All Clowns Dead... Clown Tank

[Z06-Hec]

Ok so I was going to post on my older thread but figured this title would get a better viewing/responses...
So I helped a friend start an all clown cube tank, i posted a while back...
Ended up being 11 clowns some fancy some regular in a 45 cube.
Some people said it wouldnt work but i spoke to a few that have all clown cubes and were giving advice...

Anyway I wanted to wait to post because i thought i might get the I told you so spiel but i dont think this is that case here...
I originally thought one of the Flurries were killing everyone else, but in the end everyone died including her.
All the fish looked perfectly fine, all were lively, all were eating, and i never saw aggression from them. We both watched through IP camera while at work and while he was home he would update me daily, a lot. Every few days someone was dead and had chunks missing from them. Other than the chunks of flesh missing we couldnt notice any discoloration or spots or any signs of sickness.
I really thought the biggest flurry was doing it late night in the dark...
In the end she died the same way. No signs of sickness, no heavy breathing and in the morning she had chunks missing from her as well....
ALL CLOWNS DEAD the same way... I'm baffled here....
Only other fish in the tank is a spotted Goby.
Now in watching the camera i did notice the Goby pulling one of the dead clowns into its lair, but I have never heard of a Goby killing a clown or a clown letting a goby get the better of it...

Im inclined to think, the clowns were sick and were just picked at overnight by the fire shrimp and crabs in the tank.
But i saw no signs of sickness... no heavy breathing or laying anywhere... Clowns were always swimming happy. Then morning came and someone was dead little by little till they were all gone...

Water params were good as well. I had him testing water every few days, nitrates were like 5, ph was 8.0, alk was about 9.9 calcium was low but he doesed B-ionic and got it up to about 480 and i had him stop. Ammonia was 0 as well.
All corals in the tank look great and he added a cheap nem from petco and it is doing great.

Anyone know of a goby killing clowns? I have never...

 

[Saltwaterwill]

wow sorry to here that, i just had to click on this thread because i have only two clownfish myself, sorry i may not be very knowledgeable of this situation but what i do read everywhere is that its not too safe to have more than two clowns in the same tank unless its like 150gal or more

 

[-Logzor]

Possible rogue crab in the tank?

 

[Saltwaterwill]

sorry bud, I just started this hobby in november, researched lots but have not had a cud as of yet

 

[Saltwaterwill]

i meant cuc

 

[Z06-Hec]

He has an emerald but he just got him so its not him, other than that some regular hermits...

 

[Slm222]

did you have enough "homes" for all them. I believe that would help reduce aggression. *see BRS tv for the clown tank. They had to remove some from the initial stocking.

 

[-Logzor]

He has an emerald but he just got him so its not him, other than that some regular hermits...

Often hiding in live rock there will be gorilla crabs can that cause damage to livestock. So it would not be an intentional purchase, any sign of corals being eaten?

 

[Shep]

They probably all fought eachother and then just slowly died off. Yes, the shrimp could have taken the chunks out but it would only happen if the clowns were already weakened, which was most likely due to the clown on clown aggression.

 

[Shep]

Often hiding in live rock there will be gorilla crabs can that cause damage to livestock. So it would not be an intentional purchase, any sign of corals being eaten?

If there was a Gorilla crab that Goby would be dead, they like to hijack caves and the Goby's would have been the first on its list.

 

[Z06-Hec]

Again there was ZERO aggression that we could see, so unless they were going battle crazy late night when lights were off and no one was watching I cant see it. It is possible but in my own tank my clowns fight here and there but never at night.
Even if that was the case, the last clown was alone for over a week so who was she fighting with that got her so weak to let someone take chunks out of her?
Also she was looking and acting perfectly fine before lights were out... swimming like a clown and no signs of sickness or exhaustion...

I definitely thought she killed everyone but she died the same way they all did... so I am doubting that...

Also about the possible other crabs... The Goby den had a few dead clowns in there, he kept dragging them in. So i would think the crabs would have went to town on them.
He did remove them but at first could not get in there, so there were a few that got left in the goby den for a day or two.

 

[Shep]

Again there was ZERO aggression that we could see, so unless they were going battle crazy late night when lights were off and no one was watching I cant see it. It is possible but in my own tank my clowns fight here and there but never at night.
Even if that was the case, the last clown was alone for over a week so who was she fighting with that got her so weak to let someone take chunks out of her?
Also she was looking and acting perfectly fine before lights were out... swimming like a clown and no signs of sickness or exhaustion...

I definitely thought she killed everyone but she died the same way they all did... so I am doubting that...

Also about the possible other crabs... The Goby den had a few dead clowns in there, he kept dragging them in. So i would think the crabs would have went to town on them.
He did remove them but at first could not get in there, so there were a few that got left in the goby den for a day or two.

Unless you have the most blood thirsty shrimp in history, it was the clowns. Its possible that they came in sick but there would have been signs. The water levels were good, there were no other fish that could have done it, you don't have aggressive inverts and no mystery hitchhikers, what else could it be? Maybe someone will jump in with a different explanation but until then I would put my money on the clowns, also unless the tank was watched 24/7 there could have been fighting that was not seen.

 

[Slm222]

it would be my guess the clean up crew and other fish took chucks out of the fish once dead.

 

[eliramos]

it would be my guess the clean up crew and other fish took chucks out of the fish once dead.

I'm going to lean more on the cuc but mostly likely yes. You may have just found the leftovers.

What kind of goby is it?
Also were all the clowns bought from the same batch?
I have heard of fish being sold from a tank with levels of ammonia which may cause later death so your fish may have arrived sick and one by one finally succumbed to their illness.

 

[Trex]

Dry rock or live rock ? (( wondering about a rougue crab or the like ))

 

[Z06-Hec]

I mean I was definitely set on the Flurry killing them all until she died herself...
i ordered them from a supplier so to me they all came from the same source but I guess you cannot really tell where they all came from originally.
In total they lived together for over a month. 3 weeks at my supplier, 2 weeks in my buddy tank, then the last clown lived alone for a week.
I mean i can accept that they fought to death... but I just didnt see it... and that doesnt explain the last one dying after being alone for week... no way she was still tired from fighting everyone...
Goby is a regular spotted goby. Even at that, are Goby carnivores? why was she dragging the bodies to her den?

Live rock, but he had that same rock in a previous tank, he claims hes sure there is no hitchhiker, i was asking him that as well.

 

[eliramos]

Well you can't really ever guarantee you don't have a hitchhiker that's why they're called hitch hikers lol

 

[jayjigga]

Daym...sorry to hear about the deaths. It's hard for me to tell if I'm missing anyone yet, because they're all alike, but besides an ammonia spike with the new bioload, I'm not sure what it could be. I bought a big bottle of Tim's while I intro'd my harem, just in case.