maroon clown likes to stir up sand....

[The Saltman]

Hi guys,

My maroon clown has made a habit of shaking himself in the sand bed and stirring up the sand. I was just wondering if there was any point in this behavior?? What is he trying to do? Is he just bored?


I appreciate your response

 

[LunarCubes]

My tomato clown does that all the time. It seems like he is trying to clear a path so he can move the huge clam he is hosting.

 

[phil519]

my maroon did/does this all the time. At first I thought this was a behavioral issue of not having an anemone to be with. However even after that - she/he still does this on occasion. The only other possible idea might be it's "hunting". I noticed immediately following a good blast of tail - it turns around to look around...as if seeking a tasty morsel.

I was also told that the maroons just seem to like to redecorate...seemed plausible to me.

I will admit with the anemone the maroon is much much less picky about "redecorating" the tank.

 

[loyalty]

my blue damsel does this..it drives me nuts. as i type this he's done it yet again

 

[Novato]

my blue damsel does this..it drives me nuts. as i type this he's done it yet again

Mine too.

 

[ratziel]

When I first got my maroon clown pair the female had the tank stirred up and in a cloud for like the first two weeks.Then I guess she got it like she wanted it because she hasn't stirred it up since and thats been over a year now. Keep in mind no two fish act exactly the same so your results may vary.I have a friend who gave me a real nice cinnamon clown that kept digging up his sand bed and my friend kept fixing it till he got sick of it. When I put her in my tank she moved sand around for a couple weeks then hasn't done anything since and thats been about eight months. I think there is something to the ( Some clownfish just like to redecorate.) theory.

 

[loyalty]

or,

our fish are insane

 

[bonesnreb]

dont ya all know by now the reason why they do that is there dusting/vacuuming the c*ap off the floor.. they want there house clean...lol....
my gsm does this at least once a day and like everyone else it drives me crazy..

 

[Scuba Dog]

They are trying to get you PO'd lol so you will stick your hand in the tank and they can have another opertunity to ram you lol...devious little devels

 

[clpcgamer]

My Maroon also does this and my two damsel do this also. I think they are looking for food like the other post said. Not to change the subject but my Maroon is starting to take nips out of my sinuliar flexibis (spaghetti lethar) and my green open brain coral. And she will byte hard enough to take pieces out of them. Does anyone know why they do this. Are they hungry? Because if she doesn't stop I'm going to have to take her out and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her. She is about 3 1/2".

 

[phil519]

Not to change the subject but my Maroon is starting to take nips out of my sinuliar flexibis (spaghetti lethar) and my green open brain coral. And she will byte hard enough to take pieces out of them. Does anyone know why they do this. Are they hungry? Because if she doesn't stop I'm going to have to take her out and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her. She is about 3 1/2".

My maroon went to "town" on my condylactis anemone - ripping off 8~10 tentacles with zest and appearing to eat them. The next day - the anemone was hosting the maroon.

That's my only experience of seeing the maroon nip at cnidarians (in this case, an anemone) so it's possible the maroon is unsuccessfully trying to convince your corals to host it.

or, it could be insane...

As an aside for new hobbyists: Do not go out an purchase a condylactis thinking it will host clowns. They don't normally. The only reason I have a condylactis is because it was a freebie. E. Quadricolor (bta) is an anemone maroons are compatible with.

 

[clpcgamer]

Thanks for the info phil519. I will try moving the brain coral. I think the GSM is hosting with the return nozzle and since the brain coral is near it maybe it just wants somemore space? My tank is only 24 gallons right now and maybe too small for a fairly large GSM.

 

[kypatriot]

I think they are trying to clear a nest-site when they do that. I had an Australian clown that drove me crazy doing that several times every day. She made it look like somebody dropped bombs in my sand, all the way down to the glass bottom.

I put a small male in there with her, and it got much worse. She seemed to never leave it alone then, until they spawned. This resulted in a short reprieve, but as soon as the eggs were gone, it commenced again.

The nest-site they used was one of the places she fanned all the time, and I think the other 2 places she did it were other potential sites.

If there is only one fish in the tank doing it, I think it's making a bachelor (bachelorette) pad & preparing to say, "hey baby, come check out my place." With 2, I think they're making a little love shack.