Help!!!

[InsaneClownFish]

Alright as many of you know I have 5 new baby onyx clowns with the smallest being jelly bean sized. I was able to fish two out of the overflow and I have devised netting out of one of those lufa(sp) things to keep them out.

The problem is one little guy is still in there! He's been in there for almost two days. I literally spent 4-5 hours trying to get him out tonight. I'm more tired than he is! Please help! If you have any suggestions on how to get a jellybean sized fish out of the overflow it would be greatly appreciated!!!

[PL-Reef]

syphon him out with a hose.

[reefman13]

syphon him out with a hose.

+1

Just remember to shut off your return when you do this.

[craiglanda]

This is one reason i have a ball valve right off the drain... I dunno how your plumbing is set up but if you turn off the return and could close the drain....then you can remove the drain pipe and return pipe to make fishing for it a bit easier..

[ShiftNation]

+1 more for the siphon hose . Just make sure the tube is oversized or hes gonna get caught and killed pretty quick .

[InsaneClownFish]

Thanks for all the responses people! The vinyl tubing is a great idea but unfortunately I didn't have any large enough. After chasing him off and on for literally 5 hours, using every method I could come up with, I finally called it a night. I had gone out earlier that day to buy a very small net at the LFS which worked, after some effort, on the first two. For the last guy I used a combination of nets...hand...plastic mixing spoon..a turkey baster...a modified substrate vacuum with netting to protect from the impeller- the overflow was actually too short to start a suction. He's obviously alot smarter than I.

Little help here Dad:


I gave up last night and secured the netting around the overflow to keep the rest out for the evening. I was hoping I had tired him out enough for him to get sucked into the sump while he slept. Sure enough he was swimming in the sump this morning and the 1st try with the big net and he was back in the tank. Hmmmm 47,000 attempts later...

The reason I was so concerned was because the tiniest lil guy I named "Button" would end up in the sump every time he went in. But the three larger ones, over the course of 2 days, would not. In fact, I had maneuvered the last one actually into the standpipe to try and get him to take a sump dive but he was able to swim out every time.. The second to last in size, he's clearly the most savvy of his lot, and he has more than earned his name- "Mr. Wiggles."

Aimee came over to help me and to try and eyeball him in the overflow while I maneuvered nets and devices of mass destruction in there. It would have been quite comical if I hadn't been swearing so much as the lil bugger played ring a round the rosie with my stand pipes.

I decided to try this for $2. at the grocery store:

Thank god for women and their skin cleansing paraphernalia- works like a charm:


I just have to cut off the ends and put plastic pull ties down to secure it.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I thankfully have all my little clowns in check!

[reefman13]

Any FTS to add?

Happy to hear you have all your clowns back BTW.

Do you plan on having all of them as one big family, or are you waiting for a pair/female to form?

[InsaneClownFish]

I'll get some new FTS shots as soon as I have some free time.

I did alot of reading and had some detailed discussions with Rod Buehler before I purchased these clowns. In fact I talked with him off and on for at least a week on the phone with questions about baby percs that ranged from soup to nuts.

I really got into the idea of keeping some percs, or percs mixed with oceallaris, as a harem. In fact, after talking with Rod and realizing how viable this is, I wanted to mix with a Picasso and a naked clown. However, I couldn't be guaranteed size with the ORA stuff, so I decided to go all Onyx.

According to Rod groups of 3 often don't work very well because a dominant pair will form that can shun the "odd ball."

Groups of 5 and 7 work better, with 7 being the real "magic" number. He hand picked these with this in mind, giving me a slightly larger and more developed pair with three smaller compatriots. The idea is a pair will form and the others will be tolerated. A little like a queen and fertile male with some drones...but not exactly.

I was also very concerned about "trying" something that might not be viable for my system. But after discussing my system in detail with Rod, and learning alot in turn- many of my preconceived notions and ideas were admittedly incorrect. The fact is their grandparents are only slightly larger than 3" It will take my clowns almost 3 years to reach full maturity. I was looking to be able to keep them together for around 2 years, but Rod explained that with my setup I could take them to 2 years and possibly keep them indefinitely. Time will tell.

I've been pretty harsh with people for keeping anemones in small setups. I've done alot of reading and research on this lately and have admittedly been somewhat hasty in my outlook.
These guys deserve an anemone, and I think it may be in their future. Personally, I'd like to see them get a little bigger, and I want to wait for another couple of months before I add an invert like that. I'm still researching the most suitable choice for my setup as there is alot of flow.

[ctreefer]

Don't worry, no matter what you pick we'll make sure we're harsh on you as well.

[InsaneClownFish]

Thanks, Mr. Ctreefer, I'll keep that in mind..

FTS reefman13? How bout some videos from tonight
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...8#post11233018

[reefman13]

HOLY COW!!!!! There is some serious water movement in that tank. Those little clowns look like they are swimming for their lives!

Do you turn down the water flow when you go to feed them?

[InsaneClownFish]

Nope, when it comes to finding food they have no trouble at all...

[reefman13]

Sorry to hear about button.....Maybe turning down the flow is going to be something you might consider...

[pecan2phat]

Insane,
Where did you purchase your Onyx from?

[reefman13]

From what I understand, he purchased them from 'Rod'.
http://www.rods-reef.com/liveStock.php?pID=2

[InsaneClownFish]

pecan2phat- reefman13 is correct- my clowns came from Rod's Reef.

[pecan2phat]

Thanks guys.

Are they readily available?
Does he sell ones that are a bit more mature?