Question about clown behavior

Magnapinna

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I got a lovely little black storm ocellaris this past Sunday, he's only about ~1.25" so I'm guessing he's still pretty young. He's active, curious, and was already eating like a hog within 20 hours of introduction. Beautiful color, clear skin. Overall seems like a happy and lively little guy.

Every night around 1 or 2 AM, his activity starts slowing down and eventually he sits down on the sand. He'll sit there upright for a minute kind of swimming slowly in place, sometimes yawn, then lay down on his side. If the lights are still on he'll stay there for a minute then continue swimming around in the close vicinity. If I approach the tank, he perks right up in anticipation of food. Once the lights are off he lays in the same spot on the sand and will stay there throughout night. It's always the same spot and he's actually been digging out the sand there presumably to flatten it out. By the time I'm up in the morning he's swimming around the whole tank, and is energetic for the rest of the day.

I've seen someone say it's never normal for them to lay on their sides, but it's my understanding this is fairly typical sleeping behavior for them, especially without a nem. This is per multiple workers in public aquaria, whose clowns I've actually seen do this too. My water parameters are all right where they should be and he appears perfectly healthy. Normal breathing, perfect appetite, otherwise active, and he only does this at night, pretty much at the exact same time. So I'm assuming he's just resting but want to be sure :) Thanks!

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Mr. Mojo Rising

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my clowns don't lay down to sleep, they dance in their spot all night.

do you have a skimmer on the tank? If no skimmer, you should have a powerhead in the tank pointed at the water surface to help gas exchange and oxygenate the water. It looks a little motionless in the tank (even though its a picture I know...) some flow will help. I'm thinking its a low oxygen issue.
 
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jmoney7

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+1 on my clownfish don’t lay down to sleep they normally pick a spot that tends to be towards the top of the tank and sleep while slowly swimming in place.
 
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my clowns don't lay down to sleep, they dance in their spot all night.

do you have a skimmer on the tank? If no skimmer, you should have a powerhead in the tank pointed at the water surface to help gas exchange and oxygenate the water. It looks a little motionless in the tank (even though its a picture I know...) some flow will help. I'm thinking its a low oxygen issue.
I have an Aquaclear 50 as well as an airstone running at all times; I just didn't photograph the surface. What you're seeing in the photo is just below. The lid is mesh and I also open my window whenever I can. If it were an oxygen issue wouldn't his breathing be at least a little fast/labored?

I do have a powerhead on the way. The Aquaclear alone though is almost too much flow for him even on the lowest setting, I had to bring the intake tube up to slow it down and may need to baffle it.

In any case he dug a huge hole there overnight, so I'm thinking it's intentional. It looks like he may be hosting it
 
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He’s fine… I have 4 clowns and 2 of them lay on my rocks to sleep and the other 2 sleep in the nem.
Thanks, I'm thinking so too after reading some other posts about people's clowns laying down to sleep. Doesn't necessarily seem like the norm but not uncommon either. Keeping a watchful eye nonetheless but it does look deliberate to me. He doesn't lay down anywhere else.

I have a tendency to end up with oddballs. I also have an axolotl which generally don't like current... mine loves to hang out right under the filter! As well as mudskippers who I was told wouldn't feed underwater, but mine like to carry their food underwater on purpose (and cause a big mess)
 

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Thanks, I'm thinking so too after reading some other posts about people's clowns laying down to sleep. Doesn't necessarily seem like the norm but not uncommon either. Keeping a watchful eye nonetheless but it does look deliberate to me. He doesn't lay down anywhere else.

I have a tendency to end up with oddballs. I also have an axolotl which generally don't like current... mine loves to hang out right under the filter! As well as mudskippers who I was told wouldn't feed underwater, but mine like to carry their food underwater on purpose (and cause a big mess)
Clowns will be clowns… my last 2 loved to host a gyre! Not sure how they never got shredded.. :oops:
 
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Magnapinna

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Had to sneak up on him to get this pic this morning. He was a busy guy last night! That sand was totally flat besides a tiny dune he made.
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Magnapinna

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Here's how he acts during the day. I think he looks good but I'm new to the hobby :)

If you can tell from the video, look how flat the bottom right corner is. This was recorded last night.

Edit: Looks like it isn't loading. Embarrassing!
 

Troylee

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Here's how he acts during the day. I think he looks good but I'm new to the hobby :)

If you can tell from the video, look how flat the bottom right corner is. This was recorded last night.

Edit: Looks like it isn't loading. Embarrassing!
That’s the website not you lol… I believe they can only be viewed on pc and not mobile unless you upload them to YouTube and link it here.
 
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Magnapinna

Magnapinna

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my ocelaris clowns would sleep on/near the sandbed before I added a nem. If he's eating and active otherwise., I wouldn't worry.
The only thing I'm a little concerned about is he had a clear poop yesterday, though I sampled it under a microscope and found nothing of note. It hasn't happen again either before or after, so I'm assuming it was related to diet and/or stress but will continue to monitor. I fed him some mysids + brine shrimp which I understand can cause it
 

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