2 new clowns - bobbing behavior

[jebber]

I have two new clowns that were paired at the store. I've only had
them two days. They seem to be doing bizarre bobbing up and down
behavior. At first, I thought that this was because of wrong specific
gravity. But, I added some salt to the tank and got it up to 1.021
which should be in the right range. For a bit they stopped, then about
an hour later, started up again.

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

This link is to a Quicktime movie that I took of them perfoming the
behavior...it's 3.4mb to download (it'll play in VLC as well).

Thanks for the help

jeb

http://home.comcast.net/~jebber1/clownfish_problem.mp4

[Don Geddis]

(jebber) wrote on 25 Oct 2004 08:1:
> I have two new clowns that were paired at the store. I've only had
> them two days. They seem to be doing bizarre bobbing up and down
> behavior.
> Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
> http://home.comcast.net/~jebber1/clownfish_problem.mp4

Clownfish have a lot of odd, complex behaviors. For example, when you have
a group of them, they'll fight for dominance. The loser will do a kind of
sideways "shuddering", like it's having convulsions. I panicked the first time
I saw that.

Anyway, the behavior in your movie doesn't seem to necessarily be a problem.
I note, for example, that you don't have an anemone to host them in. That's
not a problem, but you should keep in mind that their behaviors have evolved
to exist with an anemone. So something that looks odd in the open water might
make more sense if you saw it nestled inside anemone tentacles.

So: that's not saying that nothing is wrong with your water chemistry.
But just from the movie, nothing jumps out at me as being an obvious concern.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/

[jebber]

Yeah, I'm working on making the aquarium "alive." Thanks for the comments.

jeb


Don Geddis > wrote in message >...
> (jebber) wrote on 25 Oct 2004 08:1:
> > I have two new clowns that were paired at the store. I've only had
> > them two days. They seem to be doing bizarre bobbing up and down
> > behavior.
> > Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
> > http://home.comcast.net/~jebber1/clownfish_problem.mp4
>
> Clownfish have a lot of odd, complex behaviors. For example, when you have
> a group of them, they'll fight for dominance. The loser will do a kind of
> sideways "shuddering", like it's having convulsions. I panicked the first time
> I saw that.
>
> Anyway, the behavior in your movie doesn't seem to necessarily be a problem.
> I note, for example, that you don't have an anemone to host them in. That's
> not a problem, but you should keep in mind that their behaviors have evolved
> to exist with an anemone. So something that looks odd in the open water might
> make more sense if you saw it nestled inside anemone tentacles.
>
> So: that's not saying that nothing is wrong with your water chemistry.
> But just from the movie, nothing jumps out at me as being an obvious concern.
>
> -- Don
> __________________________________________________ _____________________________
> Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/

[CheezWiz]

That is how they swim....
That clumsy, bobbing swim is what they are known for and is considered to be
one of their charming qualities.

CW
"jebber" > wrote in message
m...
> I have two new clowns that were paired at the store. I've only had
> them two days. They seem to be doing bizarre bobbing up and down
> behavior. At first, I thought that this was because of wrong specific
> gravity. But, I added some salt to the tank and got it up to 1.021
> which should be in the right range. For a bit they stopped, then about
> an hour later, started up again.
>
> Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
>
> This link is to a Quicktime movie that I took of them perfoming the
> behavior...it's 3.4mb to download (it'll play in VLC as well).
>
> Thanks for the help
>
> jeb
>
> http://home.comcast.net/~jebber1/clownfish_problem.mp4

[CheezWiz]

Forgot to mention,

Try filming them for a while when no one is in the room and it is quiet.
The bobbing is primarily a display of excitement.
Our two do that as soon as we get home from work, or when we give them
attention.

When we sit and watch TV, they ignore us and go about their business.
For the first few weeks we got them, they were always so excited when we
were in the room that they rarely stopped the bobbing....

I liken it to a dog wagging its tail...


"CheezWiz" > wrote in message
...
> That is how they swim....
> That clumsy, bobbing swim is what they are known for and is considered to
be
> one of their charming qualities.
>
> CW
> "jebber" > wrote in message
> m...
> > I have two new clowns that were paired at the store. I've only had
> > them two days. They seem to be doing bizarre bobbing up and down
> > behavior. At first, I thought that this was because of wrong specific
> > gravity. But, I added some salt to the tank and got it up to 1.021
> > which should be in the right range. For a bit they stopped, then about
> > an hour later, started up again.
> >
> > Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
> >
> > This link is to a Quicktime movie that I took of them perfoming the
> > behavior...it's 3.4mb to download (it'll play in VLC as well).
> >
> > Thanks for the help
> >
> > jeb
> >
> > http://home.comcast.net/~jebber1/clownfish_problem.mp4
>
>

[Knowleman]

Just discovered this forum so don't know if its still relevent, but
the behaviour you describe is very similar to our two perculas. The
best way to think about it is similar to an adrenaline reaction in
humans. They bob when they are excited (e.g. when you give them a live
food treat in place of normal frozen food) but also when they are
anxious, scared or on their guard (e.g. introducing a new inhabitant
they have never seen before, moving rockwork, cleaning the class,
etc).

We found that they did it a lot less when we introduced an anemone.
Now they just rush to that if they get nervous, but still bob when
excited.

(jebber) wrote in message >...
> I have two new clowns that were paired at the store. I've only had
> them two days. They seem to be doing bizarre bobbing up and down
> behavior. At first, I thought that this was because of wrong specific
> gravity. But, I added some salt to the tank and got it up to 1.021
> which should be in the right range. For a bit they stopped, then about
> an hour later, started up again.
>
> Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
>
> This link is to a Quicktime movie that I took of them perfoming the
> behavior...it's 3.4mb to download (it'll play in VLC as well).
>
> Thanks for the help
>
> jeb
>
> http://home.comcast.net/~jebber1/clownfish_problem.mp4