PDA

View Full Version : Clownfish aggression under actinics (strange behaviour)


AndrewRosenbaum
08/18/2012, 04:53 PM
I've had these 2 ocellaris living together for a year and they never bite or nip at each other. I decided to look at my coral under my actinics for a sec so I turned off the whites fully. As soon as I did this, the slightly larger clownfish rushed to the smaller one and bit him without hesitation! She was throwing him around and ripped his fin! So I turned the whites on and she stopped. I've never seen her act so aggressively before, even if other fish enter their territory (They decided to dig a pit in the ground and hos that instead of the dozens of coral I have....). I turned off the whites again to see if she acted like this again. She rushed right to him, and just nipped him, then I turned the whites on again, and she stopped. I did this a few times making sure it wasn't a fluke (I turned the whites on as soon as the female rushed the male so he wouldn't get hurt anymore) and the aggression was recurring without fail. I turned all te lights off to make sure it wasn't from the lack of light, but she didn't attack the male. I turned the actinics off, and she still didnt do anything. I turned the whites off one more time, and bam. Rushed to the male.....

This is the strangest behaviour I've seen with my clown! Do yours act aggressively under actinics? My lights are cree. The actinics are royal blue XP-E so the tank is bathed in blue unlike T5s. I'll try to find a camera that will work under the actinics to record this.

Any other triggers of clownfish aggression, also post here.

AndrewRosenbaum
08/18/2012, 05:06 PM
Here's a link. This is done with my phone. The quality isn't too hot here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-VNQCpWTC4&list=UU6-jyO9Ul7vmmUUtbtE_zZw&index=1&feature=plcp

A_CoupleClowns
08/18/2012, 05:46 PM
Yeah I was glueing frags in my tank and the timer on our t5's turned the whites off so only the purple and actinics were on and my single clownfish started attacking me as hard as she could.

My fiance was trying to fend her off with the net but she was still getting me! lol... I was going to make a thread about it also but never did.