Clownfish Spitting at the Surface

[dangles]

I haven't been able to get video of the behavior yet but one of my two clowns has started hanging out at the top corner of the tank and spitting (I think?) at the surface :face-with-raised-eyebrow:

Does anybody have any ideas what that's all about?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

picture or video would help. But my first questions would be is the water oxiginated enough and is there agitation on the water surface?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Sounds like gasping for air - a video would definitely help.

 

[dangles]

Lots of surface agitation.

I’ll try to get a video. He’s acting otherwise ok. And the other 10 fish in the tank are acting normal. It’s just him.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Have you noticed any aggression from the other clown?

 

[dangles]

Have you noticed any aggression from the other clown?

Nope. It's a female/male pair I bought together 9 months ago.

 

[themcnertney]

I just started getting into fly fishing, just curious, but could they be breaking the water going for food or what the believe is food ? Isn't that a practice of many fish species ?

 

[dangles]

I just started getting into fly fishing, just curious, but could they be breaking the water going for food or what the believe is food ? Isn't that a practice of many fish species ?

That was my first guess. That's kind of what it looks like.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Clownfish won’t naturally eat food off the surface, almost all foods in a reef will be in the water column or benthic organisms.

 

[dangles]

Clownfish won’t naturally eat food off the surface, almost all foods in a reef will be in the water column or benthic organisms.

Maybe not naturally, but both of mine do routinely

 

[kevgib67]

Maybe not naturally, but both of mine do routinely

Ya, same with mine, tdo pellets and the reef chili that floats when I broadcast feed my corals.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

My clowns have started doing this for attention. They like when we get close and stare at them, about 2 weeks ago it started where if you go by the tank after lights out and turn the lights on in the room they follow at the surface and make some sort of splashing sound. It does sound exactly like out goldfish asking for food, just not as loud

 

[RZGreef]

I have a clownfish pair and they routinely do this, and have been doing it for as long as I can remember. They tend to do it more towards the evening when the lights start to dim, almost like a "settling in for bedtime" routine. It gets really annoying cleaning the splashes and salt creep that results from it. Clownfish are weird.

 

[Swede's Reef]

I have a pair breeding and if you disturb the tank when light are about off and put any thing in the tank the female will splash water at you with her tail as she gets upset..... only happens when they are guarding the "nest"..... clownfish are weird as mentioned above...

 

[dangles]

I finally got some good footage of their weird behavior.

It almost seems like... playing? One makes a bubble, the other "attacks" it, which makes more bubbles, which causes the original to "attack" in a never ending cycle.

Or maybe some weird neurotic behavior. Who knows. But they do it ALL the time! I'm not worried at this point. Just curious.

Maybe they're just.... simple... lol

 

[Idech]

I saw your video and mine have started doing the exact same thing in the same corner, a couple weeks ago. Mostly the female. I don’t think they are sexually mature yet. There’s lots of oxygen in the tank and they are the only ones doing it. There is no food in that corner and I don’t see anything else.

I wonder if it’s some kind of early/practice nesting behavior ? I don’t know much about clowns.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Looks like they may be trying to eat something. Are there a lot of pods in the corner?

 

[blecki]

One of them hates bubbles. The other knows this and is having fun with it...

 

[dangles]

I saw your video and mine have started doing the exact same thing in the same corner, a couple weeks ago. Mostly the female. I don’t think they are sexually mature yet. There’s lots of oxygen in the tank and they are the only ones doing it. There is no food in that corner and I don’t see anything else.

I wonder if it’s some kind of early/practice nesting behavior ? I don’t know much about clowns.

I don't believe so. It's been going on like this for MONTHS. All day, every day.

 

[Idech]

I don't believe so. It's been going on like this for MONTHS. All day, every day.

Ok. Mine don’t do it all day. Many times, but not for too long.