Maroon clown digs hole!

[cci[RR]us]

Hi,

I noticed my maroon clowns and my previous false perculas like to dig holes in my sandbed. It makes the water really dirty.

Download the video here. (XViD encoded, if you cannot play the video, please get the decoder here)

I'm wondering why the clown fish are doing this... Then I got this idea.

My anemone is too near to the sandbed and the anemone tentacles don't really like to touch the sandbed. So somehow... the clownfish know this and dig holes around the anemone so that its tentacles have enough clearance to avoid touching the sand.

There is a period of time when my anemone is located high above the sandbed and my clowns didn't dig holes.

Or is there a better explanation for their strange behaviour?

[shawncel]

My clark clown used to fan the sand to create a depression every nite. It will then sleep in the depression in the sand. Like making its own bed...

[cityofangels]

My golden maroon clown digs holes in the sandbed when it doesn't have an anemone. It is just looking for a place to call his home, I guess. Occassionally, it will host in my long tentacle plate or bubbles.

[May&Bruce]

my skunk clown sleeps inside an elephant ear. he waits until the elephant ear is virtually all closed, then climbs inside. Weird fish are clowns

[cityofangels]

Weird fish are clowns

That's an understatement!

[May&Bruce]

hahaha...it sure is, but they sure are cute!

[PerculaClownfish]

very natural behaviour.. my pair of maroons also does that!

[cjh]

lucky mine dun but if i place any corals near its home it will try to push it away even though its veri heavy and its mouth open big big like its a intruder like that haha...

[PerculaClownfish]

same also here...my pair luvs to do that too... some times i think that their anemone even swallowed the sand... cause they dust the whole place like spring cleaning like that!!...

[cci[RR]us]

I notice something even weirder!

In order to prevent the clown from kicking up a sandstorm, I specially tied a bundle of macroalgae and put them at the spot where the clown loves to stir up the sandstorm.

LEFT      ANEMONE    RIGHT (digs here, so macroalgae put here)

The clown stared at the macroalgae for a long time... then... he went over, bit the bunch of algae, picked it up, and moved the heavy bunch to the left side!!!

I didn't believe it, so I moved it back. And the crazy clown again grabbed the bunch with his mouth, and shifted it to the left side! He carried it for a distance 10 cm, so that he can dig a hole in the sand!

Damn weird sia!!!

[cdckjn]

My Clown uses a feather duster as a sleeping place.