako quarantine tank. Acclimate for temp for more than 30 minutes, drip acclimate for more than 30 minutes also, more than an hour in total. pero yung pag-add ko ng water hindi ko pa nagagawa yung droplets ng water, more on pakonti-konti lagay ng water thry syringe. clarkii lang kasama nila, agression, pag nag-aagawan sila sa anemone. it was feeding naman po for the first few days, pinapakain ko is kung ano yung pinapakain nung pinagbilan ko. signs of distress, napapansin ko lang is buka ng buka bibig nila pag malapit na sila ma-deds.

[ASTIofPAMPANGA]

All my fishda are from Cartimar, Im one of the Hoarder of fish here, pasaway man ako pero i manage to have a healthy community fish, I do not quarantine my fish although is a must to do para makaiwas kung ano man sakit meron ang fish na kakabili mo lang, Im from pampanga pa, traveling pauwi sa mga nabili ko from carti is a 50/50 chances na mag survive sila, madalang lang ako namamtayan ng fish nangyari ito kung ang fish is too stress or cyanide caught or may sakit na talaga... kung mkapag survive sila sa 4 hrs na byahe kasama traffic pauwi then another 2-5 hrs na nasa tabi lang sila na naka plastic pa sa isang lugar na may ilaw then another 30minutes to 1 hr para i room temp sa tank ko at kapag di namatay chances of survival is 75% na.

Proper acclimation ang kailangan after that, wrasses medyo matagal ko silang acclimate kailangan wala sila sa sleep mode nilang nkabalot ng mucus nila para di ma shock, clown goby medyo matagal din most of the time palpak ako sa knila kasi kaagad ko silang nalalagay heheheh , damsel and clown fish medyo sandali lang matibay kasi sila, saka ng mga tang fish, angels ganun din depende sa stress na nakita mo sa kanya.. kapag nalagay mo na make sure walang bully sa mga old fish mo kung meron kang acclimation box mas maigi, mas ma stress sila kapag na bully sila, kinabukasan lang deds na sila non ...

The newly fish kung ok ang acclimation kinabukasan lang lalo na mga clown fish eh isa na sa mga mayayabang sa harap ng tank or nsa side pa pinakikinggan muna kung ok na sya maki join in , most of the time kakain sila agad kung wala din namn pasaway sa mga old fish, wrasses ang medyo matagal mkapag move on minsan 5 days silang hiding at di kakain , meron namn isang araw di kakain, tang fish 1-2 days di kakain or minsan like clown paglagay mo sa tank kain din sila agad, i give 5 days maximum sa mga newly fish kung sa 5 days ok sila mabuhay na silang matagal maliban sa mandarin 1 month ang pag observe ko sa knila.

Share ko alng po experience points ko sa mga fishda sa Carti not all naman bad ang nangyari ...

[mindfreak]

IME and IMO, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." You still need to quarantine fish whether you purchase it from Carti, exporters or even co-reefers. Before explaining everything i'll take a word from Anthony Calfo.

"Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others."

There are several reasons to employ a quarantine tank. The first and foremost is disease prevention and treatment. One thing you should need to avoid is getting a Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon (although many believe that this is always present) in your tank. Cryptocaryon is a parasite that cannot live without a fish host. If this parasite is never introduced into a tank, then susceptible animals can never get infected. All the stress in the world cannot make a parasite magically appear out of nowhere.


But, disease prevention and treatment are not the only benefits of quarantine. If a fish is sick, the period in a quarantine tank allows that specimen time to recover from the ailment and its after effects. Sick fish often refuse to eat. This is often one of the first signs that something is wrong with an animal. A quiet, protected environment, free of competing animals is a perfect place for a recovering animal to put on weight, rebuild its fat reserves, and allow for any damaged tissue to heal. Fish that have endured the rigors of transport and of making their way through the chain of custody from the reef to the home aquarium can use some tender loving care.

[seth]

30 minutes is too fast, lalo at malaki ang pH at salinity difference ng carti water na 1.012-1.014 sa typical tank water, gaya sa karamihan na 1.025-1.026 SG. Mas bababa pa ang pH ng tubig ng pinaglagyan ng isda habang nasa byahe dahil sa CO2 accumulation.

Kundi man makapag QT, at least acclimate muna ng 2-4hrs (or even more) depende sa reading ng pH at SG. Malaking impact ang pH swing at osmotic stress sa isda.

Malaking tulong din yung methelyne blue habang nag-aacclimate ka. Maliban sa pwede nitong mapatay yung external parasites, nakakatulong din ito na first aid sa nitrite poisoning.

Regarding food, anong klaseng fish food?

[seth]

good read re qt, acclimation and diseases

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/disease.html

[ASTIofPAMPANGA]

Pa add Question , paano po set up ng Qt , kailangan ba itong nka on palagi kung di ginagamit at ano mga gamit nito, same din ba sa main tank kasi naka separate ang Qt at kung nka off naman at sa tuwing may new fish lang open ulit para nman mabaho na yung tubig nya kung sakali or bagong tubig ang gagamitin?, kapag nsa Qt ang fish ilan days po sya don at paano po pag gamit ng methalyne blue akala ko kasi sa fresh water alng yun,

yung 30m-1hr pag room temp ko lang po yun ,nag drift method nman ako kaya diko nman ma oras yun pero some diko na ma acclimate ng maayos kasi nabutas na yung plastic sa byahe ...

[seth]

True dat papa jourds, marami ding panget na isda sa Gatchalian pero di hamak na mas malaki ang odds na mabuhay yung clowns kaysa galing Carti.

O kaya kay GrafH. Sa kanya galing yung clowns ko, 60 petot lang.

@asti

Mas maganda kung continuously running yung QT kahit walang laman. Kahit maliit na OHF lang o kahit air pump lang na may foam pwede na. Same parameters din sa main tank siyempre. Gagawa ako ng medyo malaking QT ngayon para sa ilalagay ko next year na CBB at MI, ganyan lang din gagamitin ko tapos twice weekly na WC.

Napost ko na ito dito nung nakaraan, worth reading

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/a ... /index.php

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/

[seth]

Yup, yung mga binili ko sa Lawin noon na cardinals at clowns 100% mortality after 1 week. Pero yung clowns na binili ko kay Grafh almost a year na sa akin.

[roland_0313]

[symphiii@gmail.com]

same here actually lahat ng fish ko galing sa cartimar nakakabuhay ako pero yung clownfish talaga di ko mabuhay 1 lang nabuhay napakaliit pa (3months na sya) siguro 10 clownfish na na try ko 1 lang nabuhay. every month 3 clownfish binibili ko wala talaga eh., di ako nag ququarantine, 15mins. temp. acclimation, tapos drip acc. mga 25mins. so far nakakabuhay naman ako at masisigla naman. actually yung iba ngang fish sa LS ko now di ko na inacclimate. (yung 1st batch ng fish ko since 1st fish ko di ko pa alam yung acclimate) at kung bumili ako ng fish maramihan haha although 50/50 kung bumili ako sa cartimar kalahati ng binili ko namamatay kalahati nabubuhay. nag kaka ich pag bagong lagay pero diko ginagamot pinapabayaan ko lang kung sino mamatay or matira pero till now ito yung mga buhay kong LS

ito LS ko now
Livestock
-1 clownfish
-2 pajama cardinal
-1 chocolate chip starfish
-1 domino damselfish
-2 yellowtail damsel
-1 anemone hermit crab
-1 niger trigger
-1 copperband butterfly fish
-1 sailfin tang
-1 one spot foxface
-1 purple dottyback
-1 firefish
-5 turbosnail (di ko alam kung ilan nalang yung buhay)
-10 nassarius snail (di ko alam kung ilan nalang yung buhay)

alam ko daming mali sa ginagawa ko pero babaguhin ko na to pero so far nakakabuhay naman yung clownfish lang talaga kahit 2 clownfish lang masaya na ko eh. mag karon lang ng pair yung isa kong clownfish now

[seth]

wow bro powerhouse yung Ls mo a. Ilang gal tank mo?