Clownfish behaviour

[Uncle99]

What’s salinity running?
Just those two fish? Anything else live in there?

 

[c.let]

Absolutely, those fish have no issue with flow.
Looks very still.

Thanks! Just turned flow back up and they’re swimming at the bottom now, but still opening mouth up quickly. I’ll watch them for now and see how we go.

 

[c.let]

Thanks! Just turned flow back up and they’re swimming at the bottom now, but still opening mouth up quickly. I’ll watch them for now and see how we go.

Sorry, nothing else in the tank. Just a rock of coral

 

[AlyciaMarie]

Through You-Tube is the best way.

Yes! Upload the video on YouTube. Then copy the link to the video and paste it into this option:

 

[Uncle99]

Sorry, nothing else in the tank. Just a rock of coral

And salinity is?
It should be 1.020 to 1.023, for fish.
If that’s on point, yup, just watch for a day.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Would you recommend me turning the flow higher ?

More flow would be great, but as I said earlier, along with @mojo Rising, you really need surface agitation. You can have all the flow in the world, but if you have little to no surface agitation, the water is not getting enough oxygen. You need an additional power head aimed at the water's surface.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Get that water flowing big time! They’ll love it once they adjust to the currents and flows.

 

[c.let]

Yes! Upload the video on YouTube. Then copy the link to the video and paste it into this option:

And salinity is?
It should be 1.020 to 1.023, for fish.
If that’s on point, yup, just watch for a day.

Been monitoring. They seem okay now. I turned the temp down a bit… I think it was too warm. My salinity is seeming high reaching the 1.030 I’d had to guesstimate around the 1.028 area.
My no2 and no3 are 0
PH is 7.5 needs to come up?
KH 120
GH180
Not sure what they are meant to be.
I have RO water do I do a 10-20% water change and put some RO in? Tank is 19L (around 5gal)

 

[Uncle99]

Fish will struggle in 1.028, you need to add fresh down to 1.023 and maintain this number or all chemistry is off, that’s not good.

When going down, you can do it fast.

You cant estimate salinity, you need to know the value and maintain it at all times.

Do you not have a refractometer?

Is key!

 

[c.let]

Fish will struggle in 1.028, you need to add fresh down to 1.023 and maintain this number or all chemistry is off, that’s not good.

When going down, you can do it fast.

You cant estimate salinity, you need to know the value and maintain it at all times.

Do you not have a refractometer?

Is key!

I do have a refractometer. I was finding it difficult to read.
Do I add fresh water to level it out? What about my other levels, any recommendations?

 

[CocoReef]

I do have a refractometer. I was finding it difficult to read.
Do I add fresh water to level it out? What about my other levels, any recommendations?

I find looking through my refractometer at a bright light makes it a little easier to read.
You can do a few small water changes with lower salinity water to slowly drop it. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby. Especially in nano tanks.
As for your other levels, stability is more important than chasing numbers. Chasing numbers will lead to more harm than good until you know what and why you are changing it. Just keep a steady maintenance routine and test consistently, and you will start to notice trends in your tank.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I do have a refractometer. I was finding it difficult to read.
Do I add fresh water to level it out? What about my other levels, any recommendations?

When I read my refractometer I shine a flashlight on the end.

 

[Uncle99]

I do have a refractometer. I was finding it difficult to read.
Do I add fresh water to level it out? What about my other levels, any recommendations?

It is crucial to your success that you can measure salinity and maintain 1.023 for fish only. If you’re planning to add any corals, you need to run salinity at 1.026. It’s sometimes easier just to run 1.026 from the start.

If your number is higher, without corals, you can simply add RO water until you reach the target salinity.

If your number is lower, you add RO water to target, but increasing salinity is done slowly at 0.002 per day. So if you were 1.020, you bring up to 1.022 first, wait 24 hours, then 1.024, wait 24, etc until target reached.

In order to maintain a consistent salinity, you either got to top off several times daily, or make it easy with of an auto top off mechanism.

Maintaining a consistent salinity is crucial.

My levels are as follows, but keep in mind while the level is important, stability is most important. Work towards bring each of the below on point and unchanging.

Fish only
Temp 78-79
Salinity 1.023

Mixed Reef
Temp 78-79
Salinity 1.026
Alk 8-12dkh
CA 420-460ppm
MG 1350-1440ppm
Nitrate 5-15ppm
Phosphate 0.1-0.2ppm

 

[ScottJ]

Been monitoring. They seem okay now. I turned the temp down a bit… I think it was too warm. My salinity is seeming high reaching the 1.030 I’d had to guesstimate around the 1.028 area.
My no2 and no3 are 0
PH is 7.5 needs to come up?
KH 120
GH180
Not sure what they are meant to be.
I have RO water do I do a 10-20% water change and put some RO in? Tank is 19L (around 5gal)

I'm not trying to preach to you, but that little 19L Fluval is pretty small for a pair of clowns. They need more like a 20 gallon (about 75L) to live in.

What that little Fluval WOULD make is a very nice invert and coral tank!

Just my 2 cents, but I think it's a shame they market those nano tanks to be stocked with fish.