Damsel Digging?

[cedarreef]

I've been getting weird piles of sand in the front of my tank lately. I was wondering what it was until I saw my yellowtail damsel shaking his tail in the sand until a nice pile was made next to a bare spot and then he stopped. I evened out the sand to see if he would go at it again, and sure enough, he went back and did it again. Does anyone know why he is doing it, or has anyone else experienced a fish digging with their tail like this? I'm just thankful I found out that the damsel was doing this instead of a possible warning sign of a mantis shrimp.

 

[mr.clownfish]

a lot of fish do it. my maroon does it.
its their thing. they like to rearrange the sand.
its really annoying.

 

[flower]

The only thing I ever saw rearrange the sand were gobies. He has to be doing something that is part of his natural behavior. It would be really interesting to find out the WHY he is doing it.
Anyone with an idea???

 

[zippgirl]

Every clown I have ever owned and in the past when I had damsels, have done this, drives me insane. But I don't know why they do it. I thought is was just a way of marking there territory. My clowns have always done the sand fanning near where they host. Just speculation though.

 

[cedarreef]

Thanks for the responses. I think it would be interesting to find out why they do it, though. I don't think mine is marking its territory because it's usually all over the tank and is only towards the bottom when he does this. Just glad it's nothing to be worried about.

 

[gio28]

my clown does this nonstop to his sebae anemone. i think its cause its on the sand and he tries to keep it clean. he makes a giant ditch in the sand and it gets annoying after a while.