Tangs making bubbles at surface

[Cyzax]

Hello All,

I've had a 6in Fowleri Tang for several months and since day one he has always swam up to the waterline and made bubbles/breathed. He's a very active fish, eats well, and doesn't do this at night. Therefore, I figured it was just an interesting trait he has since no other fish are doing this.

I currently have a 9 inch Orange Shoulder Tang in quarantine and he started doing the exact same thing, so I'm beginning to question what might be happening. The other tang in QT with him doesn't do this either.

Fowleri is in a 520g that is very lightly stocked (6 other small fish), a PH of 8.4, along with 4 MP60's and 6 MP40's for flow. I've tried maxing these powerheads all out to see if that improved the oxygenation of the water, but it made no difference (besides taking my smaller fish for a ride) with him going to the surface.

The Orange Shoulder is in a 55g long with an MP40 and HOB filter. I've added an airstone and that hasn't made a difference either.

With that being said, has anyone else experienced their tangs doing this? I say tangs, because so far, these are the only two that do it.

Below is a link to where I have a poor photo of each fish doing this:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1penpOrTO4FPb0dG0cjNVviaSvdGISf3M

[d-man]

My fowleri does it all the time. It’s quite funny to watch. I’ve had him for a couple years. He’s actually one of my favorite fish.

It’s not a oxygenation issue. No need to worry. He makes the bubbles then he turns around and chases them down and pops them. Mine was in my 12’ 860g tank. He’s now on a 275g stock bin until I move and build another big tank. But I don’t want to get rid of him cuz of his goofy personality. He’s also so docile.

[Cyzax]

Thanks, d-man.

That is relieving to hear that someone else has a goofy tang!

[lionfish300]

My Blue Hippo does that sometime he/ she goes up to the surface take a gulf of air and blow out bubbles on the way down and repeat

[IdahoCindy]

Yep. My blue hippo gets a bunch of air and releases it all the way across the 6' tank. Recently, he has added the additional trick of flipping about 1/4 cup of water out of the tank with his tail. The water hits the recliner which is a few feet away. Any guest who sits in that chair has to be warned it's the SPLASH ZONE!

[Tripod1404]

Its a trait they pick at at LFS or another place on the line to there that the fish is kept at. Most of these places have so many fish that that just add flake food to each fish container without paying attentions to if it sinks or not. Flake food do not readily sink so fish need to gulp it up from the surface. In grazing fish it turns into a conditioned behavior, they basically try to graze at the surface.

I have seen all types of grazing fish to do this, tangs, rabbitfish, etc.

If you feed food that floats on the surface, it would also reinforce the behavior.

Similarly, triggers can sometimes blow water out of the tank. In nature they blow water at sand and rocks to flush out hidden prey. They start to do this force flake food to sink. Eventually it turns into a behaviors that they randomly blow water, hoping it would flush it out and make a mess outside the tank.