Clownfish Behavior

Nasabeau

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So, to give you a brief overview of how new I am, I was extremely concerned for the health of my clownfish because they appeared to be having a seizure. after googling I realized I was just an idiot. however, I have noticed a different behaviour and wanted to know if anyone out there might know if this is normal. I purchased two clownfish, and cycled the tank with them. my numbers are amazing right now, (ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20) but I've noticed a change in behaviour over the week and a half I've had these little guys and want to make sure this is normal. the first few days they were skittish and never stopped moving around the tank. as they settled in, I noticed they preferred one side of the tank to the other, (actually it seems all my critters do too (hermit crab, cleaner shrimp, 4 nassarius snail, and 2 banded trochus snails, although to be frank, the trochus snails found the one live rock with algae on it and haven't moved since, just happens to be on the side the others like too). what seems really odd to me coming from fresh water tanks is every morning when I turn on the lights I have a mini heart attack because my clowns are just sitting in the bottom corner by the heater not moving at all, almost snuggling each other in various odd positions. after a few minutes they resume daily activities, but I was concerned about this behaviour. is this just how they sleep, lying on the bottom of the tank? or is something off? I'm used to fish sleeping in their preferred level of the water column, but the clowns seems to spend most of their day in mid-upper level but then curl up and sleep on the bottom of the tank.
 

Idoc

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Normal behavior. My clowns sleep in strange positions as well.
 

walloutlet

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Mine have “seizured move” a little dugout in the sand and that’s where they lay at night. I put a camera (infrared + normal). You should watch what they do when the lights are off in the dark.

But to answer your question, sounds pretty normal to me. One of the reasons they are so popular in this hobby. They have lots of personality.
 

Hugh Mann

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Here's the rule when it comes to clownfish.
They are super weird. They will constantly do things that make you think they're dying. As long as they are breathing normally, not swimming into flow and eating, they're fine. My little clown sleeps sideways at the surface of the tank by the skimmer intake. Spends his days in the top corner and mid level by a big barnacle. Nowhere else. Ever.
 

ScubaFish802

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Here's the rule when it comes to clownfish.
They are super weird. They will constantly do things that make you think they're dying. As long as they are breathing normally, not swimming into flow and eating, they're fine. My little clown sleeps sideways at the surface of the tank by the skimmer intake. Spends his days in the top corner and mid level by a big barnacle. Nowhere else. Ever.
I had never seen a fish float at the surface on its side unless it was dying until clownfish. They do strange things but they are interesting to watch
 

Hugh Mann

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They are, however they probably have paired up. They'll happily live together in male/female pairs. Usually. Some of the more aggressive species of clown are known to kill their potential mates, notably Maroons.
 
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Nasabeau

Nasabeau

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They are, however they probably have paired up. They'll happily live together in male/female pairs. Usually. Some of the more aggressive species of clown are known to kill their potential mates, notably Maroons.
Good to know. I did not know I had a male and female, they both seem to be about the same size, but are also juveniles so maybe one will get bigger than the other? They are bog standard ocellaris clowns, I was under the impression those were not ones that typically had problems. in a 75 gallon tank, is more than one pair out of the question? these guys are really cool and I was considering adding another pair to the tank, but am worried because they're territorial.
 

Hugh Mann

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I could very well be wrong, but as I understand how clowns work, if introduced at the same time the more dominant one, if juvenile, will transition to female, and the other will remain male and won't grow as big. Problems more so occur when trying to pair an already established clown, but yeah, regular ocellaris are pretty game in comparison to others.

As for multiple pairs in a 75, again, I could be wrong, but I believe if each pair has their own anenome/host/space to avoid eachothers territory, it should be alright.
 
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