Every home aquarium owner loves to have a couple of orange clown fish to add extra color to their tanks. Do clown fish sleep? This should be a question you wonder when you have introduced a clown fish couple for the time into your water.
Clown fish are also known as anemonefish as they are born friends with sea anemones. Your pet clowns will contend if you provide them with an anemone or a coral. They are mainly found in the Red Sea and the Pacific Ocean as they love warm water atmospheres. Therefore, even in pet tanks, it is essential to maintain a temperature of 24°C – 27°C. Clown fish are omnivorous. They eat algae, sea worms, phytoplankton, small crustaceans like copepods, zooplankton, tunicate larvae, etc. Therefore, if you are a are growing up them as pets, they will eat both meat and plant materials you feed. They may live around 3-5 years, but some were recorded with a life span of 10 years.
Do Clown Fish Sleep?
Eyelids are not a feature of many fish. Similarly, clown fish also do not possess eyelids. The purpose of evolving eyelids in animals on land is to keep the eyes without drying and for safety. As fish live in water, there is no such necessity to maintain the moisture of the eyes. This will confuse the owners as they could not notice their pet fish having rest all day! Do clown fish sleep? This is the next probable search in your search history when you are puzzled by the behavior of your pair of clown fish.
Most fish species tend to sleep or rest in their daily routine while their sensory organs are kept alert for emergencies. Some will hide between a coral or algae in the bottom of the water. Some will find a regular nest. Some varieties keep floating while sleeping. Clowns also sleep with open eyes! Usually, they tend to rest in their friendly anemone or between corals. If in a home fish tank, you could see them staying still in a shell or a shelter in the bottom of the tank. It is absolutely normal, and you do not need to worry about sickness.
Sometimes you cannot even notice their sleep as they sleep at night when the lights are gone. If they are in the sea, when the sun sets, they know it is time for a good rest. So, if you have an aquarium at home with these tiny fellows, you will need to provide light for only 12 hours. It would help if you made the tank dark for 12 hours to allow them to rest. If the tank is placed in a shed without much light, you could see your pet clown fish taking naps even in the daytime. Otherwise, they will swim all day round and will not have enough rest.
But there are also some cases in which they stop locomotion due to an illness. If you observe white spots along with shredded fins and your pets are not moving, it is not just sleep! It is a case that needs medical assistance.
How to Tell If your Clown Fish is Sleeping?
If you are unsure whether it is sleeping or do not move due to an illness, add some fish food to the water. If they come towards the food, it has not been sleeping. If they do not recognize that you add food, they are dreaming!
What is Brooklynella in Fish?
Brooklynella hostilis, or clown fish disease, is caused by parasites in water. This is commonly found in clown fish, which made the disease have this name. Here parasite contamination often causes the grills of fish to be attacked. The death of the organism could happen even within a few hours as its gills (organs for respiration) are not functioning, and breathing is impossible.
What is White Spot Disease in Clown Fish?
The disease is also known as saltwater Ich. Here the attack is made by a parasite called Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. These protozoa are known as Ich in everyday vocabulary.
As we discussed earlier, some will misunderstand the lack of locomotion due to this illness as their sleeping behavior. But if you could see white spots all over the body, then it is undoubtedly saltwater Ich. Other than that, if you observed their behavior carefully, you would find that the white-spotted clown fish are scratching their bodies on hard surfaces. Once detected, the infected fish must be treated soon, as the disease could spread to the others in the tank.
What is Marine Velvet Disease in Clown Fish?
If your fish is not locomotive as usual and you see its skin has become a velvet nature, it may be due to marine velvet disease. This disease also infests the whole tank and causes deadly results. Therefore, treatments are needed at the very first stages.
Can Clown Fish Sleep While Swimming?
The majority of clown fish need to find a resting place in the bottom of the tank when they need to sleep. But some enjoy sleeping while floating at the top water margin of the tank. They may be sleeping upside down too! You could also find clown fish in your aquarium close to the water pump or the heater. Some even might show interest in the side walls of the tank.
Commonly the sleeping patterns may vary from their usually seen behaviors when the clown fish members are new to your aquarium.
Why do Clown Fish Stay in One Corner?
When you add them to your tank for the first few days, they will hide in a place it thinks is safe. If any trouble or hurt does not happen to the fish, it will come out and be active. After they are familiarized, you will see a common scenario: their communication. They will select an area and will wander around that place mostly. But there may be exceptional behaviors, as we discussed earlier.
Verdict
Do clown fish sleep? If you are a pet fish owner who is concerned about this matter, this article will describe the answer with the behavior of the clownfish species.
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