Clown Fish attacking glass - reflection?

[poppafish]

My female Clownfish is attacking the glass - only in a small area of the tank, but she has been doing this all day long. This is the first time she has done this - is this normal behavior?

 

[Jekyl]

Reflection is a good possibility. Have a video?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Is it possible that the fish never noticed the reflection before, or that something changed which could have caused a reflection to start showing when it hadn't before (such as in the quote below)?

Assuming this is what they mean, glass shows reflections when there's a substantial difference in the amount of light on both sides (i.e. when one side is light and the other dark, the side with more light will start reflecting). If this is the case here, OP, you could in theory just light up the dark side and the reflection would go away, or you could block the light from hitting the light side and that should get rid of the reflection as well.

 

[WWC Verified Sponsor]

Clowns can do that for sure. Is she the only Clown in the Tank?

 

[I never finish anythi]

Maybe she is ready to lay eggs ? If it's paired.

 

[poppafish]

Clowns can do that for sure. Is she the only Clown in the Tank?

no I have a paired male

 

[poppafish]

Is it possible that the fish never noticed the reflection before, or that something changed which could have caused a reflection to start showing when it hadn't before (such as in the quote below)?

I tried blocking the reflection - that seems to have changed her from banging the glass - she is very aggressive though - not like her

 

[poppafish]

Reflection is a good possibility. Have a video?

 

[poppafish]

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah, a lot of fish will attack their reflections (your clown likely thinks they are fighting another clown for dominance/territory/breeding rights when they attack the reflection in the glass), and - as noted above - clowns that are breeding/preparing to breed are particularly aggressive.

I'd make sure you eliminate the reflection, and I'd guess your clown will calm down after a while (though I don't know for certain - there may still be other things causing higher than normal aggression).

If the aggression remains a day or two after you've gotten rid of the reflection I'd say to consider the following: Do you have an anemone or something in the tank for the fish to use as a home? If not, adding one could potentially help. Feeding more and/or more often throughout the day may also help.

 

[poppafish]

Yeah, a lot of fish will attack their reflections (your clown likely thinks they are fighting another clown for dominance/territory/breeding rights when they attack the reflection in the glass), and - as noted above - clowns that are breeding/preparing to breed are particularly aggressive.

I'd make sure you eliminate the reflection, and I'd guess your clown will calm down after a while (though I don't know for certain - there may still be other things causing higher than normal aggression).

If the aggression remains a day or two after you've gotten rid of the reflection I'd say to consider the following: Do you have an anemone or something in the tank for the fish to use as a home? If not, adding one could potentially help. Feeding more and/or more often throughout the day may also help.

I am not sure how to get rid if the reflection - as she attacks a lot of different areas of the tank and it happens with the light on or off.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

As I mentioned in my initial post, these reflections appear when one side of the glass is brightly lit and the other side is much darker.

So, to get rid of the reflection, try lighting up the outside of the tank and see if that helps. One way you could do this is by running some LED strips around the outside of the tank so that they light up the glass. This thread might give you some more ideas too:

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