bizarre Flame wrasse behavior

jmaneyapanda

Commencing hatred
Hey guys:

I have some unusual flame wrasse behavior and wanted to get some opinion on it. I have a trio of Hawaiian flames, and all are healthy pigs. The male is about 3" while the females are probably subadults (about 1.5"). However, Ive noticed a female (or maybe both, i cant tell them apart) occasionally glancing off my clam mantles. When she does it, she does it repeatedly, too (maybe 6 or 7 times in a row). Never on anything course or solid, only the fleshy clam mantle. Any ideas?
 
Yeah, she rubs the side of her body against the felshy amntle of the clam (actually a couple different clams). No signs of any disease or parasites, and I never see her rubbing on anythings else. Do fish "marK' territories?
 
Have all fish being through QT before adding to ich-free display? That is usually the first sign of ich, even though you can't see it. Is she only rubbing against the clam though? That is weird, maybe she is marking her territory against the other female.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11650873#post11650873 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DamnPepShrimp
Have all fish being through QT before adding to ich-free display? That is usually the first sign of ich, even though you can't see it. Is she only rubbing against the clam though? That is weird, maybe she is marking her territory against the other female.

Yeah, I am pretty anal when it comes to QT and disease control, so it is definitely not that. The confounding thing is that I only ever see it on the clam mantles, never anything else. This is what leads me to think it is behavioral. I am wondering if she has figured out that irritating the clams makes them produce slime, and she is eating the slime. A strectch, but all I can think is that, or that she is somewhow delineating a territory.
 
I realize this is a very old thread

Mine does the same thing. I believe it's behavioural with no damage to the clam. The clam barely flinches.
 
I use to have a foot ball sized deresa clam. I observed multiple fish doing the same thing you described. I'm not sure why they did it but I had 3 of my fish display the same behavior.
 
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