Clown fish help please

[Superomario]

Hi I just started my saltwater aquarium recently and bought two clown fish yesterday. One small one and one big one. The bid one seems ok but isn't eating and the small one isn't eating and doesn't look ok looks like he's lost some color and looking paler than I remember I'm worried he's going to die :( is there anything I can do to make them eat? I have all this food settling to the bottom of my tank and the fish aren't eating at first I had my power head on and the food got sucked to the bottom so I turned it off and tried feeding them but they are not interested in the pellets. Is there something else that I can feed them :(

[WarDog]

Can you give more details on the tank? How recent, fish only, temp, test results etc?

.... also, remove any uneaten food, cause that's just going to cause trouble.

[DKoKoMan]

Maybe try feeding some frozen mysis and see if they take a liking to it. Sometimes fish take a while to warm up to pellets. My mated pair eat everything now, as mentioned above if they are new to the tank they may need to settle in. More details on your setup will help.

[Superomario]

Well its a 55 gallon tank these are my first fish they have been in the tank since the day before yesterday. I checked the water parameters and everything was ok but the ammonia seems to be around.25-.50 so ill go get some prime after work to try and balance that out but I am just worried the fish will not eat and starve. I don't know if they are familiar with the pellet food and maybe that's why they aren't eating it. Could the power head also be too strong for the little guy? Also should I turn off all my filters and power head when feeding do you think that could make a difference?

Edit:

Also they are the only fish in the tank at this time. Temp is about 25 degrees.

[mike31154]

Ammonia!!?? Have you even cycled the tank? If not you need to get those fish out of the tank or they're likely goners.

[DKoKoMan]

Definitely want to remove them if possible as you should have "0" ammonia for the tank to be officially cycled. Ammonia (even low amounts) kill fish :sad:

[Superomario]

I did cycle the tank and took a water sample back to the fish store they said wait a week if the snails live I can throw the fish in so I did and now the ammonia seems to have jumped up. I waited about 5 weeks before I put the fish in the tank so I'm not sure what I did wron :(

[jhj0112]

I did cycle the tank and took a water sample back to the fish store they said wait a week if the snails love I can throw the fish in so I did and now the ammonia seems to have jumped up. I waited about 5 weeks before I put the fish in the tank so I'm not sure what I did wron :(

Have you got the good test kit?? you should invest on the test kit like salifert, red sea... it is important to have one....

[Superomario]

I do have a test kit I bought what they told me at the fish store.

[Superomario]

I'll check out what brand of kit I have and post later.

[mike31154]

Ok while you're sorting out the water quality, I'll give you my experience as a noob starting a tank with a clownfish. I too was concerned that the little guy, a juvenile was not eating. During the day he would do laps back & forth along the front glass. No idea where he got the energy and this went on for more than a week, not taking food. I was certainly getting concerned about whether he would make it, but he remained active. Finally started taking flake food at some point, I got him a small bubble tip anemone & he is now a very large she Maroon clownfish with a little mate spawning regularly. Clownfish belong to the damselfish species & are pretty tough customers, they can take some abuse, but you don't want to push that hardiness with any traces of ammonia in your system.

I purchased my tank used 10 years ago & kept the sand/rock after transporting the whole works from Vancouver to Vernon in the middle of January. Not sure how long I cycled it before adding the first fish, but there was no evidence of ammonia. Keep a close eye on the fish if you can't house them elsewhere while you get the water quality confirmed. Try some different foods aside from pellets, especially frozen mysis or even brine shrimp. Don't overfeed in an effort to get them to eat and as mentioned try to remove as much of the uneaten stuff as you can. Normally a cleanup crew would take care of that, but your tank is relatively new & CUC is likely small or nonexistent.

[Superomario]

Thanks a lot that makes me feel better but I have a small clean up crew at the moment two larger snail I purchased and several that have come off the live rock and I purchased about 20 hermit crabs but I'm not seeing many I'm worried they either died or maybe hiding in the rocks. Anyways thanks for the info much appreciated.

[Gp Scott]

Clown fish are good starter fish I agree with Mike on the ammonia levels. I just hope you purchased some healthy clowns to start. I would maybe suggest to turning down the power head flow especially if you have them on high and turning your lighting down if you have that on a higher setting they might be stressing

[mike31154]

How goes? Do we have a happy ending?

[Superomario]

They seem to be doing well their color is good and don't seem as stressed. Water parameters are also good so I'm feeling good about the health of the tank. Noticed something strange though when the fish are asleep they're eyes look really freaky like bug eyed or something. Anyways I just bought a shrimp today for the tank super stoked!