question on clowns

I have a pair of clowns that I have had for a few months now but the larger one today is hideing in the shadows and its never done that before, mouth is gapeing a bit so I tested the water params and everything is normal.... are they getting ready to spawn or just odd behavior?


any help would be great I am kinda worried
matt

 

Have you done anything with the tank recently? Aquascaping? New additions?

 

Maybe lack of oxygen, pop a airline in there for a day or so , see if that helps...

 

all I have done is add a sump with a skimmer, but that was a week ago. I did wake up this morning and my pump was sucking some air because I am trying to dial in my auto top off so micro bubbles are all over the place. I stopped those with some fresh ro/di water. I know these two are a mated pair and I was told that they have spawned 4 times before so just wondering if this is normal behavior. it seems to me that its staking out a place to lay eggs but I could be wrong.

Matt

 

Does it seem to have red looking gills or can a red area be seen behind the gill plate? I had a clown that died from what I believe was clown fish disease. It would not eat, had heavy breathing and just stayed in the corner of the tank gasping for breath. He had bright red gills that could be seen from his gill plate.

 

NOPE they look fine, I did some more reading and it seems they are getting ready to spawn, he looks like he is cleaning a bit of rock for eggs.