First Death in the Family :(

[ravencsr]

Woke up to my AquaOne Reefsys 180 drain pipe making noise (as in needing tuning to make it silent). started adjusting the gate valve of the main drain to alleviate.............
Noticed only one of my clowns around the tank, started the search for the other........
Floor..........Sump..............Overflow.............NOOOOOOOO !!!!
Little bugger some how got sucked through the vertical slotted overflow during the night and down into the drain pipe.
My system only started on New Years Day with their introduction after cycling.

Called them Boris and Doris.......... They were that small that I still didnt know which one it was.

Questions.
1) What have people done (physical barrier wise) to minimalise risk of small fish being sucked through the overflow slots?

2) Can I replace the clown with another color? (they were both black / orange Ocellaris) Was thinking of adding 1 orange Ocellaris or should it be the same as the original?

3) If I was to replace with a bigger Clown, how likely would the big new one bully the existing small, if at all?

Thanks.

 

[lulubap]

Woke up to my AquaOne Reefsys 180 drain pipe making noise (as in needing tuning to make it silent). started adjusting the gate valve of the main drain to alleviate.............
Noticed only one of my clowns around the tank, started the search for the other........
Floor..........Sump..............Overflow.............NOOOOOOOO !!!!
Little bugger some how got sucked through the vertical slotted overflow during the night and down into the drain pipe.
My system only started on New Years Day with their introduction after cycling.

Called them Boris and Doris.......... They were that small that I still didnt know which one it was.

Questions.
1) What have people done (physical barrier wise) to minimalise risk of small fish being sucked through the overflow slots?

2) Can I replace the clown with another color? (they were both black / orange Ocellaris) Was thinking of adding 1 orange Ocellaris or should it be the same as the original?

3) If I was to replace with a bigger Clown, how likely would the big new one bully the existing small, if at all?

Thanks.

1) Not sure how well it's been executed, but people do tend to do some sort of fine mesh over the overflow, even using pantyhoses.
2) It would most likely work. An ocellaris is an ocellaris.
3) Depends on who was the established female. Did the female or male pass away? Not sure how much luck you'd have replacing the presumably deceased male with an established female. I would personally opt for another male to be safe, as it's not uncommon for females to reject a male.

I could be entirely wrong on the third point, however, as I don't have much experience with pairing clowns. Some further advice from other seasoned users on here would probably help you more : ) sorry for your loss, the first death always hits hard

 

[ravencsr]

1) Not sure how well it's been executed, but people do tend to do some sort of fine mesh over the overflow, even using pantyhoses.
2) It would most likely work. An ocellaris is an ocellaris.
3) Depends on who was the established female. Did the female or male pass away? Not sure how much luck you'd have replacing the presumably deceased male with an established female. I would personally opt for another male to be safe, as it's not uncommon for females to reject a male.

I could be entirely wrong on the third point, however, as I don't have much experience with pairing clowns. Some further advice from other seasoned users on here would probably help you more : ) sorry for your loss, the first death always hits hard

Yeah, realise that it will/could be the first of many over the course....
Re: if it was the female or male.............they were only ~1 inch, no obvious way of knowing, based on their behaviour, if they had worked themselves out yet ! Only had them 24 days.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Woke up to my AquaOne Reefsys 180 drain pipe making noise (as in needing tuning to make it silent). started adjusting the gate valve of the main drain to alleviate.............
Noticed only one of my clowns around the tank, started the search for the other........
Floor..........Sump..............Overflow.............NOOOOOOOO !!!!
Little bugger some how got sucked through the vertical slotted overflow during the night and down into the drain pipe.
My system only started on New Years Day with their introduction after cycling.

Called them Boris and Doris.......... They were that small that I still didnt know which one it was.

Questions.
1) What have people done (physical barrier wise) to minimalise risk of small fish being sucked through the overflow slots?

2) Can I replace the clown with another color? (they were both black / orange Ocellaris) Was thinking of adding 1 orange Ocellaris or should it be the same as the original?

3) If I was to replace with a bigger Clown, how likely would the big new one bully the existing small, if at all?

Thanks.

You need one of these...

 

[Rmckoy]

When I first set up this tank ( 230gal ) I all
Of the anthias and other amaller fish I added disappeared over night .
I ended up finding them later dead in my sump on the filter cloth .

a quick fish I found this plastic mesh and it’s worked for this long , i forget all about replacing it . It is roughly 1/2” above the water level so nothing can get in

 

[RandomUser7]

If they were a similar size I'd bet they probably didn't sort out the dominance order. I'd probably buy a similar sized clownfish and let them sort it out.

 

[ravencsr]

If they were a similar size I'd bet they probably didn't sort out the dominance order. I'd probably buy a similar sized clownfish and let them sort it out.

My way of thinking as well !

 

[ravencsr]

You need one of these...

Excellent - just need to find one downunder !