CLOWN BEHAVIOR AFTER USING MIRROR

[AKL1950]

I have two small clowns in quarantine. They were initially a bit fussy with each other. On recommendations from everyone, I gave them a mirror. Worked pretty good. They both spent most of their time messing with their reflections and left each other alone. After a week, I decided to remove the mirror and see if they got along with each other. I did not expect what happened. I took the mirror away at night after all the lights were out. About 09:00 is when I do the first feeding, and they are usually swimming around the tank waiting for food. Not this time. Neither one of the clowns would come out of their nightly sleeping place. Even after I put the food in, they staying in hiding. I assume the removal of the mirror (which covered the entire end of the Tank) made such a dramatic change to the tank appearance, it kept them in hiding. So, I put the mirror back and then they both came out and grabbed all the food like everything was correct again. Plus, they started butting their reflections in the mirror again.

Does that sound like a normal reaction when you remove the mirror?

Jetson

 

[blaxsun]

All my fish (except my pair of clownfish, who could care less in the first place) went back to their normal behavior after I removed a temporary mirror I'd hung on the side of the tank. I'm not sure if this is typical - just what I observed.

Even my shy fish (and the clownfish who usually keep to themselves) come out for feeding. They even start queuing up when they see me enter the room...

I would give it a few days and continue feeding as you normally do and watch to see if they revert back to their old behavior.

 

[mindme]

I've only used a mirror for tangs, and it worked fine.

I'm curious as to how old the clownfish are and what were the signs of aggression you are having? I see you say small, so I'm a bit surprised. However, my 3 year old male clownfish is still small, while the female is 3 times as big.

When you take the mirror off, is it just clear or do you have another background? Have you tried using a black background?

 

[AKL1950]

The QT has four fish in it. Two clowns (1” long), an Orange Shoulder Tang (3” long) and a Tomini Tang (2 1/2” long). The Orange shoulder was the initial bully which prompted the mirror. The QT is a 29 gallon tank with no other backgrounds. They have been in the tank for two weeks, on copper for a week and I did my first dose of Prazipro two days ago.

maybe I was just too quick to put the mirror back up when they were hesitant to come out the first morning. I’ll try again tomorrow and let it play out.

Jetson

 

[blaxsun]

Ah, didn't realize they were in QT. Once they're in a DT their behavior will probably be quite different.

 

[AKL1950]

Thanks for the reassurances.

Yeah, my sequencing got all messed up when my DT was delayed in shipping. Tried to time it to have the first four fish quarantined by the time the DT was cycled in. Now the poor guys will be in QT for a while. should get the DT on May 23rd.

Just getting back into this after 15 years out of the game and I’m being worse than a mother hen here in the start up. Maybe I need to in quarantine. Haha! I remember the beauty of the tank I had before, but also can’t forget all the things I did wrong. Hopefully my stress won’t transfer to the critters.

Jetson