Purple tang behavior....

melypr1985 · Feb 26, 2016

My purple tang is doing something strange. He's never done something like this before and I've had him for 6 months or so now. He's setting his butt on the sand and using his tail to stir up the sand. Then he shoots off to the other side of the tank. I've only seen him do this twice, but I'm wondering what is the purpose of this behavior? He's perfectly healthy and is the largest fish in the tank- also the boss. Ideas? Thanks!

eatbreakfast · Feb 27, 2016

TBH, not familiar with that behavior, but some fish will use sand displays to show dominance to rivals and attract partners. Maybe it's that, but then again, maybe it's something completely different.

melypr1985 · Feb 27, 2016

Hmmm. Well hopefully he settles down with that stuff. It sure makes thr tank cloudy after.

Humblefish · Feb 27, 2016

Maybe he was reincarnated from a female clownfish?

thegunslinger · Feb 27, 2016

Our clown and damsel do that, it's a territorial display.

shoelaceike · Feb 27, 2016

It's twerking obviously

Triggreef · Feb 27, 2016

Does he only do it when your near the tank? Mine does it if I have my face near the tank. Not so much putting his tail in the sand but he gets near the glass where I am and tries to slap at my face. It does stir up the sand a bit because he kind of goes low when he does it. Definitely a territorial thing in my case.

I had a kole tang that would violently try to attack me to the point of messing up his scalpels - I think I posted a video. He got sold off when I got into butterflies.

melypr1985 · Feb 27, 2016

Triggreef said:
Does he only do it when your near the tank? Mine does it if I have my face near the tank. Not so much putting his tail in the sand but he gets near the glass where I am and tries to slap at my face. It does stir up the sand a bit because he kind of goes low when he does it. Definitely a territorial thing in my case.

I had a kole tang that would violently try to attack me to the point of messing up his scalpels - I think I posted a video. He got sold off when I got into butterflies.

No, he's only done it twice that I know of and I was sitting across the room on the couch. It was really weird. I'm going to keep an eye on him to see if he does it again and if I can see any reasons for the behavior.