clownfish pecking at substrate

[Be4Sims]

why are they "pecking " kind of like chickens do , at the substrate? I have live sand on the floor. no live rock . two clown s only. ..are they eating food that falls down ?,or what?

[Ztrain]

mine do that every now and then if they find a pellet that they missed.

[Be4Sims]

thanks for the answer...
I've had them since Dec 18. /14 they don't seem to catch very much food in the water, I'm glad they figured out where it lands.
Is it okay to Gravel vaccum the live sand once in a while to clean up too much food? like I do in my freshwater? I would like to add some peppermint shrimp but the store is quite far from where I live and won't ship.
I dont have any live rock. Its too expensive and I dont want to grow corals etc , yet anyhow..
I used CaribSea’s Arag-Alive!™ substrate and Instant Ocean Sea Salt and some coral type fake decorations and of course a filter, heater themometer Hydrometer etc.

[Ztrain]

thanks for the answer...
I've had them since Dec 18. /14 they don't seem to catch very much food in the water, I'm glad they figured out where it lands.
Is it okay to Gravel vaccum the live sand once in a while to clean up too much food? like I do in my freshwater? I would like to add some peppermint shrimp but the store is quite far from where I live and won't ship.
I dont have any live rock. Its too expensive and I dont want to grow corals etc , yet anyhow..
I used CaribSea’s Arag-Alive!™ substrate and Instant Ocean Sea Salt and some coral type fake decorations and of course a filter, heater themometer Hydrometer etc.

dunno mine race around and grab it out of the water column. They prefer that to even going up to the top to grab floating food. Unless I had a bad schedule and missed a feeding then they may go up to the top but generally my fish will grab the food out of the water. If you get a shrimp it may eat all the food before the clowns find it. I don't know. Either way I'd put some dry live rock in there for a cave or something for them to swim around and by. A box with sand on the bottom seems to be a very boring place for a fish. Mine are always swimming around and in and out of the rocks.

[Azedenkae]

Mine pecks at the sand in search of food. Many different types of fish do it. Seems like normal behaviour. :)