surfing clown

[wasserscheu]

... was finding the alpha clown (about 4") below water surface, a little above filter outlet. She was leaning against side-glass once in a while, the tail resting an a leaf of a high growing PLant. She seemed so concentrated, that I was initially worried, what she was doing there... took me a little while to figure, that she used the postiion of the fins to balance her bodyweight in the stream... she was surfing! ... was funny how it blew the barbels below her mouth... only the tail fin had support, other than that she was free-suspended by the stream... I heard her sing "... I believe I can fly..."
...it was interesting to "feel" her concentrating... (I need a camera...)

Wolfram

[shari2]

Yes, you definitely need a camera! that would be interesting to see.

[Martin Thoene]

That would have been fun to see. I did catch one of mine a couple of weeks ago directly in front of a power-head outlet that's about half-way in depth in the tank. It was swimming relatively gently to maintain position.

Yesterday, I was in one of my local shops and watching a rather beautiful (yes I was tempted ) Tire-track Eel (Mastacembelus armatus) of around 25cms swimming strongly in front of a power-head outlet while its tank-mates hid under a piece of driftwood.

It was actively searching around the aquarium, turning its head to and fro and then going back and getting some exercise in the water flow.

I think behaviour like this really shows how much some species like a good current. As long as there are quieter areas in the tank to rest, I think it's a good thing. I've got a lot of water movement in my 6-foot Clown tank, but I'm intending to add larger power-heads to the River-Tank manifold in there in the hopefully not too distant future. That will improve end to end current.

Martin.

[andyroo]

The stripey men (CLs) live in the current, back and forth accross the flow. Best one to watch though was FW pipefish... much stronger swimmer then you'd expect and in and out of stones and plants like a string.
A