My crazy sailfin...

[dnorton1978]

So my sailfin tang has taken a liking to eating sand????

Has anyone ever seen this behavior before, or is he a sand sifter in disguise? He goes down to the bottom and grabs some and on the way up a little will leave his mouth and gills..

So, is he crazy or dying...

I have been feeding him the following.

Ocean Nutrition Form. 2
Nori
Spirilenna(how ever the heck u spell it)
Mysid(for other fish)
Occasional Calupra

 

[mr_X]

dunno...mine doesn't do that. i have a "regular" sailfin ...not a red sea fancy shmancy one...maybe they behave differently.

 

[dnorton1978]

Sorry X, I have a regular one as well. Not one of those fancy pancy ones either.. Except mine is crazy..

 

[turnburn]

I've got a maroon clown that does the same thing!

 

[Anonymous]

Mine has taken to ripping the silicone rubber seal out from the corners of the tank and eating it. This is a relatively new tank too.

I keep telling him this behaviour with one day be his ruin, but it is no use.

 

[shavo]

hey Dnort, my orange shoulder tang eats sand everytime something is stirred up he rushed over and eats all of it as fast as he possibly can, He doesn't just go to the bottom and eat sand though, thats what I would do if I was a sand eater. it is wierd i watch him do this . Yesterday I was wondering if it just comes out and goes back into the DSB or is it slightly browner.
but seriously does it make it's way back into the sand bed? I guess so

IMF, sounds like a question for chrisrd to me, com'on chris give me some crazy facts about sand eating fish and the benefits of it being re-established back into the DSB. hahaha!

 

[ChrisRD]

The sand munching thing isn't totally unheard of - nothing to be worried about IMO.

 

[ChrisRD]

I keep telling him this behaviour with one day be his ruin, but it is no use.

He's got no idea how thin of a line he's treading there, eh? :lol:

 

[dnorton1978]

Thank you everyone. I will just consider him an abnormally normal fish.. :lol:

 

[blackcloudmedia]

I wonder if this is maybe the fish equivelent to "brushing teeth" Maybe they are trying to clean their gills. My fish will do this every once and a while. Especially my grouper.

 

[dnorton1978]

I wonder if this is maybe the fish equivelent to "brushing teeth" Maybe they are trying to clean their gills.

Very interesting idea. I will ask my dentist..

 

[bleedingthought]

I keep telling him this behaviour with one day be his ruin, but it is no use.

:lol:

He's got no idea how thin of a line he's treading there, eh? :lol:

:lol: