Why is my clown digging??

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I have a maroon clown and for some weird reason, it is diggin in the back of my tank. I have a substantial creator which it has made it's home. It seems to be pretty well fixated to that spot in my tank, only swims about at feeding time, otherwise stays in the same place.

I was watching him carefully today and noticed that any "dirt" which may come into it's area, it picks up, swims out of it's area and spits it out. It did that with 2 or 3 mothfulls of sand too, then reversed up to it's chosen spot and shudders to clear away the substrate.

This particular clown doesn't seem to have any interest in hosting in any coral I put in the tank, but I have heard of some clowns not hosting in anything - here is the oddety in what this seems like, it is possible for the clown to be hosting in the substrate?? Or is there another reason why it is doing this?
 
It's was found that some clowns without an anenome host will start digging a crator and making it it's host. So yes to your awnser the substrate is it host at the moment. It's common clownfish behaviour nothing to worry about.
 
The clown will most likely leave his crator to the ground and go and host in the tank. But again with a nennie it's just so much more work and you must have everything perfect in your tank before you even think of a nennie.
 
I am very reluctant to have a nennie to be honest, that is where the torch coral came from - it was as close to a nennie as I wanted to get and the clown is not interested at all. I would rather trade the torch for a hammer, just because I like the hammer better.

It looks pretty cool as a novelty thing but I can see it potentially creating a rockfall, it is doing thing right next to a stack of rockwork. That is where my concern in the matter comes from - hence wondering how I get it to rather host in something a little less threatening for both himself and his tank mates..
 
Ya I see the problem( darn clowns, they always think they are funny:lol:). Maybe your tank could be safe for a nennie... How long has the tank been running, what flow do you have, what lighting do you have?
 
There is now way it is near ready...
I have been going for close to 3 months but a complete tank change over 1 month in so basically started again so you can call it 2 months now.

Although there is a lot of things all setteling down like coral hapiness and good health, fish health and happiness - I am not confident about putting a nennie in right now unless I have info to securely back up a claim that it is safe.

I have 2000L/hr filtration, suggestion of 10x flow (250L tank but a load of rock reduces it to about 200L). There are 4 x T5 54w lights --> 1 x Reeftek Actinic CE, 1 x Giesemann Pure Actinic+, 1 x Giesemann Aquablue+ & 1 x Reefteck10 000K.

I am still reluctant to have a nennie - I will need a nennie expert to offer feedback as to good advice
 
No, your tank is to young and lighting and flow to little to put in a nennie. The best would be to maybe place a rock in the crator of the clown. He will then find a new place to make a new crator.
 
I would just put a piece of LR over the crater. He could host anything - not necessarily make another hole. Use the existing live rock to make a little cave or something if you can. They host a flowerpot in mine. I grew some xenia on top of it and they are sort of half - thinking about hosting the xenia now :) lol...
 
Even if your tank was ready for an anemone, there is no guarantee the clownfish will stop the digging in the sand. Do you have a pair of clownfish? Or just the one? Cleaning off an area is often noticed before clownfish lay eggs.
 
just the one, I had considered getting another but I have heard that there is no sure guarntee that they will pair up. They may fight...

what are the odds of the clown still laying eggs but on it.s own? And will this cause havoc in the tank if it does
 
just the one, I had considered getting another but I have heard that there is no sure guarntee that they will pair up. They may fight...

what are the odds of the clown still laying eggs but on it.s own? And will this cause havoc in the tank if it does


There is never a guarantee when it comes to marines. When it comes to clownfish, if you find a juvenile to add with one that is also a juvenile, you will have a better chance of success. Once one becomes female and you add a juvenile, there will likely be fighting. Some times that fighting ends in death. If you add two females death is almost certain between one or both unless you have a system of a few hundred gallons. Even at a few hundred gallons there is never a guarantee.

I’ve never heard of a clownfish laying eggs without a partner.
 
Aren't all Clowns male until they pair up?
I will see about the idea of getting another but I also don't want a major fight going on in my tank if they start laying eggs and they open up a can of king fu on the rest of my fish to protect their nest - that would be both exciting to see but at the same time sad for the other fish who may be getting a whippin'.
 
I would suggest that you maybe move your torch coral into his crater... He will either build a crater somewhere else, or the torch will host him. There are no guarantees though... :p You'll have to keep on trying...

One thing for sure, is once hosting, you can move the torch (SLOWLY) to anywhere in the tank, and the clown will pick along and stay in his house no matter where you have the torch.

This I have tried and tested, and it works. The torch coral as host is in my opinion the best alternative to an anemone... Torches doesn't move, their coloration can be even better than a GBTA and they move in the same way (current wise)

Also, you have no worries about killing the nennie, or it killing livestock. :thumbup:

You have a torch coral, use it for hosting... ;)
 
I will give it a go, luckily for me, the hole is deep enough below the candy cane that it won't affect it. I will give it a go when I get home tonight and leave it there for a few days and see what happens. If we get hosting then I will try moving the torch back to it's place in the tank and hopefully yhr clown will follow.

When you say move the torch slowly, do you mean move it a little each day until in position of physically slowly in one move until in position?
 
Physically slowly. The clown must be able to still "host" in it whilst moving. I once moved my torch to the otherside of the tank in a flash, and the clown stopped hosting. Took a bit of effort to get it to host again, as I had to move the torch back to the original spot, then only after a while I could move it away (SLOWLY that time...)
 
If the clown hasnt hosted in the torch already, why would it host in it if you move into its hole?
I also have a maroon clown that digs a hole. It hosts in my zoas, but digs the hole a good twenty centimetres for its zoa colony.
 
you could always think about a bubble tip nennie... Personally i love nennies, i have a malu which has been amazing the 6 months ive owned it and my perculas love it, literally ;). While i was still using tapwater(i know i was stupid) i had a rock with 15cm hair algae on it and a tomato clown i had(tamtie partie) hosted the algae like an anemone, maybe try and put somthing fluffy and anemone like in the tank as an experiment?? :thumbup:
 
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