I have observed some interesting Ackie behavior that I would like to run by other keepers and see if you have seen anything like this. Several times I observed my Ackies get their tail moving in a continuous serpentine motion when a cricket or roach comes into view. They are quite alert when they do this but their body is usually rather still. I always attributed this to some kind of nervous anticipation of getting a meal or possibly some type of luring behavior when prey is present or a "look at my tail"..."there's no lizard here"...."bite my tail not me" kind of predator distraction/evasion thing.

I recently set up some Retes stacks with each level about one monitors cross section high in a large glass aquarium with the stack pushed up against the glass so I could observe them while in the lower levels of the stack.

I dumped way more crickets in than they could eat, in one free-for-all, and the crickets took up residence in the stacks seeming to prefer clinging to the ceilings of each level.

I was watching my monitors today and several times they entered a level about centered between the spacers. They then began this serpentine tail motion which rather efficiently chased all of the crickets forward and into their side snapping jaws. Could this be a behavioral adaptation to scoot all the bugs from narrow rock crevices out for "processing"? Has anyone else seen this tail action?

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• Acanthurus behavior - JohnRobinson, Fri Dec 14 14:10:31 2007
• RE: Acanthurus behavior - FR, Fri Dec 14 14:51:28 2007
• RE: Acanthurus behavior - JohnRobinson, Sat Dec 15 17:13:21 2007