Female clown sitting behind heater. Normal?

ArtsyAxolotl · May 22, 2017

My female clown has been doing something abnormal (for her, anyway) and I'm just curious about if it's normal clown behavior. She's gotten into this habit of wedging herself in behind the heater and just sitting there. First time I saw her do it I thought she got stuck, but as soon as I approached the tank, she swam out and begged for food.

It doesn't seem to be hurting her, I just want to know if it's normal for a clown to sit calmly like that. I've had them for several months now and I don't know that I've ever seen them not do that little "wiggle swim" they do.

I'll grab a video here in a bit. I can't upload it from my phone.

dylana407 · May 22, 2017

Chances are she is being picked on by another fish.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 22, 2017

Oh, really? You think? Hm. The only other fish in the tank is the male clown.

The only other likely culprit is my cleaner shrimp. He's kinda touchy feely with me, although I've only seen him go after the fish once. He jumped off a rock and wrapped his legs around the female once. She shook him off and bit at him and he never did it again lol. And that was ages ago.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 22, 2017

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxth8E6f2JI_WGZRVnl6WHQxVkk/view?usp=sharing

Here's a video clip of her sitting. Toward the end the male swims by and she nips at him and then goes back to sitting. (I hope that link works. I never know how google drive's sharing links work).

ArtsyAxolotl · May 22, 2017

And for the record, she and the male usually sleep together under the filter in the corner. She doesn't usually stay in that particular spot at night. Just off and on throughout the day and then she goes to bed.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 23, 2017

(( I wasn't saying you were wrong, btw, if it came across like that. I was just surprised by your answer. My female is a jerk so I hadn't considered someone might be bullying her lol)).

ArtsyAxolotl · May 23, 2017

bump?

Vuuduu · May 23, 2017

I was going to say the same, that she's getting picked on, I had a Maroon who picked on my other, and he always went to the corner or tank to "hide" but if the only other fish is the male, it just sounds like she's somewhat uncomfortable with her surroundings..... did you readjust the rock? Or change lights or anything? She might just need time to get adjusted again.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 23, 2017

I did adjust the length of the lights a bit recently. Some of my LPS corals had browned out and someone on here suggested I try extending the length of the lights by two hours (slowly) to help them absorb nutrients. Their color is returning but now maybe it's time I put the lights back to the way they were? That's the only thing I've changed recently.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 24, 2017

Ok, so there's been an interesting revelation with this issue. I just caught my skunk cleaner grabbing the clown again. He had her by a fin and was dragging her down and picking at her side. By how complacent she was at first, I thought she'd died suddenly. And then she suddenly flailed out of his grip and is now hiding behind a rock. I wonder if the cleaner has been doing this and I just haven't caught him doing it until now?

(also, I put some food in shortly after I noticed this, thinking the cleaner shrimp might be hungry and that's why he went after her, and both of them ate normally. So the female clown isn't stressed enough to not eat. Just to hide)

dylana407 · May 24, 2017

Get the shrimp out of the tank. IME, any fish that hide behind a heater is being bullied. If the situation is not fix, it will get sick and die.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 24, 2017

Is there any chance the clown might be sick and he's trying to clean the infected skin off or something? and I just haven't noticed? she doesn't seem sick, but the shrimp's never been like this before.

dylana407 · May 24, 2017

Possible. I have no experience with cleaner shrimps so I can't say.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 24, 2017

Gotcha. Well, I can't seem to get ahold of him. Something has to be up with the shrimp. Usually when I put my hands in the tank he jumps on me immediately. Now he's shying away and hiding under stuff. Maybe he knows he did something wrong lol.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 24, 2017

Caught the shrimp. Had to corner him behind a rock. He's in my quarantine tank by himself with a piece of live rock. He's flicking his legs and his antenne really weirdly. I'm gonna leave him in there with a heater and airstone for now. I'll let you know if the clown relaxes now.

dylana407 · May 24, 2017

let's hope that is the end of the problem. Keep an eye on the clown for signs of illness.

Poseidon84 · May 24, 2017

ok just because i had a recent clown acti g somewhat like this. cleaner shrimp are wired to latch onto fish and pick off parasites. my maroon turned out to have flukes, it is in my opinion the shrimp is seeing something that you dont, i would give the clown a freshwater dip, and follow the instructions on finding flukes, also contact @Humblefish, and see if he has any other suggestions. he saved my clowns life.

ArtsyAxolotl · May 24, 2017

Flukes huh? I googled flukes and she doesn't have any spots like they have... although maybe I'm missing something? She has no other abnormal behavior besides the "sitting." Is it worth doing a FW dip just to see? or would that stress her out too much? I was at my LFS today doing some painting for the owner, and he was chatting with his clownfish supplier (a local guy who's been breeding clowns for years), so I asked the breeder what he thought of the video. He seemed to think she was just hosting the thermometer and being territorial of it.. could that be the case?

At any rate, my cleaner shrimp died in quarantine. I think he was resisting arrest because he was about to molt. So. I'm a little sad about that.. I could've left him alone when he didn't let me pick him up.

dylana407 · May 24, 2017

How can your cleaner shrimp die that fast shrimps are pretty hardy

Poseidon84 · May 24, 2017

you cant see flukes until they die from the freshwter dip. or from dosing prazipro. and yes she could verywell be hosting the heater, but a freshwater dip is always a good thing to use as a diagnostic tool for parasites. it will stress the fish a little bit but its worth it to know if something is wrong, does the clown seem to breath rapid or heavy? have u introduced any new livestock recently? sorry for the questions i just want to help. lol and sorru about the shrimp. it was probably the stress of the relocation that got him but cant say for sure. inverts are I.M.E finicky.