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When the lights are on, my percula clown swims around happily with his tankmates: a Picasso trigger, a yellow tang and a domino damsel.

But the minute I shut off the lights, it's as if he has trouble getting his equilibrium -- he starts wobbling in the water, and a minute later bobs to the top where he spends the night floating either on his side or head down. When I turn the lights on in the a.m., he regains his composure within a minute or so and swims normally again.

He's been doing this almost from the moment I acclimated him earlier this week -- which I now realize was because I had the tank lights off for the first several hours he was in the tank.

Has anyone ever heard of this sort of behavior before?

FYI, all four fish in my tank, including the clown, came from my stepson, who's had them for five years. They get along quite well. All of them (including the clown) are eating well.

My tank is a 90-gallon, loaded with 70 pounds of live rock (so far) and an overflow box with a trickle filter (so it's not that he's getting sucked off balance by the filter pump.) Tank was cycled with live sand plus Bio Spira, and all four fish were added at once. I've checked the parameters every day since I added the fish and they're fine -- pH 8.2, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5. Salinity is .021, temp is 78.

I have a maroon clown that does the same thing. That's just how they sleep.

Dan


Dan

Very strange! I wonder how that developed evolution-wise!

It doesn't sound like that would be clownfish behavior in the wild. If they were to float to the surface of the ocean or even just a few feet above their host anemone, they'd be eaten. Clownfish in the wild spend their entire lives (except for the larval stage) around their anemone, since it gives them protection. They aren't the best swimmers, so venturing away from that protection can be fatal.

But for the aquarium clowns... Maybe they have gas?

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I agree with Dthurs.....sounds like pretty normal clownfish behaviour for captive clowns anyway.

Now that I've figured out that he's not doing this because I've done something awful, it's starting to crack me up. I turn off the lights and ... boing! He rises to the top and floats like a cork. Very bizarre. His previous owners told me he was the strangest of the four, and apparently, that's the case. But he sure is cute!

My percula clown floated at the top, too. Sometimes she even did this during the day. Since she lived about 15 years, I don't think it should be a problem for yours. Also, your clown is probably a female by now....clowns change sex, with the dominant (or only) one becoming female.Anyways, clowns are neat little fish. Enjoy.

Oh yeah -- that's right! I actually knew that "he" was female; just forgot when I was writing this ... duh!