Odd behavior

[sterling18]

I've got a pair of black and white occlerious clownfish who's been together for a couple of years. I got them from someone who's kept them for three / four years and I've kept them for two months now.

They have a very flat vertical part of my lr that they are obsessively nipping at. Or cleaning it for some reason. The interesting part is they sleep against it too. Are they just trying to eat the copepods? Am I not feeding them enough?

They haven't found my rbta yet I guess.

They get flake food formula 1 for about 5 days a week once a day. One day they get enriched frozen brine, oyster eggs, selcon, cyclop-eeze, and one day a week I dose everything with coral frenzy. Every so often, I dose phyto & live rotifers and copepods (home brew) to the tank too.

The bigger one, I guess the female chases my flasher wrasse when it get's to close to that spot too.

Heck when I move stuff around, they nip at me if I get too close to that spot.

My tank's on a aquacontroller jr so the temp stays between 76 and 79. It also controls my MH and moon light. And I run a RDP fuge light so my pH is pretty solid between 8.09 and 8.32. My top off is RO with pickling lime.

The water parameters are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 15 for nitrates. I've got a GSM 1 for a skimmer and my fuge is the same size as my DT.

Tank size is 40B for DT and 55gal for Sump / Fuge.

Thougths?

 

[Guy340]

Clearing a space for spawning it seems like. Also, they may never take to your RBTA or better yet, your RBTA may never take them. Good luck and hopefully you'll get a lot of orange dots on the space that they've cleared soon enough.

 

[iziko]

:thumbsup:

Don't forget to update us when they spawning :dance:

 

[sterling18]

So that's what they are doing.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[SwampyBill]

Yep, sounds like pre-spawning behavior to me too. My black/white ocellaris pair have been doing the same thing for a few months now.

 

[sterling18]

The female's gotten mean lately. Chases everything and everyone away. From other fish, to clean up crew, to bitting me whenever i get close while moving frags around.

Also, I've watched them get close to the sandbed and snap their tail to clear sand. They are leaving me with a big creater in my sand bed.

 

[SwampyBill]

Yea, mine cleared their territory & made craters in the sand too. PITA cause it's spreading sand into their anemone, on LR & Pagoda cup too. It's still facinating behavior to watch, tho. For a good understanding of clownfish behavior, I highly recommend "Clownfishes-a guide to their captive care, breeding & natural history" by Joyce D. Wilkerson.