clownfish acting strange

[soccer794]

I've had the 20L set up for almost a year and a half now, added the fuge with cheato about 6 months ago. The clowns have been in there since the beginning (a mated pair) and have always seemed healthy. The past couple days the larger (female I think) has been going to a spot at the very bottom of the tank practically under a corner of the live rock after the lights go off. She's been swimming around like normal during the day, and they've both been eating more than normal the past few days. The male has been doing what seemed like the "clown waggle" or whatever you call it dancing up and down in front of her, so I kind of thought they might be breeding. Tonight after lights out she is back in her spot, laying on the sand and only wiggling every 5-10 secs. It also seems like there is some sort of orange/red spot behind both of their gills that was definitely not noticeable yesterday. Sorry for the long post...ideas? All my inverts are acting fine and the coral is doing great, its just the one clown that is acting strange and the red spots.

[Pickle010]

I'm not sure about the spots - but the rest of the stuff you described soulds like a matting thing.

 

From what I've read... before the female lays the eggs the pair usually work to prep a spot. Most often near the host. The male will do the vertical dance to signal to female that he is ready to fertilize and I'm not sure but I believe the female will drop the eggs after lights out.

 

Hope that's all it is.

 

Good Luck!

 

I found the info just by "google" ing - clown fish breeding and reading through some web sites.

[Six]

may just be the fish showing dominace. if the clowns are less than 3-4 years old, i doubt they will spawn. they always act strange though! they don't sound sick at all.

[FLcracker94]

Clowns are goofy fish. My clown does the same but at the top corner. I thought she was dead, but she was just sleeping. You can turn a flashlight on next to her and she will flip out. Pretty norm for a clown. The spot ting is wierd...ask the LFS and research. (unless your LFS are a bunch of jerks, luckily mine arent)

[travisurfer]

The female could just be choosing that as her sleeping place. All signs seem to point towards mating though. Keep an eye out for prep work and eggs.