Clownfish won’t leave bottom corner

WallyB

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One hour. I know you want to enjoy them INSTANTLY. However Give it time.
They are scared and usually new fish will hide a dissapear for days.

They may not also eat for a few days either (perfeclty normal)....They will get hungry eventually and start eating.
The less you bother them, the quicker they will come out and pick a better spot.

The good news, is they are hanging around together. That doesn't alway happen, you may end up with a pair.
The Larger/Tougher may become the Female and will get bigger. The less dominant one will become the submissive male. That process will take time especially since both of your are close to same size.

Clowns in general are not fish that swim around like a Tang or Wrasse, or any other fish in general.
They will pick a spot and hang around it.
Over time they will find better spots.

They will host lots of things. Anenome's sometimes but not always. They will host leathers, and even large mushrooms.
Long ago, one of my Clown hosted a Leather.
P005-Clowns_zpsxeybh20s.jpg


Original Clown.jpg


Right now...I have two tanks and two pairs.
Here is one pair hosting Mushrooms. Great Hairy Shroom Bed. He is passed out happy.
2020-02-27_ClownMushRoomPatch.jpg


The other one like the Paly patch.
2020-02-27_ClownPalyPatch.jpg

This other Tanks, they I tried Aneonmes, and shrooms, and leather...
...of all things I tried, they hosted this.

2020-02-27_ClownSpongeBobPineappleHouse.jpg

And haven't left. For months. The Female lives inside, the Male hangs around the outside.

So be patient (have fun with them as they are). It will take days before they move out a bit. Weeks before the start exploring. Months before they find a permanent home, so give them home choices (you have plenty of time).
 
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njreejer

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I'd strongly suggest buying frozen food. Mysis shrimp, clams, scallop, oyster, squid, fish eggs + some vegetarian supplements. Your entire tank will hugely benefit from a complete diet. I purchased 2 packs of Rod's Complete Reef and 2 packs of Rod's Pacific Plankton and judging from the past month of feeding, the $100 purchase will last about 5-6 months. The clowns LOVE it. I can pinch some of the food between my fingers and lower it into the tank.. every fish hurries over and starts taking pieces from me. We put so much time, effort, and $ into our reefs, having some fish trust/bonding is nice too :)
Going to be looking into the food you listed, I don’t mind spending on quality food for the fish. I planned on looking into better food & just bought the flakes for temporary use
 
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njreejer

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One hour. I know you want to enjoy them INSTANTLY. However Give it time.
They are scared and usually new fish will hide a dissapear for days.
The less you bother them, the quicker they will come out and pick a better spot.
Clowns in general are not fish that swim around like a Tang or Wrasse, or any other fish in general.
They will pick a spot and hang around it.
Over time they will find better spots.
They will host lots of things. Anenome's sometimes but not always. They will host leathers, and even large mushrooms.

Even this....of all things I tried, they hosted this.

2020-02-27_ClownSpongeBobPineappleHouse.jpg

And haven't left.
Haha yeah I figured I was being a bit impatient, was slightly worried though so thought I’d ask anyways. Also, I put this long stick thing inside the tank to try to get them to move & they did but just deeper behind the rock work. They didn’t swim upwards at all & both ended up returning to the same spot. Guess that was the wrong move lol I’ll be sure not to bother them anymore & let them be. Hopefully they decide to move out on their own. Great looking pair you got btw!
 
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njreejer

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Asking because I read mixed things online. Some people add directly after cycling & others insist on waiting till tank is older & more established
 

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Asking because I read mixed things online. Some people add directly after cycling & others insist on waiting till tank is older & more established
I went against advice and added 3 anemones pretty early.. right after cycling. They're all super healthy and bubbly and have been in the tank for about 5 weeks. pH 8.2, alk 11, ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate 5.. They look great and enjoy a 2 times per week feeding on Rod's Complete Reef. Only problem.. the clowns don't want to have anything to do with them.. Ugh. that's the way it is. Sometimes clowns won't pair. I even put them in a QT with one anemone for 6 hours and they never went near it. Many different methods are out there but I plan to do the glass tube straight into the anemone next.
 

WallyB

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Going to be looking into the food you listed, I don’t mind spending on quality food for the fish. I planned on looking into better food & just bought the flakes for temporary use
Just don't polute your tank trying to get them to eat at this early stage.
If you have flake, use flake. Sparingly. They will eat it eventually.
Ask the store which you got the Clowns from what they ate. And get's that first.
Then explore with frozen and Pellets. Frozen first.
 

WallyB

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Hey @Isiah1820,

From the Video it appears this is a new Tank. And these are your first two fish.

If you want to keep them alive be prepared that the Tank is going to Cycle with newly added fish.
Rule #1 don't overfeed, which means NOT too often, and tiny, tiny bit. Let them get hungry and try again a day later.

If you tank is about to cycle, these Clowns are hardy and will handle it. (If you take care of things!!)
However no fish will handle Toxic levels of Ammonia or Nitrite.

Best to monitor Ammonia. Don't worry about Nitrite since Ammonia will show up better.
Get one of these.



Cheap, and has saved many fish for me. I lost a few fish before using the Ammonia Alert (due to ammonia posioning)
When the color start changing from Yellow, stop feeding and be prepare to do a water change to bring Ammonia down.
If you don't they will die within a day or two, if not quicker.

If you want to help with the Cycle, you can use a product like this


It's bacterial that will speed up the Cycle.

When the cycle is complete your water will go crystal clear.
Don't overdose the Seachen Stability. If you do, the water will go very cloudy white, which mean a bacterial bloom.
If that happens the Oxygen in your tank will drop and the fish can quickly die.
To stop the bloom, stop the Stability and add an airstone to your tank.

I hope you clown do well, since I really like clowns.
 

WallyB

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I would say wait. I know that is hard but it will be better in the long run. Most people say 6months-1 year.
I agree. Wait at least 6 months, if not much more.
For now get some soft corals. I suggest a fuzzy mushroom or a really easy to keep toadstool leather.

Leather grows fast too. I got a small Finger Leather like this
2020-06-01_FingerLeather.jpg

About 2 year later, it outgrew my 90 Gallon Tank.
Clowns loved it.
CanadaCoralsLeatherWallys2Border2048.jpg
 
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WallyB

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One of mine does that and wondered was it normal. My other clown will come down and explore the tank way more but still sleeps at the top. Weird would rather see them swim around lol.
Clowns will never swim around a lot, like other fish. They pick their homes, and always never wander far.
That's the nature of clownfish. So enjoy their nature, and get more fish (later), to fill in the Swim Tank look.
 

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Mine took over a year to decide to befriend my anemone. Patience and go slowly is the way to success in this hobby. My male used to bite me when cleaning his home. Then I realized I was destroying his eggs! He still gets upset when I enter his area. I have not destroyed a clutch of eggs for years. But he still wants to bite me if I get to close to them! The female does not care at all. You can read lots of stories of them attacking their humans here. :eek: I love clowns!
 

Isiah1820

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Mine took over a year to decide to befriend my anemone. Patience and go slowly is the way to success in this hobby. My male used to bite me when cleaning his home. Then I realized I was destroying his eggs! He still gets upset when I enter his area. I have not destroyed a clutch of eggs for years. But he still wants to bite me if I get to close to them! The female does not care at all. You can read lots of stories of them attacking their humans here. :eek: I love clowns!

This is annoying sometimes lol especially when I'm not expecting it. Made me jump a few times. Had to chase him off a bit lol.
 

WallyB

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Just added these 2 clowns in an hour ago & they haven’t moved from this corner behind the rock work. Just wanted to ask if this was normal? I’m assuming they’re kinda shy. At first it looked like they were fighting against the flow to swim which made me think the flow was too high but I turned off my pumps and they still remained there


So the first hour passed.
Now it's 3 months later.
I hope things worked out.
How are the clowns doing?
 

dimik

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Yeah my new clowns are a rollorcoster ride. Last night one of them decided to sleep like a dead fish at the surface while the other let the power head suck suction it to the side and slept there for a while. It woke up and kept going back to the power head.
 
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njreejer

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So the first hour passed.
Now it's 3 months later.
I hope things worked out.
How are the clowns doing?
Things are going great, they swim across & throughout the entire tank all day long with the 10 other tankmates I’ve added since then :)
 

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