Fish dig in the sand.

Carrie1606

I have never had such problems before, but in the last year, the third fish has spoiled its character. First, there was a clownfish that dug under the anemone - I got rid of it. A month later, a dogfish started digging - I gave it away. Now a surgeonfish is digging, although I can't understand why. It has never dug before; it has been living with me for over a year. Maybe they have parasites in their brains, or worse, maybe they don't have brains at all? This is a serious problem, as the sand is fine and it settles on the live rocks and corals, burying them under a white layer and blocking out the light. Which fish are generally better not to take? Is there a list of fish based on their behavior towards sand? I think I will also get rid of the surgeonfish; the question is who else to remove. In the aquarium, there are a zebrasoma, two dascyllus, and a helmon remaining. The zebrasoma is also a surgeonfish, so I should get rid of it too. Accordingly, what should I buy so that the aquarium doesn't remain empty?

Lisa

Strangely enough, the fish you got rid of are not digging in my tank.

Julie

Do you have a lot of hiding places? I just notice that the surgeon is digging between the stones, all the way to the glass, creating passages.

Sarah5423

There are many shelters.

Sarah7284

What is the volume of the aquarium, how much live rock is there, how many pieces, and what kind of fish?

Reginald5073

500 liters without sand, over 40 kg of stones, arranged with a long reef without high hills, maximum height of 30 cm. 5 fish - olive surgeonfish, zebrasoma scopas, cleaner wrasse, two striped dascyllus. Previously, there was also a Clark's clownfish and a dogface puffer from the Black Sea, but they are no longer there.

Kendra2262

Is the feed the same as it was more than a year ago? Haven't they been supplementing the corals with anything?

Jeffrey2277

Dry fish food is not eaten, only artemia, finely chopped shrimp but not willingly, I give mussels, they do not eat gammarus, everything larger than artemia is usually eaten by hermits. Corals do not eat anything, only Favites and Caulastrea on daphnia and frozen artemia, as well as Tubastraea. For corals, there is a reactor, and I add iodine and strontium.

Carrie1606

Are you ruling out the option of digging in the sand for small food on the bottom?

Michael

Yes, I saw how the surgeon digs, with a strong flick of its tail as it flies between the rocks, stirring up sand in the water. The clownfish dug a nest where the anemone was. And since it often climbed, it also dug often. The dog dug under the rocks when it stopped fitting into its burrow in the live rocks. The question is, has anyone else experienced this? Because the look of the aquarium is very poor after such sand upheavals, and the cone of the sponge gets covered in sand, and for some reason, the foam in the sponge doesn't reach the top. In short, I clean the aquarium thoroughly every week.

Kevin

I have a Picasso that does the same, like after a storm in the aquarium, but then almost everything gets blown away by the current and becomes clean - I noticed that if I don't feed it on time, it starts looking for food in the sand...

Kimberly3727

I haven't posted in the thread for a while, the latest thing is that one of the dascils dug a huge nest in the sand under a rock and is sitting in it) it's just a disaster) the problem seems to be with the very fine sand fraction, it settles slowly and clogs the pores in the live rocks.