dead fish scare

[treesprite]

I turned the light on to look in my tank, and saw my striped blenny laying on his side on a little ledge on the liverock, all pale and limp. I used a grabber thing to lightly touch him thinking he might be dead, thinking I would have to grab the corpse out of the tank. For a fraction of a second he didn't move, so I really thought he was dead and all kinds of reef problem stuff starting rushing through my head. Then he moved real slow, and I thought although he is alive, he looks really sick. I went and got some frozen food to see what would happen. The little bugger perked up immediately and his color all came back. I didn't know that blennies sleep like that, and are slow to waking up, and that their colors fade (he is partly yellow, but had no yellow at all when I found him).  Something I don't think to research when I get a new fish is the sleeping behavior, which isn't the most important thing, but it will keep me from freaking out if I know ahead of time that a fish sleeps as if it is dead (this fish is not new).

Edited February 11, 2019 by treesprite

[TheyCallMeMr.703]

That's pretty funny/awsome he is ok and healthy... Must've been a party you didn't know about?

Sent from my LM-Q610(FGN) using Tapatalk

[treesprite]

15 minutes ago, TheyCallMeMr.703 said:

That's pretty funny/awsome he is ok and healthy... Must've been a party you didn't know about?

Sent from my LM-Q610(FGN) using Tapatalk
 

 

LOL. I wish he had invited me!

 

I wish I had taken a picture while he was still laying on the rock, but the situation was too urgent for me to think about posting pictures on the internet. Next time I catch him that way, I will take pictures.

Edited February 11, 2019 by treesprite

[bues0022]

Fish sure can sleep goofy! One of my clowns likes to sleep in a little cave where the BTA’s foot is - but it floats up the the roof of the cave, belly up, looking all faded and terrible, and doesn’t move or wiggle at all. It sure gave me a start the first time I saw it like that. 

[sen5241b]

Sleepin with the fishes?

[mogurnda]

I first thought the title was "Dead Fish Care."  I figured you could either cook or toss it, depending on freshness.

 

I have this problem all the time with the FW loaches.  They lie in the most unlikely positions in the middle of the day.

[YHSublime]

Like the first time I ever got a Hippo Tang, thought the thing was getting ready to croak!

[ohaverd]

My new two barred foxface in QT had me worried the first day I got him.  I didnt know they go all "camoflaugee" when scared.  The little coward still plays dead when I enter the room lol.