Young clownfish respiration rate?

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I added a young clownfish to my tank a couple days ago. He's maybe 1-1.5". The tank is a week old but has very well cured live rock and showed a cycle in a week. My current readings are (and have been for the past five days):

Ammonia: 0 (tested 3x/day)
Nitrite: 0 (tested 1x/day)
Nitrate: 0-2 (tested 0.5x/day)
Salinity: 1.024 (tested 2x/day)
Temp: 80
pH: consistent 8.2 (tested 1x/day at same time)

He is the only inhabitant other than 3 hermit crabs who seem to be doing very well. I might just be making a mountain out of a molehill but he seems to be breathing heavily. He readily accepts food and will chase the dropper around the tank for his food lol. He likes to try to get my mag float to host him but he seems healthy other than the breathing.

Here's a link to a YT video of his breathing. It's by link only so I don't think embedding will work.


Tank is a 36" 30 gal with 2 AI Hydra 26's running at like 15%. Filtration is just two filter sponges and Seachem Purigen.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Can anyone help me out here? I'm worried about the little guy. He's eating fine and swimming fine but it just seems like he's breathing rapidly. He's not taking big gasps, just rapid breathing.

 

[blitzkragz]

I've had a similar clown in QT for a couple weeks and he is the exact same way. He swims around actively and eats, but his breathing is fast and short. Did your clown work out, and, is this kind of breathing normal for a small clown?

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Yep he was totally fine. His respiration was definitely higher but he settled in and was fine after a couple days. If it seems like the respiration is higher than normal it probably is.

I sold that clown and got a pair of phantom clowns. One had a very high respiration rate but I gave him a couple days to settle. He developed stringy poo and ended up having parasites. It was an acute onset and I couldn’t save him. Just something to look out for.

I’m used to just dropping in clowns after acclimation and having them be totally fine so these situations were odd to me.

Good luck!