fish splashing up sand?

i know normally this means ich however there is nothing visual on the fish that show signs of ick or even distress, he is full of color, fat, eating very well, and very active. Its a damsel i believe a mix between a bicolor and another. Is this maybe a form of showing dominance or marking teritory considering he is the most dominant fish in the tank or maybe just being playful etc. For the most part he keeps doing it in mostly the same 2 spots.

 

When you say "splashing up the sand," what do you mean? Is he scraping his side or is he using his tail? The former typically means a parasite, the latter is a spawning activity.

As an aside, just because you can't see any white spots, doesn't mean that a fish doesn't have ich or velvet.

 

his whole body seems to be hitting the sand but he does flick his tail at the end of the motion which shoots sand up to 6"....i have 2 of the same damsels and the more dominant one does vibrate himself very quickly often while extending all his fins and making his colors appear darker so that would explain a lot as well, im familiar with those things being related to spawning/mating

 

This behavior can also be a territorial display.

 

thats what i originally thought too

 

My Electric Blue Demsel does that when he carves a sleeping nitch for himself under a rock.

E

 

my maroon clowns splash sand ALLLLLLL DAYYYYYYY LLLLOOOONNGGGG.... its gotten to a point where there is no sand around their nem... at first it was cute but now its kinda annoying...