Fish question

[Hgherb]

I have 1 pear of clown fish. Every night they always swim pointing up on top of the corner of the tank,but during day time when the lights are on. They swim normal. Can anyone tell me why they do this kind of behavior?

[Steve McKay]

They are waiting for the light to come on.

[ToddTT]

I have 1 pear of clown fish. Every night they always swim pointing up on top of the corner of the tank,but during day time when the lights are on. They swim normal. Can anyone tell me why they do this kind of behavior?

They are resting, in a way that prey need to rest.

I think most of what we witness is the result of instincts that limit exposure to predators, and limit the effect of currents.

[Hgherb]

Good one Steve lol!!


@ at Tod. Thanks! Wow' that's awesome! Great info.

[Steve McKay]

Good one Steve lol!!


@ at Tod. Thanks! Wow' that's awesome! Great info.

I try, most of the time I'm quite serious it breaks up the monotony. I had a Skunk clown about 15 years ago but I don't remember how it slept, one night it didn't sleep very good because a Sally Lightfoot Crab got it.

[blennydude]

My true perc's do that too. My tang sleeps in the same spot in the rocks every night so does bi-color blenny, scooter blenny burries himself in the sand, and banggai's stay up all night looking for amphipods to peek out, so I don't know when they sleep. Oh, and my sand sifting goby retires to his underground mega den he has built under the rocks. I laugh at all thier different sleeping habits.

[ToddTT]

Other fish have built-in anchors for helping them stay put while resting. You'll never see them floating around your tank at night. Is evolution cool or what?!?

[ToddTT]

More cool stuff about sleeping fish...

eNature: Articles: Detail

A Little Night Mucus
At the end of a busy day, parrotfish turn in for the night. They burrow into the sand or squeeze into a crevice to sleep. Some species of the genus Scarus, which includes both the Queen and the Princess parrotfish, are then able to secrete a mucous envelope around themselves. It takes a fish about half an hour to fully wrap itself in the slimy secretions, which appear designed to mask the fish's scent from hungry sharks and morays. A bed of slime may not seem like an apt resting place for a Princess, but it
sure beats being a shark snack.

[Steve McKay]

My Six Line Wrasse does that, and sleeps pointed almost straight down.