Percula Clowns

[luv2reef]

my clown seems to be so much happier now that she has a playmate. Is this normal in the wild because i didn't think that clowns were schooling fish?? but now that she has a tank mate she swims more, eats more, and is doing overall better. can anyone explain this for me.

 

[Chupacabras]

Clownfish in the wild choose a mate to spread their genetic material while maintaining a group of subadults in the event that one of the breeders dies.

They don't school but they do form a breeding pair. You're seeing the more natural behavior of clownfish.

 

[MarinaP]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9165866#post9165866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Chupacabras

They don't school

Wrong. They do school in the wild, chrysoterus might be an example.

 

[zoomfish1]

Do they only school as juvi's or also as adults?

 

[Chupacabras]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9165902#post9165902 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MarinaP
Wrong. They do school in the wild, chrysoterus might be an example.

Do you have a reference for that?

 

[MarinaP]

I posted a pic of a family of 20 or more in the wild about a year ago. Search or google.

 

[Riona]

I've read that in a few places too. There's the high female, then male, then a bunch of juvis in line in case one of the elders dies. Couldn't cite you right offhand though, it was a respectable site though.

 

[Slakker]

I wouldn't really say that they are a schooling fish, but they do form community units.

 

[luv2reef]

thanks for all the input and knowledge everyone

 

[keefsama2003]

hmmm just throwing this out there but a community unit = school which = a group of fish living together as 1 unit.

or am i thinking of this incorrectly

Similar to a school of anthias. wouldnt that be a community unit?

 

[OrionN]

A school of fish is a group of fish swim in synchronize, a behavior to improve their survival in open water. Clown fish babies will ball up. In the wild clown fish may live as a group with their anemone but not as a school.

 

[Chupacabras]

A familial group is a shoal; as previously mentioned, a school of fish moves in a synchronized way, with the fish spending the vast majority of their time facing the same direction and moving the same ways.