bobbing for pods?

Happy Holidays to all,

Just a quick question - I have observed my dottyback (Zen) darting headfirst then backing out of a small hollow rock in the front sand area of my tank off and on all day today. (see attached pic).

When he backs out, he basically spits a mouthful of sand out then dives back in. I am assuming that he is merely bug hunting - or is this something else? It has been rather amusing to watch. It makes me think that he might be saying "pttttooey!" every time he spits the sand out.

Try as I might, I could not get a good shot of his tail sticking out of the rock - sorry for the poor shot, it was off my cellphone camera and he is one quick little fish. (I also thought this would be a decent chance for me to figure out how to properly attach a pic as part of a forum post.)

I am hoping that he is seeing and hunting down pods etc - that would assure me a bit that my tank is indeed successfully supporting pods and other wee critters for the fish to eat. At this early stage of my reefing adventures, I take every little success as encouragement.

Any comments are appreciated. Thanks

 

Sounds like what he doing. He could be making himself a cave also.

 

onefishtwofish

I reckon you are correct in that the fish is hunting for any live creatures on the rock and in the spaces below sand bes and rocks, where many of these things hide up during lights on period


Steve

 

I have a couple fish that they do this when they feel like making a new hiding place or just making a mess of the tank. I wish they would stop it but they do what they do.

 

Thank you both for the replies - I am encouraged then for sure! This guy is one diligent little hunter in that case - and this hopefully means that there are indeed delicious little pods etc for he and his tankmates to eat.

much appreciated!