ARGH! Percula clown suddenly nipping crocea

[trmiv]

For about the past 3-4 days I've noticed my crocea behaving weird. Sometimes I'll come home and he will be like 80% closed. So I moved him a bit because I thought he was getting hit by some flow, and he was opened full the next day. Then again when I walked in the door after work, he was closed up tight. Last night he was fine before the lights went off, but today when I got home he was closed 80% up. Then after going out to eat, I came back and he was fine. A few hours later, closed again.

So finally I hid myself in the room so my percula couldn't see me, and observed the tank. Within 10 minutes, I noticed my percula take a nip at my clam! A few minutes later he did the same thing!

Now, the percula has been with me for two years, and the clam for 10 months. Up until 4 days ago, the Percula had never bothered the clam at all. Now suddenly he's apparently turned tridacnivore and wants to eat some mantle.

I was wondering why the clam was only closed up after I was gone for awhile. It's because when I'm in the room, the percula is always at the front of the tank begging like a hungry dog. When I leave he goes about his business, which has apparently now branched out into clam nipping.

Is there anything I can do short of getting rid of one of them? I, of course, love both of these guys so I'd hate to have to get rid of one. It would be the clam that had to go, because my wife loves the clown, of course.

 

[mbbuna]

cut the top off a 2l bottle to make a dome,then cut slats or drill holes for flow and place it over the clam. remove it in a few days and see how it goes

 

[trmiv]

OK, I'll give that a try. So weird that this is happening, I searched around and could not find any other instances of perculas nipping clams. He has recently taken to attacking my hand as well, but never touches any other fish.

 

[cristhiam]

How about moving the clam to the other side of the tank away from the clowns terrytory, my clown only stays in one corner of the tank.

 

[trmiv]

The entire tank is my clown's territory. He doesn't host in anything, so he's everywhere.

 

[trmiv]

Well I stuck a bottle over the clam last night. After a couple of hours he was out and basking. Today he looks amazing. I'm going to keep it on until tomorrow and then see if the clown has forgotten yet.

 

[Gundo5000]

My flame wouldnt leave my clam alone so i had to sell it to my buddy. Good Luck!

 

[trmiv]

Well luckily percula's are not known clam nippers, so hopefully there's a good chance this is a temporary case. Flames on the other hand, are known to do their fair share of clam nippage.