Strange behavior of your fish….

[Magnum Man]

I have a black Cory, that at feeding time ( I mostly, or often use slow sinking pellets ) , this Cory, goes to the top, and spins around quickly in a circle from the top, back to the bottom… it took me a while to think it didn’t have a brain tumor or something… I think it’s actually making all the pellets sink faster… it’s been doing this for 9 months or so, only at feeding time…

Today another batch of Marimo balls arrived, and I didn’t have time to deal with them, so I gave each a squeeze, just below the water level, so they would sink, ( they are
Shipped moist, but in a dry container ) then I came back around to the front of the tanks, and one of the Tin Foil barbs in that tank was going spastic, in the middle of the tank, at a 45 degree angle, doing barrel rolls over and over… I thought it was going to die…. Turns out it was freaked out, the Marimo balls were partially sinking and getting drawn into the bubbles from an air bar, and going in a circle, up and down pretty rapidly… 10 seconds later it was normal, and a minute later the balls had soaked up enough water, they settled in… I try to keep my silver dollars from freaking out, their tank is not visible from the room, only from the work area behind the tanks, and they have gotten pretty good, I can actually vacuum gravel without a frenzy… having the right sized groups greatly helps the panic attacks… the Cory wasn’t panicking just in a hurry to eat…

I had some crabs before, that liked to bubble surf, they would get onto the bubble bars, ride the bubbles to the top, then glide down, almost looked like they were saying “wheeeee” and the would do it over and over…

So what are some of the goofy things your fish do???

 

[Back in the fold]

I feed live wingless fruit flies to my Aplocheilus lineatus Golden Wonder Killifish . Sometimes a fly manages to get on the underside of the glass top and a lineatus will see it , orient himself vertically like a rocket and launch up and get it . Not an attitude you see a fish positioned in often . It’s cool how they do it .

 

[MaloK]

I had some crabs before, that liked to bubble surf, they would get onto the bubble bars, ride the bubbles to the top, then glide down, almost looked like they were saying “wheeeee” and the would do it over and over…

I saw Cherry shrimps and Guppies do that too.

My betta crashes face down in the filter intake and remains there for extended periods, like dead. He also clap the water surface with his mouth doing loud sounds when his meal are not on time.

I had dwarf gouramis that would jump on thick layers of floaters and remain stuck there until I free them. They also often spitted water at me while doing maintenance.

Gold fishes purposely splashing water at me when I put my hand in the tank and there was no food to be found in them. they where going straight for them at the moment they where entering the water.

 

[Seisage]

Fish can have a surprising amount of personality. I love hearing goofy fish stories.

My neons reguarly try to eat the temperature probe when I stick it in, but they'll also try to eat their own poop, so...

The fish at the aquarium I volunteer at are a bit more charismatic. Some of the rockfish will literally stare at a piece of food as it sinks. They'll track it all the way down to the substrate, and then just continue staring at it...

I recently found out that our little juvenile skate does NOT like mackerel. We usually get sardines, but the bait shop has been out, so we've had to use mackerel. Usually, when we target feed him, he's very good about getting right to the food, but when I tried to give him mackerel the other day, he turned his nose up!! Like a fussy, picky child, I got him to eat one or two pieces, but couldn't get him to eat the rest. He got frustrated and decided to go glass surfing instead. He still loves shrimp though.

The cabezon we have are voracious. On the day I usually volunteer, their tank only gets whole, live mussels for the sea stars to eat, nothing for the fish. But the other week, one cabezon decided it was hungry enough to try sampling a mussel. It carried the thing around in its mouth like a dog toy for a solid couple minutes before thinking better of it and dropping the thing.

Lastly, one of the sailfin sculpin we have is a huge beggar. He absolutely knows when it's feeding time and by the time I take off the acrylic lid, he's right at the surface of the water, begging like a puppy for his shrimp lunch.

I realize all of these are to do with food But feeding is most of the volunteering I do nowadays, and meal time is a great source of interesting and funny behaviors

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

My cherry barbs are an absolute nuisance any time my arms are in the tank, they just will not believe that my freckles and beauty marks are not tasty bugs and will peck at them the whole time I'm in the tank...its very annoying

 

[Ceez]

I have 2 loaches that act like whales and use their tales to sink floating food from the surface. I don't know if it's just me but it also seems like the rest of the fish are waiting for them to do it so they can feed lower in the water column. Couple of them will also stick their faces about 1/2" out of the water and make slurping noises during feeding time too. Perfectly named...clowns

Had some archer fish couple years ago. When I would come home from work and lay down on my bed to read I would get shot with cold squirts of water from the tank and it was always by the same fish. He would cruise near the opening at the front of the tank looking at me lol. My daughter has been hit too laying next to me. At first she thought it was me and didnt believe the fish could shoot water 10' accurately. We sat and watched and he didnt fail to deliver, water on both of us. She still talks about him. They were such a cool fish to keep, I miss them.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I feed live wingless fruit flies to my Aplocheilus lineatus Golden Wonder Killifish . Sometimes a fly manages to get on the underside of the glass top and a lineatus will see it , orient himself vertically like a rocket and launch up and get it . Not an attitude you see a fish positioned in often . It’s cool how they do it .

One of my little choprae danios did this the other day. A fruit fly made it to the side and climbed a few inches up the side before a danios launched himself like a miniature brook trout and picked it off the side. Wish I'd had a camera running.

I had a pearl gourami that was born in my tank. He would frequently leave the other pearls, who all hung out together in the floating plants, and go exploring. He seemed especially curious about the dwarf chain loaches which were fresh in from the wild. He'd hang out just above them, watching them and listening to them talk things over. It was really cute, and strongly inclined us to come up with anthropomorphic reasons for his behavior.

 

[Sir Guppy]

Alright, two things. Not as crazy as spinning loaches, water-spitting archer fish and launching fish but it will do…
Endlers pecking at the inside of a Rabbit Snail shell….
And two guppies literally bouncing around a Ramshorn Snail around the water trying to get the piece of food its trying eat while a cherry shrimp watches.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I had a large amano shrimp that would start a game of demolition derby when an algae pellet hit the bottom. She'd wait until a bunch of bottom feeders were gathered, then come crashing into the fray at full speed, amanos being surprisingly fast when the urge strikes them, sending loaches and two-spot catfish careening of every which way. Exoskeletons have their advantages. Then, while the bottom fish were dazedly wandering about or lying on the bottom nearby--"Dude, what the fuplie was that?"--she'd devour as much as she could before they recovered and came back.

I never could get a good video of it, but it was always a good show. We named her "Gollumano."

 

[emeraldking]

I think it’s actually making all the pellets sink faster…

Actually, thta's a good observation and it's a correct conclusion.