The Puffer Forum

Not sure why they're doing this but thought I'd share

I was at someone's house who breeds these little guys and they were doing the same thing. He said they get like that every time he sticks his face in front of the tank...it's super cool, but a little weird haha

This is classic of the clown loach defense system, huddle together and look like a large fish. Could be the same thing?

Why not? Schooling is an effective strategy practiced by many species of juveniles, especially those without an anemone home required in the wild for all mature clowns. And only one female can mature per anemone. One male will dominate the extra immature males. "Balling" is just a specialized schooling technique, but I doubt it it is seen often if ever in the wild by clown fish.

one quick comment... Clownfish will host almost anything. I've seen them "host" a magfloat for example lol. Mine routinely host my large grouping of mushrooms. That "ball of fish" is still pretty damn interesting.