Are maroon clowns supposed to stir sand?

[MandarinFish]

My big female maroon clown swishes her tail in the sand periodically.

She does not itch her head against rocks. She does not scratch against anything.

She doesn't appear sick in any way.

She just likes to stir up sand with her tail.

Is this a nesting thing? Why does she do this?

 

[Anonymous]

mine does the same thing. in fact, i asked the same question about a week or so ago. mine also picks up shells, small coral frags and caulerpa and "dumps" them somewhere else in the tank. i was told they do this when they are showing their dominance or establishing their territory.

hth

 

[EmilyB]

I told mine it was definitely not supposed to. :evil: But it did anyway, brat. So it will now live with my sand burrowing trigger in a sand free tank.
It's territorial, yes.

 

[TurboRook]

Absolutely normal and common behaviors, especially when females get to breeding size.

 

[Anonymous]

a rhetorical question :lol:

i have yet to see any species of clown that didn't have a representative stir up sand-some seem to more than others, though-sebae's, clarkii's, tomato's and maroons seem more prone to it than the perc's, ocellaris's, and skunk/false skunk.
my own observation-your experience may differ!

btw-tomato's bite hard, too-i've had blood drawn by the female in my 75 almost every time i had my hand in the tank!

 

[MandarinFish]

Does anything reduce this behavior?

My tank is a mess!

 

[Anonymous]

the whims of the individual clown, and luck!

a host anemone may reduce, or at least, localise the digging, but it's really up to the clown.i've seen most clowns and many dams move 1-2" pieces of rock rubble 3-4-ft. across a tank, too, so be ready!

if your maroon is concentrating her efforts in one area, you'll prob'ly just have to deal with it, and say thanx that she hasn't decided to claim more than one spot. if you do decide to pair her, the time and energy she'll spend pestering the male, initially, and the continuing interaction with him may cut down on the digging.but then again, maybe not!!

i think they're worth this inconvenience, though.also btw,-if an anemone is not something you can consider,due to size or mobility issues, i have had maroons accept bubble corals, occasionaly, as a host.
luck

you may want to check out this thread, as well...
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17380

 

[suckair]

My Goldstripes are the biggest sand diggers "both male and female"! It makes me so mad to see a huge pot hole in the middle of my reef! I can put all the sand back and in a few hours.. she has dug another hole! I did start putting rocks in her way and that did slow her digging but she still does it! It is quite normal for thsese clowns to do! I just laugh when they do it now.. It has become quite accepted and normal now. BTW my Tomato clowns are just as bad!

happy digging

suckair

 

[MandarinFish]

How do you keep all your rocks and corals from being covered in sand?

My tank is a disaster area. My macroalgae is covered along with everything else!

Do you use a canister filter?

 

[Anonymous]

How do you keep all your rocks and corals from being covered in sand?

My tank is a disaster area. My macroalgae is covered along with everything else!

Do you use a canister filter?

try a plastic turkey baster!-works great for blowing out crevices on live rock, too

 

[Anonymous]

My tomato clowns do this and it annoys me to no end. I solved it by placing a piece of live rock everywhere they were doing it. Since they live in an anemone, this amounted to about eight inches of rock around the anemone, and they have stopped. We think this may because I have them in an LTA, which lives with it's foot in the sand, but tomatoes naturally prefer BTA's who prefer to live in the rocks. The thoery being the clowns are trying to clean the icky sand away from their precious anemone, or that they like to have lots of sand free area from which to choose a spawning site (they did spawn last night BTW!!)

Anyway, everytime I saw them doing the tail fanning, I just put a rock there, and they seem satisfied now.

 

[Osama]

I put a piece of eggcrate burried partially in the sand. That seems to help. The clown fish still tries to remove it and if I put a small rock on top he manages to move the rock etc. The clown is winning this battle. Even after giving in & getting an anemone it stills stirs the sand next to it. Try the eggcrate burried in the sand... Good luck

 

[MandarinFish]

in a word Osama....

brilliant.

I love this board.

Boy, that little beeyotch is going to be surprised when she goes to wiggle her tail in the nice soft sand and *thunk* whacks it into eggcrate.

I moved a canister filter on to my FO tank where this is happening too. It already looks clearer.