clown "herky jerky"

[kurt72]

hello all newbie here!! i went to purchase my first two fish yesterday. 2 Ocellaris Clownfish. i noticed that in the tank where they were all kept, sometimes they did a little WEIRD move. the move.....well they shoot straight back and forth, yet going backwards. it looks like they are getting a shock. does that make any sense? i looked at the tank where i purchased them for anout 20 minutes. and noticed they were all doing it. they appear to be fine, and have a pretty good appetite. well, then again when i fed them this morning, they put the food in their mouth then spit it out. I have "BIO-Blend Premium Marine Fish Food" which they seemed to like yesterday. Today? Not so much. So I bought some Tetra Flakes, and they don't like that at all. I did a little research prior to buying them, and was told that my fish food was good for clowns. Should I try some frozen food? Or am I just worrrying too much. Maybe they are just trying to adjust to their new home? Any input would be a great help. Thanks!!

[abugs1985]

Try some frozen brine shrimp first off. I've never seen a true or false perc not accept bringe shrimp. San Fransisco Bay brand or Fromula one brine is good. Also for dry food selection try formula one flakes. The clowns may be stressed from their move, but Ocellaris are pretty hardy fish and acclimate easily. Did you acclimate the fish at all? How old is your tank and has it cycled yet? Some of your water params might be off if you just set up your tank and put the fish in too quickly. Not so sure about the funny swimming issues...never really seen that in a false clown before.

[ClownReef®]

Its normal behavior.

[angelsj247]

one of my clowns will only eat fomula one pellets.. and the other will only eat frozen brine shrimp.. the one that eats the pellets usually only eats at night.. when i feed him in the morning it puts it in its mouth and spits it back out..

[redvipe2010]

My Ocellaris behave in a similar way. They love the brine shrimp and the formula one flakes. Enjoy your new clowns!!!!

[keithntracy]

We recently got our first clowns Clarkii's, one male and one female. We noticed that the female would go up and nudge/nip the male and he would do a sort of dance. To us it looked like a seizure or shock. He would be vertical, pointing up toward the sky and sort of shimmy. We were told it's some kind of courtship dance to entice the female. Maybe that's what yours is doing also. Good luck. Also, ours eat everything. We feed our foxface Lifeline tropical fish food (the green veggie kind) and our Sun coral Mysis. The clowns eat it all.

[DiViNeLeFT]

sounds like they are establishing dominance.. the seizure or shock would be the male submitting to the female... kind of like when dogs lay down on their back and expose their throat when a bigger dog is around.

[kurt72]

thanks for all the input. as far as the tank cycle, it's been over a month, and all levels, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, ph are good.

so it's a mating thing, huh? cool. love my new clowns. i did notice that some of the flakes that i fed them that were sittin on the bottom, are gone. maybe they did eat them. my snails/hermits, haven't left the live rock since the clowns came in. anyway thanks for the input. :)