Angelfish staring at things?

[raney]

Kind of an odd question, but, well, firstly...

My angelfish (moreso one than the other, but both really), tend to stare at my heater. By stare, I mean for hours, they'll sit with their nose a centimeter away from it, motionless.

As some background: I don't always keep my heater on, because I have incandescent lighting (ugh, I know - fluorescent is my next investment, when I have some money), which generates a fair amount of heat. I never let the tank get below 76 or 77, or above 81 or 82. I tend to use the light to regulate this more or less, and sometimes if I'm going to be away for long enough for the temperature to drop reasonably, I'll plug in the heater. The heater is set at 78, so if I have the lighting and it at once, it gets well into the 80's quickly. So, with that... whenever the heater is on, they stare. Endlessly. Half the time I can't even get them away from it to eat.

My first thought was the heater being something of a sun god to them (haha), but I got to wondering if they could be cold?

And secondly, and relatedly: even when away from the heater (it takes 3 or 4 days to break the habit, after having turned the heater off), they go back to swimming around and being a bit more active and what I would consider normal, but sometimes (again, the same one of them does this more often than the other) they'll still tend to stare at things: my bubbler tubes, my thermometer... pretty much anything that involves their nose in a corner.

Is this, well, unusual behavior?

[Lady Hobbs]

He probably doesn't like the flunctioning heat in his tank. Temps should be a constant 80-82. He may hang by the heater because it's warmer there.

Also, sounds to me as he is just sleeping. They do that and mine has the same spot he hangs in by the hour. This is a 30 gallon so he doesn't have a ton of room anyway. My angels in my large tank are more active and more social. Goes to show they do appreciate more room.

[cocoa_pleco]

I remember my fish would stare at my t.v sometimes, and i couldnt figure out why. But like HOBBS said, they sleep and stay still, often nose down.

Tank temperature needs to be constant and never fluctuate. My community tank is at a constant 75F