Fish nipping surface

[Jtisle506]

I have no clue whats going on, this has been happening for months now and im not sure what it is. My fish (yellow tang, hippo tang, flame angel, lemarks angel, Ocellaris clown, 2 Chromis) mostly the tangs and clown love to nip my surface of my tank. I don't think its a aeration issue b/c they don't swim at the surface only to go nip it. I do have a protein build up on my surface which i will take a pic of, i do surface skim (sump less) but it seems not to do much. My two power heads are pointed at a 45* angle so the surface gets some agitation in thr middle but at the sides of the tank and front...the surface has a film. I do feed my fish 1-2 times a day but lately i have been doing once per day do to my schedule and the lights are usually off when i get home. Im not going to lie but once every week i miss a feeding (going to get a automatic feeder soon). It also seems like they like to nip the big bubbles at the suface which brings it back to aeration. Or is it their personality. What do you think? Btw if the fish seem like they are swimming at the surface in the pic is cause they just got fed.

 

[TheTodd]

They might just be seeing bubbles and thinking its food.

If you have a film on your water surface, I would try getting more agitation and it should go away. That will create better gas exchange too. Also...IMO, feeding twice a day is overkill. Once a day is even a lot.

 

[mr_X]

Good advice.

 

[Jtisle506]

Somebody told me I might have low orp, i havent cleaned my skimmer cup in a while...

 

[Gregcoyote]

Somebody told me I might have low orp, i havent cleaned my skimmer cup in a while...

I doubt that's the problem, if there is one. Good advice above. Adjust agitation as there should be no skim on the surface.