Fish going for air before lights out.

[blakeorme]

I'm thoroughly confused. My fish exhibit normal behavior during the day and then an hour or so before lights out my BLue-lined rabbit fish begins frequently going to the surface for air. Similiarly, my blue-throat trigger spends more time near the top of the water as well during this time.
Tank parms:
SG- 1.026
PH- 8.0-8.1
Alk- 9dkh
Calc- 420
nitrate- 0
PO4- 0
Amonia- 0
Its a 150 gal. with relatively low bio-load. My refugium lights turn on around 8pm. I have Chaeto in the fuge and the lights turn on at 8pm.
-My rabbit fish had had a couple small specks of ich about 4 days ago that has since disappeared?
Anybody have any thoughts.

 

[Schwe]

My clowns used to like sleeping near the surface until they got an RBTA to live in. If the fish are otherwise exhibiting normal behaviors, perhaps this is just one of the idiosyncrasies of your fish?

 

[Aj Flip]

maybe they are expecting to be fed

 

[blakeorme]

I was hoping this may be the issue. I work during the day and until recently (purchased an automatic feeder) I had been feeding only in the evenings. It just appears as if the fish is trying to get air through his lungs. They are more like sideways swipes. Lets hope its kinda of a Pavlov's fish type of behavior.

 

[giambi4343]

wow! i have a blue lined rabbit too and he does the same thing, but all day. he is very healthy so im guessing maybe its the type of species.

 

[blakeorme]

I'm amazed... Usually when you post some "weird" behavior it seems its the beginning of the end. These are such beautiful fish.

 

[giambi4343]

he is one of my favorite fish in the tank. TONS of personality. if he wasnt poisonous, he would let me pick him up
i was worried too at first when i saw this. i first thought there wasnt enough oxygen in the water, so i added an airstone. he still continued to do it so i took it out and he has been doing it for the past year. i wouldnt worry at all

 

[steelersfan]

My Foxface did the same thing, and I had no issues with his health.

 

[stunreefer]

I've seen foxface, rabbits, angels and tangs exhibit similar behaviour before... "playing"

I had a puffer for years that would actually spit at you too.

 

[alanscott]

Your post cracks me up, as my rabbit fish does the exact same thing. My wife was sure he was trying to breath air. He is very friendly, and looks great, so I guess its just normal rabbitfish behavior.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

A theory for this behavior is taht their diet is lacking in protein, and they ar eating the proteins that aggregate at the water/air interface. They supposed will also eat bubbles for the same reasons. What do you feed?

 

[Elysia]

Jmaneyapanda's explination may explain why fish do this all day long-- I have read that theory before, as well.
As for why a fish may begin to do this an hour or so before lights out... I am pretty sure that I read somewhere that some species of fish engage in this type of behavior prior to spawning at night. First, they would hang out near the surface at dusk, only to engage in spawn at dark(?) So maybe it is something deep seated and the fish themselves aren't even certain why it is they are doing it!
I hope I remembered that correctly.

 

[blakeorme]

This is good info. I had never experienced this "obvious of behavior until I introduced the Rabbit fish. As far as feeding, I feed 4 light feedings a day with Formula 1 and 2 flakes (using an automatic feeder). About 4 times per week I feed a cube of Mysis and almost everyday I clip some nori. I will note that The rabbit fish ignores the nori mostly during the day and then in the morning I find it gone. Weird. One factor may be that when I recieved the fish he was very skinny and under fed.

One other behaviour I noticed regarding the Rabbit fish is that he typically doesn't hide as much during the night and will venture out some.

I will be interested to see how this behaviour continues as he becomes more established.