Clown fish doing the shutter

[holdendaniel]

i have two ocelaris clown fish i have had for about 8 months they have become a pair(male female). they have been doing a shutter against each other alot lately and hosting my large frogspawn. i have yet to have ich present on any fish. could it be mating? i notice they only do it when im by the tank

 

[jt_milstead]

Any white spots showing? If not I would think that yes it is the dance......

 

[SwampyBill]

Definitely sounds like they're 'making out' to me...

 

[aleonn]

Clownfish pairs will sometimes shudder as if they're having a seizure as a display of dominance.

 

[holdendaniel]

yea no ich.......just shutter alot its really cool they do it alot when im feeding so mybe aleonn your right

 

[Conrad25]

Mine did that for a while. Its most likely dominance like stated previous. Mine stopped after a while and no longer do that as one of them probably doubled in size which is the female

 

[SwampyBill]

As stated by others, the seizure-like shaking is their way of figuring out who will be the dominant female & submissive male. Usually the smaller male will show his submission when the female charges him, etc. They should calm down after awhile, but she may occasionally show him 'who the boss is' to 'keep him in his place'. My b/w occelaris pair are my favorite fish & it's fascinating to watch their behavior. Good luck!

 

[aleonn]

Ya, my clownfish still do this once in a while. The female is about 2-3x larger than my male, and they both have their moments haha.

 

[davocean]

Usually it's the male twitching as a sign of submission.

 

[holdendaniel]

a sign of submission .....ok i could see that i hope there gonna spawn instead

 

[Ethan_W]

ya usually its submission. they are both doing it though?

 

[Rottilove]

Mine do that to...each time I added a new one to the tank they would shutter...never any aggression. I have four orange/white and two black/white. Two are paired an the rest just found spots in the tank to call home. Every once in a while I mess in the tank and cause one to go into the others territory and they do their little shutter and that's it. Everyone says this many usually doesn't work, but it's working for me.

 

[davocean]

It can work short term, but as they mature, pair, spawn, usually you will end up w/ one pair, so we usually don't advise this for that reason.
How long have you had these like this?

 

[steelhead77]

"Shuddering" is perfectly normal behavior for Clownfish. Please do not freak out and think they have some disease for which they must be treated.

 

[holdendaniel]

It can work short term, but as they mature, pair, spawn, usually you will end up w/ one pair, so we usually don't advise this for that reason.
How long have you had these like this?

oh man they been doing the shutter for months and there perfectly happy so thats why i thought spawning....i dont think i would beable to catch any fish to do any treatment if i ever wanted to

 

[davocean]

I was referring to the people claiming multiple pairs can easily be kept.
That almost always changes when clowns mature/pair/spawn.
Twitching is normal, even long down the road.