Clown fish help please

[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

[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]

Originally Posted by Superomario

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.