What is my clown doing?! is this normal?!

[kerriann]

so my clownfish has fallen in love with my sand bed. for some reason she's found this spot in the sand that she keeps stickin her face in and laying on her side n stuff. is this ok? is she trying to host my sand bed? i don't want to get her an anemone just yet because my phosphates are still a little high (.1) and my nitrates are still up a bit (10) she's eating and there's no unusual coloring or markings so will she be ok??

 

[mike22cha]

My guess would be she's either dying or trying to lay eggs. Do you have a pair of clowns or just one?

 

[coral keeper]

I don't think shes dying. She might be making a nest to lay some eggs?

 

[mike22cha]

Yeah I doubt it's dying, but I've had bad expierences with Percs and can easily see why some call them the whimpiest fish.
According to KerriAnn's profile, she has a pair, so eggs sounds like a good possibilty to me.

 

[kerriann]

i do have a pair and the male keeps comin down and swimmin right next to her then he comes to the surface and keeps goin back and forth...only had her for about 2 weeks tho...can they really pair that quickly??

 

[o2ngk]

It is hard to tell, but if she is moving a lot like rubbing herself on the sand then she is not dying .. she is just trying to get comfi because of no anenome. But if she is just lay there and breathing rapidly then she is dying.
Depending on how often you feed the fish, getting your phospate and nitrate to absolute zero could be a pulling hair experience.

 

[kerriann]

well she's been doing it for 3 or 4 days now and she's moving around n everything so i'm going to go with she's ok...and believe me, i'm already bald over this phosphate/nitrate battle!! i've been feeding them every other day unless they look insanely hungry then i'll feed them if need be...i'm getting there, slowly but surely because i obviously need something to get her out of the sand!

 

[o2ngk]

Good to hear that .. as far as your phospate, do you have some kid of phospate reactor or any place that you can place a bag of phospate substrate? If yes, try ROWA, it seems to help me. As far as your nitrate, you can also try nitrate substrate too, but usually only works its magic for 1 week. I use AZ-NO3, but you will need a good skimmer to work the magic.

 

[justinwwwallin]

i have had two clown fish for a year and they still havnt spawed. but the smaller one always twiches and dances around the bigger one. but no eggs.
so i set up another tank and put 5 clowns in it to get a pair. THEY ALL DANCE AROUND EACH OTHER, i was like "man you guys are no help" then they swam to the top for food. haha!

 

[lsu]

I don't know what they're doing but there is a funny picture in the photo forum of someones clowns hosting the sandbed. It's called "show off your fish doing odd things"

 

[bigarn]

KerriAnn - I wouldn't worry with a nitrate reading of 10 at all. As a matter of fact ..congrats. Maybe she was pregnant when you got her and she's clearing a nesting spot. Keep an eye on the situation and keep us posted.

 

[scottghs]

One of my clowns does the same exact thing. I've had them (Picasso's from SWF) since October I believe, and the clown started doing it about a month after I got them.
The one will go down and lay on the bottom, and the other fish will hover right over the other one. Im sitting at my Kitchen table writing this, and as I type I notice one of them is swimming down to the regular laying-down spot and sucking up debris and spitting it out about 5 inches away.
These fish are insane.
I'm going to go buy a Ceramic Tile tomorrow at Home Depot just incase they're trying to find a place to spawn. But I think they're still too young, correct?
Anyway, you're not alone in this adventure and I'm glad I ran across your post. I thought something was wrong with my fish lol.

 

[yerboy]

all my clowns have done this at one time or another... my maroon more then any of them..
Apparently its normal and i wouldn't stress it

 

[triggerz92]

I would guess that as long as shes not rapidly breathing shes not dying. Laying eggs is what I think shes really trying to do. Congrats and keep us updated!

 

[clownfish11]

laying eggs?

 

[clownfish11]

sorry didnt read, but ya i think shes layn eggs also...make sure you have a seperate 10gal for the larvae...keep posted