Does my wrasse need therapy?

I have a melanarus wrasse that spends its entire day going back and forth along the side of the tank. I'm not sure what it is doing unless it is following its own reflection although it also does it along a side of the tank that is completely coralline encrusted. It has probably been doing this for about 4 or 5 months. it only stops when food enters the tank and when the white lights go off an hour before bedtime. As soon as the "dusk" period begins, it stops its obsessive compulsive behavior to hunt the rocks for an hour and go to sleep.

Has anyone had a problem with their fish acting this way? Do you know the cause? Is there something I should or can do to deter this behavior?

Thanks for your support.

 

All I had to do was read the title of your post to say yes! JJ If he's been doing it that long and now showing any signs of physical deterioration or mental instability I would say that the wrasse is just being a wrasse. They do weird things. With that being said I would still keep an eye on him. If he starts to show any signs of sickness, mentally or physically, I then would begin to get concerned.

Just my opinion.

 

Besides the coralline covered glass, you've described what they do when they are seeing their reflection. It's the coralline encrusted pane that confuses me a bit.

I don't believe there's much to worry about here. If it concerns you, you can try to place some white paper on the outside of the tank where he does this most and see if that curbs this.

 

Does the white paper keep it from seeing its reflection? i will give that a try. thanks.

The fish eats fine and i don't see any other signs of health problems but i am just afraid that it is stressed for some reason. Plus it annoys me a little. i think it annoys my flame angel too because he always tries to chase the wrasse off the glass.

 

Could be a learned behavior from before you got him. Any way to place something in his way to interrupt the behavior? It is a neurotic behavior for sure. Personally I'd try to change it. But that's me

 

My tamarin wrasse does the same thing. Has for the last 6 months too. lol I would assume its just a wrasse being itself.

 

Indeed

Several of mine do it to, but only for brief periods at a time; only a minor portion of the day.

 

My wrasse does the same thing. Usually when its near the encrusted area he's looking for snacks if you have any sort of isopod it will be dealt with.

 

the pods are more prevalent at dusk as they feel it may be safer. the Melanarus is a very active fish. mine does the same thing from time to time. then again, when I am in the kitchen adjacent to my tank, ALL of my fish are in the corner closest to the kitchen, no doubt begging me for food and attention.

 

mine did the exact same thing for about a year and a half until she mysteriously disappeared one day...