Clownfish Lying on the sand

[BK1]

For the past two days in the early morning, I saw my clownfish lying on the sand bed floor. I tapped on the glass and it started swimming again. During the day its behavior is normal and I tested the water and the water parameters are normal. Please advise if this behavior is normal.

[XsploveReefin]

He is tired

[sjpresley]

Is it lying there calmly? Or does it look to be hyperventilating? Is your O2 supply adequate? Do you have a skimmer or something to help maintain your night time O2 levels? Plants, even algae, respire at night. And just like you when they respire it requires O2 in and produces CO2. If you don't have a trickle filter or some great surface agitation you are probably running low on O2 by morning.

 

Have you checked your pH in the evening and then the following morning to see how much flux you have? This will be an indication of your O2 depletion, not a great one, but an easy one to measure.

 

Do you have any other fish in the tank? How do they act? What about crabs, snails, or shrimp? Any of them dying off, all can be victim to suffocation.

 

Just a thought,

[BK1]

The clown is just lying on the sand, but he does not appear to have difficulty breathing.

I have a CPR Bak Pak Skimmer, Aquaclear Mini and a

Mini jet that provide surface agitation. My only loss in my tank so far is a turbo snail. The rest of my tank consists of hermit crabs, snails and clownfish.

I will do ph tests as per your recomedation to determine if that is bothering my clown.

[sjpresley]

Clowns are noted for odd behaviors (thus the name, ha). It may be that it just hasn't found a better place to "sleep". Does it get up as soon as the lights come on (or within a few minutes, some fish seem to take time to get their engine running).

 

Does it always lie down in the same place, or is it just any old spot?

[BK1]

The clown lies down on the same spot and takes its time to start moving around as the lights go on. I have a feeling that I am concerned over nothing.

[Christopher Marks]

While we're sleeping, our fish & inverts are secretly plotting out new ways to scare and worry us. If he's not showing any signs of internal disease, hard respiration, or anything out of the ordinary...then I suppose he is just too lazy to sleep while swimming.

[onthefly]

I have 2 ocellaris that do the same thing ever since I got them (5 years ago)!!! Sometimes they'll lay on a rock, the bottom, or huddle up in a corner. at first I stressed over it, but 5 years later........forget 'bout it!

[SeaFish]

my sabae and maroon gold stripe clowns do the same thign in my 12 gallon tank too..so i dont think its anything to be worry about. my does it when i turn off the lights. so dont worry..unless they are breathing hard or or not breathing at all..then i wouldnt worry about it.

[SoS]

I've noticed alot of saltwater fish do that. My royal gramma lays under a ledge by some live rock on the sand sometimes.