Why is my Yellow Coris Wrasse hanging at the top of the tank splashing like crazy?

[pammy]

Hey All. Is it normal behavior for a Yellow Coris Wrasse to hang out at the surface of the tank and splash like crazy? I've had this fish for about 6 weeks. Haven't added anything new. Fish looks great and is eating great. I have an open tank. About a week ago, I noticed all kinds of salt dried on the top 1.5" of the tank above the surface of the water. Finally realized, it was one of the fish splashing. I thought it was my Longnose Hawkfish at first, but then all of a sudden noticed it was the Coris Wrasse. No one is harrassing him at all. Parameters in the tank are fine. I didn't notice him doing this until the past week. He's mainly staying at the top of the tank which he never did before, and swimming in place, but back and forth, really fast, and every couple of minutes, creates a big splash. I'm sitting about 5 feet away on the couch, and he just splashed me all the way over here. I can't have dried salt all over my couch and carpet if he's going to splash constantly, so I guess I'll need to bring him back to the LFS if he continues this. Wouldn't be an issue if it was a covered tank, but it's an open Elos tank. I also can't keep the tank clean with him splashing like this either. I clean off the dried salt and then an hour later, the top of the tank is covered again as well as the glass on the light fixture. All fish and coral look great. I can't really think of anything that has changed that would be causing this kind of behavior. I did swap out my T5's a few days ago with new bulbs (and lowered the photo period), but I think this behavior started a few days before that.

Hmmmm... he hasn't moved from the surface of the water for hours, except when I fed the tank and he ate well, and the MH light just shut off for the night. The T5's only are lit right now, and he immediately came down from the surface, and is swimming around like normal now poking around on the rock.
Strange! If it was too bright for him with the new T5's and the MH lit, wouldn't he go to the bottom of the tank, not the top? I never really saw him behaving like this until the past week. MH bulb is about 6 months old. Should I try raising my light fixture? It's currently about 9" above the surface of the water.

Fish:
Longnosed Hawkfish
Yellow Coris Wrasse
Royal Gramma
2 Percula Clowns
Firefish

Temp 79-80f
Salinity 1.025
PH: 8.4

It's been a few days since I measured the following parameters, but when I checked, they were:
Alk: 8
Calcium: 400
Mag: 1230
Phosphates: undetectable'
Nitrates: 5
Nitrites and Ammonia: 0

Thanks!
Pam

 

[leebca]

You don't mention the size of the inhabitants nor the size of the aquarium/display tank. Sorry if you posted this info elsewhere and I missed it.

The behavior is one of the behaviors of fish that are dissatisfied with their environment. Usually it is a space issue. Has the fish picked out its territory? Is there enough area for it to have its own territory? That is, before you added the fish, was there tank space 'unoccupied' by any other fish?

 

[pammy]

Hi Leebca. The tank is a 53gallon tank (31x19.5x19.5) with a 7 gallon sump. The pair of clowns are on the smaller size. 2" max each. Royal Gramma is about 2". Hawkfish is about 3". Firefish is about 2.5". Coris Wrasse is about 2.5". That's all that's in there, and the aquascaping is nice and open with plenty of swimming room and hiding spots. The Coris Wrasse has picked out his sleeping spot behind a rock and under the sand, and no one goes near that spot. Other than that, he's always just swimming around the whole tank, not really sticking to any one spot.

Thanks, Pam

You don't mention the size of the inhabitants nor the size of the aquarium/display tank. Sorry if you posted this info elsewhere and I missed it.

The behavior is one of the behaviors of fish that are dissatisfied with their environment. Usually it is a space issue. Has the fish picked out its territory? Is there enough area for it to have its own territory? That is, before you added the fish, was there tank space 'unoccupied' by any other fish?

 

[leebca]

It seems like there is no space/territorial issue. Maybe the fish is looking for attention?

When it splashes and you are around, do you go over to the tank or feed them?

Every fish has its own personality, this could just be the fish expressing itself.

 

[pammy]

LOL Lee. Maybe you're right. We'll see what happens tonight with the light raised up. I don't feed them or anything when he's splashing. Maybe he's just a spoiled brat fish that is trying to get me to feed him. I am suspicious of him mellowing out the second the MH light went off though. If he's acting spastic again tonight, I'll try turning off the MH light early, and see if he calms down again. Thanks, Pam

It seems like there is no space/territorial issue. Maybe the fish is looking for attention?

When it splashes and you are around, do you go over to the tank or feed them?

Every fish has its own personality, this could just be the fish expressing itself.

 

[pammy]

Well, it looks like the new bulbs may have been affecting this Coris Wrasse. I could tell he hadn't splashed at all today because everything was perfectly clean, no dried salt marks, and he hasn't splashed at all since I've been home for the past several hours. He is swimming around the tank like normal. All I did, was raise the light an inch. I am surprised new bulbs could make a fish behave like that, but that must be it. I did inspect the fish closely, and can't find any discolorations, or tears in the fins etc. He looks super healthy.

Pam