Occi clowns, parasites and hyposalinity and other problems

[Anonymous]

I have 4 very small Occis that I have been keeping in my fuge for the last few months as they battle with the high current in my tank. They have now doubled in size (to about 1") and I have introduced them into the main tank- at the same time turning off one of my 2 powerheads. (Its a temperary measure to try and help them with the new environment)

I have noticed that (at least 2 of them) have a small parasite on their fins. I have been told to fresh water dip them and was wondering if there is anyone with some comments about FWD that can help me out- I am terrified of harming them as the GF will kill me if anything happens to them :lol:

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on whether I should restart my second powerhead? I may just be being a bit sensitive by leaving it off....I have also taken to leaving my blue T5s on 24hrs as the first night that I turned them off the clowns bombshelled in fright- they are used to a 24/7 fully lit fuge....I intend to wean them off the light diet by having all the lights off during the dat, a small white and blue photoperiod in the evening and blue overnight... anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? perhaps again I am being oversensitive....

 

[ChrisRD]

Personally, I would not try to keep 4 clowns in the same tank unless it's a large system with multiple potential hosts. Here's a thread I noticed in a quick search on the topic:
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... ple+clowns

As for the lighting - I wouldn't be too concerned. They will adapt to the dark cycle with no problem. Many folks like to use some form of dim lighting (ie. moonlights) that runs at night but this is as much for the aquarist (night viewing) as anyone.

As for the current - assuming the tank has live rock in it the clowns should be able to find places in the rockwork to tuck-in and "rest" when they want to get out of the current. Personally I would leave all the powerheads on unless they it's resulting in really extreme flow conditions.

JMO & HTH

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris, and thanks for the response.

It is a pretty large system, around 1300 liters main tank (+-325 G I think)(FOWLR) and it is my intention to have at least three or four possible host anenomae in there- just battling to scource them at the moment... the clowns have 'adopted' some bubble tip caulerpa as an interim measure.

I will gradually (over the next week) move to more normal lighting- there is a lot of residual lighting available through the night and they wont be in total darkness.
As for the LR, I only have about half of what I want in the tank at present, and the clowns are insisting on staying in the top 20% of the water column (where the flow is strongest). We collect our own LR here, but are restricted ito the amount we can gather each outing and I only have time to collect around twice a month. Should I just wait until I have more structure before resuming both powerheads or just get on with it....

Thanks again for the input! I will be posting a comment later about my experience using hermits to fight hair algae.
A

 

[ChrisRD]

Sounds good. I would crank up the flow - they'll be fine.

 

[Anonymous]

Just refreshing the thread......

Am so excited! Just got a small carpet anenoma, a sand anenomae and a pincushion leather- my first coral!!!. I have tried searching the forums and can find no conclusive advice as to if its possible to 'prompt' my small occis to host on one or both ananomae (other than a comment to put a picture of a clown near the anenomae 8O ! Any suggestions? The occis are captive bred and are a very friendly group, all pretty much the same size.