Clownfish - Loving or Hating?

[walloutlet]

Good day all to watch these crazy little fish go through their ups and downs.

I've had a couple run of the mill clownfish that I picked up from my LFS at the end of September. 65 gallon tank has been up for about 4 month, parameters are what you would expect (Temp: 79, Salinity: 1.024, PH: 8.0, Alk:8, Nitrate: 15ppm, Phosphate: 0.05ppm). AWC of 1ga per day, parameters are what I would like to call stable with general expected fluctuations at night but all within a small percentage.

Tank houses the two clowns, 1 yellow tang, tiger conch and an assortment of smaller snails and crabs.

Everyone has been doing great, clowns are pigs when it comes to eating. They can be seen "sleeping" together at night in a little hole they've shimmy'd into the sand bed.

However, this morning... I woke up to this (see videos);



This activity is non-stop, makes the one being chased stressed (breathing heavy, seeking out places to hide, etc..) to the point where he takes a break against the overflow.



Would this be considered "normal" behavior for clowns, in a mating ritual or dominance display? I tried to do a close inspection to see if there is any signs of parasites, doesn't appear so but other than the obvious ones I probably wouldn't know anyways. The one being chased is tired and can't get a break, should I be looking to isolate that one or the other?

Thoughts, comments or questions?

 

[face]

Normal loving. They have love hate relationships though. They fight to see who is the real female lol.

 

[walloutlet]

Normal loving. They have love hate relationships though.

LOL... I figured as much. Figured someone ticked off the other cause of something.

Every once in a while I catch them "fighting" and looks like the lock lips and then shake loose from each other. I just missed that activity in a video.

Thanks for the quick reply, heat rate has been decreased.

 

[jpnegrete14]

IME I see nothing but happy clowns in those videos. My male clown loves doing that same exact thing up against the overflow.

 

[walloutlet]

IME I see nothing but happy clowns in those videos. My male clown loves doing that same exact thing up against the overflow.

LOL, I'd call mine a fat lazy b@stard!

 

[jpnegrete14]

Cool aquascape, by the way!

 

[walloutlet]

Cool aquascape, by the way!

Thank you... first attempt at putting some thought into with cages and ledges for fish and corals. Ran out of ideas at the top, as is always the case, I'd like to change it. Next time, cause we all know there's always a bigger or another tank on the horizon.

 

[jpnegrete14]

Thank you... first attempt at putting some thought into with cages and ledges for fish and corals. Ran out of ideas at the top, as is always the case, I'd like to change it. Next time, cause we all know there's always a bigger or another tank on the horizon.

I'm literally in the middle of a 100gal ext build and still catch myself day dreaming about a 400gal one day haha there are worse addictions in this life

 

[walloutlet]

I'm literally in the middle of a 100gal ext build and still catch myself day dreaming about a 400gal one day haha there are worse addictions in this life

True dat!

 

[Textech]

"One of the first published reports of the association between stress and sequential hermaphroditism in a teleost fish was for socially induced sex change in the protandrous cinnamon clownfish (Amphiprion melanopus) in which serum cortisol levels were observed to peak in the later sex change stages (Godwin & Thomas 1993). Perry and Grober (2003)suggested that environmental stimuli affect cortisol levels which, in turn, modulate brain activity, effectively providing a mechanism for communication between the brain and the gonads (Perry & Grober 2003, Blázquez & Somoza 2010). According to Perry and Grober (2003), dominant males in social groups of protogynous species were responsible for inhibiting socially induced sex change of subordinate females through their aggressive behavior, and the release from this high stress (i.e. drop in cortisol) would trigger the sex change of the alpha female, which would, in turn, keep the cortisol levels of the rest of the females elevated."

Translation = the alpha clownfish stresses out all the other clowns to keep their stress hormones high, which in turn prevents them from becoming a female. Thats why they "bully", atleast according to some research. Completely normal

https://rep.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/rep/154/6/REP-17-0408.xml

 

[walloutlet]

@Textech, dude! This is AWESOME information and makes for great chilly day couch reading.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[jpnegrete14]

@Textech yea great share! Makes perfect sense

 

[SE7ƎN]

It’s cool to see your fish zipping around the tank. I wish mine would do that. I have 2x 7 months old for almost 3 weeks now and their personalities are completely opposite. The bully likes to hog the fake anemone and forces the smaller to swim swim swim non-stop. I almost feel sorry for the little guy. I have another fake anemone in the tank as well, but the bully won’t let the smaller one go there either. Only at night when the bully falls asleep, can the smaller one go to the other fake anemone and finally sleep.

Question for the seasoned clownfish owners: My bully clownfish just plops himself on the fake anemone and lays there almost motionless most of the time. Only during feeding, will he venture out to eat, and occasionally swim around the fake anemone exploring a little, and doing his figure 8’s (or at least that is what it looks like) around the little one. When he is swimming around, he looks totally happy and fine. However, most of the time, he is just trying to lay on the anemone and move as little as possible - See video below. Is this normal? He eats like a pig and swims fine, so is he just super lazy? Or should I be concerned? At first I was worried and thought he was sick, but he seems totally fine, so it’s kind of funny now if this is personality.

 

[walloutlet]

I'm happy to report, whatever disagreement my two clownfish had. They resolved it over a good nights sleep. They are now back to their buddy buddy, fighting over who gets the food routing. Right now they see me and are looking up to see when the food is coming!



And feeding time... their favorite time!

 

[walloutlet]

Question for the seasoned clownfish owners: My bully clownfish just plops himself on the fake anemone and lays there almost motionless most of the time. Only during feeding, will he venture out to eat, and occasionally swim around the fake anemone exploring a little, and doing his figure 8’s (or at least that is what it looks like) around the little one. When he is swimming around, he looks totally happy and fine. However, most of the time, he is just trying to lay on the anemone and move as little as possible - See video below. Is this normal? He eats like a pig and swims fine, so is he just super lazy? Or should I be concerned? At first I was worried and thought he was sick, but he seems totally fine, so it’s kind of funny now if this is personality.

I'm no expert by any means, as definitely shown by the level of awesome information provided in this thread. However, I did have a clownfish years ago that did the same thing. One would get the anemone and the other was left to fend for themselves. He liked to sit and just hang out all day until the food arrived. I'd say, as long as they are eating and not floating upside down he's most likely doing what he wants to do.

I would suspect that if you swapped out the fake anemone with a real one that had softer and more movable tentacles you'd seem him flipping and rolling all over it. That's what my previous clowns did, never left it until food.

PS... He's an awesome looking fish.

 

[SE7ƎN]

I'm no expert by any means, as definitely shown by the level of awesome information provided in this thread. However, I did have a clownfish years ago that did the same thing. One would get the anemone and the other was left to fend for themselves. He liked to sit and just hang out all day until the food arrived. I'd say, as long as they are eating and not floating upside down he's most likely doing what he wants to do.

I would suspect that if you swapped out the fake anemone with a real one that had softer and more movable tentacles you'd seem him flipping and rolling all over it. That's what my previous clowns did, never left it until food.

PS... He's an awesome looking fish.

Thanks. That’s great information. I was concerned at first, but since it’s normal behavior as you explained it, I think it’s pretty funny now. It’s amazing how lazy he is. Funny enough, he likes to sleep head down, with his tail almost vertical on the thing sometimes completely still. Even the cleaner shrimp comes by to check it out to see if there is a free meal available, but disappointed when he gets close and quickly gets chased away.

I started my tank mid-Sept, so it’s super new, and this is my first tank ever, but an RBTA is the end goal, so hopefully in about 4 more months or, I can get one.

Beautiful tank! I’m impressed with how clean your rock looks. Mine is covered in algae, and currently battling diatoms. It’s getting better though, but 40%-50% water changes weekly...

Thanks again!

 

[zalick]

Totally normal.

And for when this comes up as a question next: their behaviour is all over the place! Don't be shocked to see one floating on its side at night when the lights go out. Or laying on its side in any possible spot at night. Or allowing itself to be gently sucked up against your oveflow at night . All of this is normal and my clowns have done each of those over the years! Very unsettling at first.

id never have a tank without clowns. So much personality IMO.

 

[walloutlet]

Totally normal.

And for when this comes up as a question next: their behaviour is all over the place! Don't be shocked to see one floating on its side at night when the lights go out. Or laying on its side in any possible spot at night. Or allowing itself to be gently sucked up against your oveflow at night . All of this is normal and my clowns have done each of those over the years! Very unsettling at first.

id never have a tank without clowns. So much personality IMO.

Yeah absolutely.... Clowns are definitely a must, just for the fun factor alone! Seen the lazy overflow resting myself, I thought he died the first time and then swam away when I went to get him out. Almost like I woke him up and startled him away. Haha.

 

[walloutlet]

Thanks. That’s great information. I was concerned at first, but since it’s normal behavior as you explained it, I think it’s pretty funny now. It’s amazing how lazy he is. Funny enough, he likes to sleep head down, with his tail almost vertical on the thing sometimes completely still. Even the cleaner shrimp comes by to check it out to see if there is a free meal available, but disappointed when he gets close and quickly gets chased away.

I started my tank mid-Sept, so it’s super new, and this is my first tank ever, but an RBTA is the end goal, so hopefully in about 4 more months or, I can get one.

Beautiful tank! I’m impressed with how clean your rock looks. Mine is covered in algae, and currently battling diatoms. It’s getting better though, but 40%-50% water changes weekly...

Thanks again!

RBTA is my end game too... I'm only a month and some ahead of you in timeline and definitely not comfortable putting one in quite yet. Maybe a Christmas present for myself, my LFS has a couple really nice ones I keep telling myself NO on.

Thank you on the compliment of the tank, I've been in and out of the hobby for quite awhile and have had my fair share of problems. Decided to go with the ultra slow, don't do anything until I see steady trends appear with the chemistry and let the tank's ecosystem balance itself out.

I also tried a couple "new" approaches for setting up a new tank. I am using Brightwell's fishless cycle approach and have been dosing a small amount of bacteria (MicroBacter Clean) as recommended and it seems to be working. Plus getting to utilitarian fish and CUC just as or slightly before I started turning on my lights. I actually turned my lights on earlier than I was planning as I was worried there wasn't enough filament algae for my Blenny to eat. Overall, it's been pretty steady and I've definitely learned a new level of patience's! LOL

Good luck with your setup!

 

[SE7ƎN]

Awesome! Thanks for the info. Looking back, I would have done things differently, but still happy so far, especially with doing this in a foreign country and having different resources and trying to improvise. I’m still trying to figure out why my NO3 is high, so nothing will happen until I can manage this better. Keep the updates coming!