Crazy clown

Anyone have issues with their clowns digging and stirring up sand for no reason with their tail? Mine has started to swish her tail in the sand stirring it up and clouds the tank. Just wondering if anyone has tips, because if this fish doesn't stop, it's heading to the LFS. Highly irritating.

 

I had a similar experience with my YTBs Zach
one of them started burrowing which is something I had never had before with a damsel
but it was flicking the sand up near a very small cave under the base layer of rock
I assumed, maybe wrongly, that it was preparing a site for egg laying/ spawning

Steve

 

I think it might have something to do with mating/spawning. But I'm not sure.

 

Single clown. Maybe she's looking for some action. Ain't happening in my tank, unfortunately. I suspect she will be removed tomorrow.

 

They dig to make their house how they like. It's no different than us wanting to move our couches, TVs, beds, etc. where we want them. All my clowns do that too, I just let them do what they want. It may make a lump of sand and bare tank in a corner, but it's not hurting anything. They may be doing that to stir up the pods in the sandbed too.

 

Yeah, i agree with tigermike, it's just "rearranging" it's home. Give it some time and it will eventually stop doing it when it gets it how it likes it. Mine did this for a few days, didn't help that the goby kept filling the hole in though, just made the clown did harder. But then again, clowns will be clowns and i don't know if we'll ever fully understand their behavior.

 

Very true, my clowns dig like crazy at night to make their bed. Now they are hosting, so they don't do that anymore. But be patient with her!

 

Actually, when it makes all the SPS polyps close up for extended periods of time, it does hurt the corals. I made this tank as an SPS coral tank, I could actually care less how many fish (if any, really) inhabit it. Fish poop is beneficial coral food, but I will find other fish that don't make my tank look like a snow globe. I understand it's what clowns do, but it's been a couple weeks and she hasn't stopped. She did this to a lesser extent in the 75 but I didn't care quite as much. She's on her way out later this week when I get the energy to catch her.

 

Well yeah, but that is another variable in the equation. I wouldn't think that SPS colonies would be that close to the sandbed, but if they are, I can see how it could be a problem.

 

They aren't. She kicks up enough sand the entire tank is clouded. The sand gets pulled into the undertow from the MP40s and spread throughout the entire tank.