Bloated clownfish, twitching for it's mate

Saltysocks · Feb 12, 2022

Hey everyone, so I've got my pair of clowns In a 20 gal. Had them for 2 years now. Today after feeding frozen (reef nutrition/blood worms soaked in selcon and vitachem) I noticed one of the clowns looked bloated. I also noticed the clown was twitching for its mate, which I haven't seen in quite some time. They're both eating normally in fact the clown experiencing the bloating was acting more hungry than usual. The affected clown is not lethargic or showing any signs of issue. Is it possible the clown is just "gut loaded" at the moment? I did feed them pellets and flakes right before lights out last night. Is this something I should watch and expect to pass on it's own or should I start establishing a timeline to treat the fish? Below is the clown

Jay Hemdal · Feb 12, 2022

Saltysocks said:
Hey everyone, so I've got my pair of clowns In a 20 gal. Had them for 2 years now. Today after feeding frozen (reef nutrition/blood worms soaked in selcon and vitachem) I noticed one of the clowns looked bloated. I also noticed the clown was twitching for its mate, which I haven't seen in quite some time. They're both eating normally in fact the clown experiencing the bloating was acting more hungry than usual. The affected clown is not lethargic or showing any signs of issue. Is it possible the clown is just "gut loaded" at the moment? I did feed them pellets and flakes right before lights out last night. Is this something I should watch and expect to pass on it's own or should I start establishing a timeline to treat the fish? Below is the clown

If you're confident it's a female (like it has laid eggs before) it could be filled with eggs and is trying to release them. The male may be unreceptive for some reason.

Jay

Unitylover · Feb 15, 2022

if the bloated one is the male, just dont feed them for a day or two

Saltysocks · Feb 15, 2022

Thanks for the replies guys, unfortunately I am not 100% sure on the sex. For awhile I was certain the one pictured was female, but its partner is getting close to her in size, maybe even a little fater. Although it looks like the bloating has gone down quite a bit,, I just tried feeding frozen and the clown had no interest, and in fact is acting more lethargic than usual. I was working in the room as the tank past lights out last night, but not sure that'd take such a toll. I'm going to watch them for the rest of the day and see if the clown perks up for pellets/flakes in the evening. Possible infection? Not really sure what's up with the clown. Will keep this thread updated

Jay Hemdal · Feb 15, 2022

Saltysocks said:
Thanks for the replies guys, unfortunately I am not 100% sure on the sex. For awhile I was certain the one pictured was female, but its partner is getting close to her in size, maybe even a little fater. Although it looks like the bloating has gone down quite a bit,, I just tried feeding frozen and the clown had no interest, and in fact is acting more lethargic than usual. I was working in the room as the tank past lights out last night, but not sure that'd take such a toll. I'm going to watch them for the rest of the day and see if the clown perks up for pellets/flakes in the evening. Possible infection? Not really sure what's up with the clown. Will keep this thread updated

Tough to see in the video - pretty blue. It doesn't look like there is rapid breathing though. Do you have any frozen brine shrimp or mysids? That might perk it up.

Jay

Saltysocks · Feb 17, 2022

Quick update the clown is back to normal eating and swimming along just fine so whatever it was seems to have past for now

Saltysocks · Feb 18, 2022

I may have spoke to soon, check this out.. is this the aftermath of constipation or something else? Clown ate fine and is acting like it's normal self. This happened after I just fed frozen. She has already passed it by time I could finsh this post and is swimming along fine.

Jay Hemdal · Feb 18, 2022

Saltysocks said:
I may have spoke to soon, check this out.. is this the aftermath of constipation or something else? Clown ate fine and is acting like it's normal self. This happened after I just fed frozen. She has already passed it by time I could finsh this post and is swimming along fine.