Very Sad Night, nemo commited suicide

[labnjab]

After lights out tonight, I looked in to see where our clown was sleeping, and couldn't find him, which was sometimes normal, he crams himself into tiny nooks and crannies. Then a few minuets later, I saw him behind the tank, on the floor dead.:scry: I imediately checked water parameters. Temp was 80, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate less then 5, SG 1.022, everything normal. I can't find anything wrong in the water and every other creature and coral in the tank are acting normal. Are Clarkii clowns know jumpers? I didn't find anything while researching, but for some reason he jumped. He seemed perfectly normal all day and i haven't made any changes to the tank recently and I wouldn't think the coral banded shrimp would "bully" it as it stays hidden all day.

Looks like were going to home chepo tomorrow to get some eggcrate to make a top. I don't want to get a replacement until we make sure nothing else is wrong, but i can't think of anything other then maybe he was spooked, possibly by something on tv. He did get skiddish every now and then.

Should we continue to feed as normal for the shrimp until we get another fish, or will it be fine feasting on the bristol worms and other things?

[cocoa_pleco]

sorry to hear about that. i had a calm skunk clown and one day i couldnt find him, he was 6 feet from the tank on the floor

your shrimp should be fine until you get another fish

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Clowns in general can be jumpers. Not that unusual. Sorry for your loss.

[labnjab]

Clowns in general can be jumpers. Not that unusual. Sorry for your loss. Thank you, we were gonna go topless untill the first suicide now tops going on asap. I was hoping it wasn't something in the water.

edit:We will get an ocellaris or false percula this time which is what we were gonna originaly get. We were growing fond of the clarkii

[Lady Hobbs]

A[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] sorry about your nemo.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

There is a way to get all the benefits of a topless tank without the negative of jumpers getting out. Eggcrate. You can get it at just about any Home Improvement store in the ceiling tile section or the fluorescent lighting section.

[xximanoobxx]

+1 for eggcrate...
They are typically 11 bux... i think its the size of a 55g... of course not the height part... :D

[jimpierce]

what a bummer!!! I've had a couple jump the tank. Sorry for your loss.

[Gemstone]

aww...sorry bout ure clown...

[angelcakes]

sorry for your clown :ssad:

[Dave66]

The reason they leap is because the sudden darkness of 'lights out' startles them, thus they jump, because sudden light, dark is completely unnatural for them. If you stage your lights in a dawn to dusk cycle it all but prevents the propensity of some fish to jump.
As an example, my reef tanks are lit by banks of actinic and 10,000K daylight bulbs, and metal halides. The daylights come on, a bank at a time, starting at 7 a.m. By nine all daylights are on, and half the actinics. All the daylights and actinics are on by 10:30. Halides start to come on at 11:30, and stay on until 6 in the afternoon. Power compact reverses the rest of the evening, and the last actinic fades out at 10 pm.
Using Icecap ballasts soft starts the lamps, which is why I can start different banks of lights without startling the fishes.
All plugs on my fixtures are plugged into timers.
I am sorry about the clown fish. Always heartbreaking to lose a treasured pet like that.

Dave

[mrs fishpatrick]

sorry about your loss

[labnjab]

Thank you everyone. He had alot of personality. He will be missed. We have a 2x96 watt powercompact with a 13000 k daylight bulb and an acentic bulb. I stage it the best way we can with our fixture. At 10:20 am the acentic bulbs come on. Then noon time the daylight bulbs also kick on. Then at 8:30 pm daylight turns off. At 10 pm the acentic turns off and the moonlights turn on. Is this a good way to do it, or should we do something else? Were kinda limited with our current fixture. Maybe we could somehow add a small incadecent the turns on a few minuets before the acentics turn off.

Usually a few minuets before the acentics kick off, he's already tucked in for bed, under a rock, and some of the corals, expecially the pulsing xenia are closed up. I wish i would have found him earlier, maybe he could have been saved.

Tonight were getting some eggcrate to make a top and another clown if we can find one.

[Gayle]

I am so sorry for your loss. R.I.P. Nemo

[labnjab]

I am so sorry for your loss. R.I.P. Nemo

Thank you Gayle.

We've decided to get another clarkii tonight instead of a ocellaris or false percula. To me clarkii clowns are unique, and everyone has ocellaris clowns. And that way it would be like he never left. The store we go has a few more, and all look healthy.