I have a problem with my pinecone fish.

[Dongjie Han]

hello
I have a Monocentris japonica,the Japanese pinecone fish. I keep it in a 100L aquarium for more than 3 months.But today my fish looks very disturbed , it has jumped 3 times and splashed water out of the fish tank. I don’t know if the water is too hot for it,because it is 25 degrees today and I don’t have air conditioning.
Thank you very much.

 

[kyleinpdx]

My understanding is thats a small tank for that species. Does it have adequate hiding places (multiple)? They also do not tolerate copper.

 

[Dongjie Han]

Thank you,I have a 800L reef aquarium.But the water temperature is 26 degrees,I am not sure if the fish can live in it.I ordered a 300L aquarium last week,my fish will have a new home soon.
But still about the temperature,should I use a small Chiller during the summer? I live in Ljubljana,it would be 28 degrees in August.I have electric fan for aquarium from JBL.
And I never use copper for this fish.
Thanks for your help.

 

[DeniseAndy]

These guys can get to 7". That amount of water is not enough for it. Is it in a qt situation? If not, it is probably stressing out. 3 months is a long time in a small tank.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Oops, you wrote as I posted. Makes sense. I would think it was not liking the temp, but unless you get a chiller on it, it will have to deal with it. I would get a chiller in your temps.

 

[kyleinpdx]

28* is probably on the high side, I'm far from an expert in these fish, but everything I'm seeing is saying tropical conditions are OK (76-80*F). You can use evaporative cooling to your advantage, fans blowing across the surface of the water or at your sump will help keep the water temp. down, but make sure you have an ATO.

 

[IKD]

Just curious, but can you freeze ziploc bags of ice and keep them in the sump to cool the water down? Never tried it, but just wondering if that would work.

 

[noahreefer]

Just curious, but can you freeze ziploc bags of ice and keep them in the sump to cool the water down? Never tried it, but just wondering if that would work.

I’ve done that when my ac went out and it seemed to work very well

 

[Dongjie Han]

Thank you,
I think I should buy a chiller,because pinecone fish lives in deep water.
I heard that they live in 200m deep,and the temperature there is usually lower than the surface.
But I don’t know.....how cool the water should be.

 

[DeniseAndy]

What else are you keeping? They can live in a larger range of depths from what I have read. I keep my reef around 78F (25.5C).

 

[Dongjie Han]

What else are you keeping? They can live in a larger range of depths from what I have read. I keep my reef around 78F (25.5C).

Hello,
I keep this fish alone,because I want to give it a peaceful environment.
I heard that this fish spends its juvenile years in a coral reef,but after that it would go to the deep sea and never come back.
And my fish is calm today , I will put it into a bigger aquarium.
Thanks for your help!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Sounds like you have done some research to help this guy. I would guess it is just stressed. I wish you all the luck for you and the fishy.