Video: Clown behavior - group kiss? or group flash?

[Holdstrong]

Picked up on the clowns doing something I haven't seen them do before. Hoping those of you with more experience could shed some light.

It seems somewhat similar to the dance we all know and love... but not really. All 5 loaches seem to gather for it, but there are two main particpants - the largest clown and the next biggest (who also happens to be my poor chronically skinny guy).

They appear to be rubbing cheeks. At some points it almost looks like a group kiss. I'd write this off as clowns being clowns, but I did notice some flashing immediately before and after so I wonder if the gang is agitated by something and trying to do a group scratch instead?

Either way, I caught it on video and figured I would share.

http://www.townsandtrails.com/avatar12/ ... G0962.html

[chefkeith]

Some people call it shadowing. It's normal.

[Holdstrong]

Shadowing. I like it.

[Keith Wolcott]

Yes, I think it is shadowing too. They will sometimes do it for much longer where one loach is swimming right next to another the length of the tank or more. My experience is that the loach being shadowed usually does not like it. I have seen my two large (5 inches) rostratas (from Jim P.) try to shadow my largest clown. The 4 inch clown does not like it and swims very fast in a circle to get away. All of my loaches like to shadow my SAEs and they don't seem to mind too much.