Clownfish Swimming

Vid won't work for me. Anyway, chances are that the behavior is fairly normal. They are weird little fish in that regard--they wobble, waddle, etc.

Well, normal is a relative term. At the LFS we have a look down tank that is only 12" deep. Mainly houses clams but we do have a mated pair of clowns and a rose BTA for them in that tank and both of the clowns hang out at the surface and act just like your clown in your video. I do not see that behavour at all with any other clown in the fish only tanks, just that one tank the clowns act that way. Maybe because there is a lot of surface movement in the fish only tanks and not much at all in the look down tank.. just taking a guess.

Ace25 said:

Well, normal is a relative term. At the LFS we have a look down tank that is only 12" deep. Mainly houses clams but we do have a mated pair of clowns and a rose BTA for them in that tank and both of the clowns hang out at the surface and act just like your clown in your video. I do not see that behavour at all with any other clown in the fish only tanks, just that one tank the clowns act that way. Maybe because there is a lot of surface movement in the fish only tanks and not much at all in the look down tank.. just taking a guess.

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After trying a few times, I did see the vid. For clowns, this is completely normal behavior for eating floating foods, especially with low surface movement. Heck, they'll attempt this with high surface movement, only to get blown around. I had tanks full of the little guys that would all poke their heads out of the water when it was feeding time.

Looks like a normal healthy clown to me.

My clowns practically jump out of the water at feeding time. They stick their whole head out of the water, right up to their fins, in anticipation of food. If you usually feed floating food then fish will naturally spend more time at the surface, in the hope of food. If you fed sinking food then they would spend a lot of time around the bottom. Food drives a lot of fishes behaviour.

Clownfish have a 'wobbly' swimming action because they have evolved to copy the movement of the anemone's tentacles so they can blend in and not be seen. Because this behaviour has developed over thousands of years they still swim in that 'wobbly' way even if they are no-where near an anemone. To me it looks like they would be wasting a lot of energy but its just the way they swim.

As I said, they are odd little fish. The way they swim is more of a morphological reason than anything. The rounded fins allow for fine maneuverability, but it makes it look somewhat clumsy in motion. I still wouldn't worry about it--they will act differently in every tank. I have seen them hug various portions of a tank (similar to what they'd do with an anemone), so that isn't a concern, either, really. If possible, I'd suggest a variety of foods. Be sure to include a food with plenty of algae. This species has been documented with up to 25% algae in its diet--something that is often overlooked nutritionally. Try something like the formula 2 foods or similar frozen foods with algal content.

I highly suggest you try something other than flaked and dry foods. Look into some frozen foods that contain algae--it makes a big difference and usually has more algae than flakes.

cool video! When I feed flakes I take the pinch between my fingers and release it underwater, so the flakes tend to fall in the water column versus floating on top. It is my understanding that most Salty fish aren't very adept at surface feeding like many freshwater fish. In nature, trout for example will rise to the surface for food but most marine fish don't get their natural nutrients this way. Some flakes will ending up floating back to the surface, but the majority stays below the surface.