SnailQueen
Community Member
I am currently running two setups - a 29 gallon that has been up for 12 years and a 3 gallon JBJ picotope that's been up for 4 years. The 29 gallon was originally home to a pair of ocellaris clowns. The original female passed away after hitting herself off the glass tank cover about 6 years ago. I let the original male live as a bachelor for awhile but 5 years ago decided to get him a mate, a significantly smaller black and white ocellaris. As expected, original male became the female and the black became the male. I came home from work today to find the female (original male) had passed away. I have a degree in aquaculture and since he'd been eating normally and showing no signs of parasites or disease, I'm pretty comfortable concluding I'm not dealing with a disease that I need to treat the current male for. The only other livestock in the 29 gallon at the moment are some soft coral and some ducksbill limpets. In the midst of dealing with being bummed about losing a fish that I've had for a really long time, I'm also contemplating whether to downsize the remaining clown into my 3 gallon.
The pico has live rock, sand, and no stock equipment (AC50 instead of the original filter, Kessil A80 for lights, glass cover to keep evaporation down). No fish, only inverts - rock flower nems, a few ricordea, a scarlet reef hermit, a couple nerites, and a few ducksbill limpets. The female that passed away was large, 5.5" or so, and had always been that way since a couple of years in. The new male, has never gotten large, and after 5 years with me, is only about 1.5". I don't know if the black ocellaris tend to stay smaller, or perhaps because it was tank raised, I don't know, but I've never had one that stayed this small for this long. Given the remaining clown isn't particularly large, nor has it ever been a particularly active or aggressive swimmer even in the 29 gallon, do you think it would be possible to relocate it to my pico? I'm not considering getting another clown at this time, so it would be living it's life out as a solo clown and the only fish in the tank. I don't want to overstock and I don't want my fish to have a terrible life, but I also recognize that it isn't as large as many members of its species tend to be (for whatever reason) so perhaps it would be okay since people recommend gobies for smaller tanks and my remaining clown is comparable in size to a clown gobie? Any thoughts would be appreciated as I'm contemplating my options. Thanks!
The pico has live rock, sand, and no stock equipment (AC50 instead of the original filter, Kessil A80 for lights, glass cover to keep evaporation down). No fish, only inverts - rock flower nems, a few ricordea, a scarlet reef hermit, a couple nerites, and a few ducksbill limpets. The female that passed away was large, 5.5" or so, and had always been that way since a couple of years in. The new male, has never gotten large, and after 5 years with me, is only about 1.5". I don't know if the black ocellaris tend to stay smaller, or perhaps because it was tank raised, I don't know, but I've never had one that stayed this small for this long. Given the remaining clown isn't particularly large, nor has it ever been a particularly active or aggressive swimmer even in the 29 gallon, do you think it would be possible to relocate it to my pico? I'm not considering getting another clown at this time, so it would be living it's life out as a solo clown and the only fish in the tank. I don't want to overstock and I don't want my fish to have a terrible life, but I also recognize that it isn't as large as many members of its species tend to be (for whatever reason) so perhaps it would be okay since people recommend gobies for smaller tanks and my remaining clown is comparable in size to a clown gobie? Any thoughts would be appreciated as I'm contemplating my options. Thanks!
