Clownfish Behavior

Drippy · May 12, 2020

I have a pair of flurry clownfish, I’ve had for about 2 weeks. The tank parameters are good and I was curious to what they have been doing. In the front corner of the tank they seem to be making a “nest” in the sand by rapidly shaking their bodies. One will lay down next to the nest while the other swims around it, but then they will both go back to normal swimming around the tank or just swim around where they’ve been digging/shaking into the sand. Is this normal behavior? I attached a picture of the clown laying down.

Drippy · May 12, 2020

Drippy said:
I have a pair of flurry clownfish, I’ve had for about 2 weeks. The tank parameters are good and I was curious to what they have been doing. In the front corner of the tank they seem to be making a “nest” in the sand by rapidly shaking their bodies. One will lay down next to the nest while the other swims around it, but then they will both go back to normal swimming around the tank or just swim around where they’ve been digging/shaking into the sand. Is this normal behavior? I attached a picture of the clown laying down.

They’ll also lay down on top of each other next to the nest, while the other one shakes on the other.

Drippy · May 12, 2020

I have a pair of flurry clownfish, I’ve had for about 2 weeks. The tank parameters are good and I was curious to what they have been doing. In the front corner of the tank they seem to be making a “nest” in the sand by rapidly shaking their bodies. One will lay down next to the nest while the other swims around it, but then they will both go back to normal swimming around the tank or just swim around where they’ve been digging/shaking into the sand. I’ve also seen them lay on top of each other right by the nest while one shakes on the other. Is this normal behavior?

dbl · May 12, 2020

I moved this over the the clownfish forum for additional responses.

Your description sounds like normal clown behavior to me. Hard to tell from the picture, but they look to be similar in size. It may be a simple case of establishing dominance between the two. Just know...clowns are weird.