Clownfish dogging/nipping at corals

[coryscritch]

Hi guys. So I have two clowns in my tank. A black ice and a da Vinci. Recently I noticed the da vinci (which is the smaller of the two) kind of digging and nipping at corals in my tank. I have acans,candys, and a scoly. He hits all three up. Anybody have this problem? He also nips at the rocks too. He’s starting to piss me off! What should I do? 

[A Little Blue]

Interesting. Clowns usually are exemplary citizens. They are known to nibble on anemones to develope resistance to its stinging abilities. In absence of anemone, they might occasionally try this technique with other corals. Second guess.... it could be a parasite that’s irritating the crap of your fish. Or perhaps it smashed the glass head on and is just acting out. Keep an eye on it and take a closer look at his gills and skin..... just in case. 

Perhaps it is nothing. 

[1891Bro]

Easy. 

[biophilia]

My ocellaris clown does that too. It's most likely trying to figure out what it wants to host and develop resistance to the coral's stinging nematocysts. Mine mostly leaves the other corals alone now that it has settled on "hosting" my hammer coral. If you don't already have one, getting an anemone or euphyllia might help.

[A Little Blue]

1 hour ago, 1891Bro said:

Easy. 

There goes Nemo

[MainelyReefer]

Are they of breeding size? Beyond the aforementioned possibilities, maybe he is cleaning off a spot to lay eggs? Mine picks the rocks perfectly clean in a certain spot beneath the frogspawn colony they host then within a day eggs appear.  

[jambon]

It sounds like he is trying to find a host. I had one in a mushroom then a sympodium coral. Do you have an anemone? They can get large for a small tank though. 

[Nocturnal]

Since it's the male it sounds like they may be getting ready to breed. Mine always starts acting weird and spending all his time nesting. 

[coryscritch]

7 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

There goes Nemo

Hahah. 

[coryscritch]

1 hour ago, Nocturnal said:

Since it's the male it sounds like they may be getting ready to breed. Mine always starts acting weird and spending all his time nesting. 

That would be cool. Just wished he would stop messing with the corals 

[coryscritch]

2 hours ago, jambon said:

It sounds like he is trying to find a host. I had one in a mushroom then a sympodium coral. Do you have an anemone? They can get large for a small tank though. 

I don’t have one. The tank is too small. I didn’t even want one clownfish. My wife was all about it and since she let me set up a tank I figured I would make her happy and let her pick a pair out.