"Jittery" false percs

[CloruroDiSodio]

Hi gang,

I bought two false percs about two months ago as juveniles. They have paired up long ago and are growing nicely. Normally they hang out by one of the overflow towers in my tank then swim up to watch me when I enter the room. They also know when it's feeding time and come up to the area of the tank where I feed and eat well. Lately they seem to be very jittery. They still hang out in the same place and eat but it takes a lot of coaxing to get them going. They also get spooked sometimes for no apparent reason while feeding and swim back to their hiding area. I havent made any additions or changes to the tank in a long time so it is kind of a mystery. Do they get more cautious as they grow into adult phase?

 

[jmadison]

It'd help to know the other other livestock in the tank. And this would be refering to the 55g, correct?

 

[CloruroDiSodio]

Hi jmadison,

Sorry I forgot to include that. This is actually the 180gal with:
1 green chromis
4 emerald crabs
1 pep shrimp
2 brittle stars
bunch of snails

The tank has been up for about 3 1/2 months

 

[velvetelvis]

Have you tested your water? Maybe some of your parameters are off and it's making the clowns feel unwell and therefore nervous.

If not that, maybe you could add some more chromis to the tank. Dither fish might could help the clowns calm down, and from what I understand chromis do better in groups (I've never actually kept any, just read a lot).

 

[CloruroDiSodio]

Hi velvetelvis,

(I like the name by the way!). Yeah, water parameters been really stable. Actually now that you mention it I added a phosban reactor about a week ago, I don't think this would do any harm though??

 

[CloruroDiSodio]

I have a pretty good idea of what the problem is but am still a little perplexed. The chromis in general is not aggresive but is hyper. When I am feeding it and the clowns if the chromis darts towards a piece of food the clowns get spooked and hide. What is weird is the chromis has always done this but it has never bothered the clowns before, in fact I would have to try and hand feed the chromis since the clowns were eating everything. Any ideas as to what brought the change about??