Clown fish wiggle

[Elo500]

I have a pair of black ice clowns once n a while one if them will wiggle or jiggle in front of the other one. Almost like a mini seizure. What are they doing?

 

[shifty51008]

one is submissing to the other to figure out who will be male and who will be female. the one doing the wiggling will become the male

 

[CoralsAddiction]

^^^what Shifty said. It's normal clownfish behavior. In the wild clowns live in a strict hierarchy. There's usually two breeding clowns consisting of one male and one female and typically between 0-4 subordinates (at least in A. Percula family) in addition to the breeding pair. Female is the largest of them all and will keep everyone in check by "charging" at them or making sounds showing dominance. The subordinates and the breeding male will shake to show submission. In your case the shaking clown is showing his submission to the other one that will end up a female if she hasn't become one already.

 

[ThRoewer]

BTW, the laying down of fins to make themselves look smaller in combination with tilting the body to the side while shaking is kind of a universal sign of submission for many fish. I observed it with damsels, angels, wrasses, ... in general fish that live in pairs, or harem groups and are capable of changing their sex due to social rank. In some species the shaking is missing but usually at least one of the other is displayed.