Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
My poor little ocellarous clown (Nemo) gets constantly harassed and battered by the 6-line wrasse (Striper)
I'm worried about Nemos health. It can't be good for him to be stressed out like that. He used to swim back and forth on the front glass all day. Happy to dive in and out of the current from various powerheads. Gettin' his exercise.
In the last few weeks, the wrasse has become very aggressive. He was always a bully--but lately it's gotten BAD. Nemo is only about 1.25" long and Striper is easily 2" long, maybe 2.25" long. Significantly bigger than Nemo. He basically has Nemo stuck in a corner now. Nemo won't come out of his little corner at the top of the aquarium except to eat. Striper constanly swims up in the corner and shows aggressive behavior. Raises his dorsal fins and bats his tail at Nemo or nips at him. Nemo runs away, but then goes back to his corner as soon as Striper leaves.
I'm getting pissed about it. Nemo has't figured it out yet that he could hide in the rocks or host a mushroom. Maybe thats just not his natural behavior--to swim in the rocks?
What can I do? I've thought about trapping Striper and putting him in a small plexiglass box--an in tank refugium of sorts. Basically put him in jail and let Nemo have the run of the tank again. I don't know if behavior modification is possible with fish. Would it be possible to train Striper to just leave him alone? I don't imagine it will be easy to trap Striper once--but multiple times? fugetaboutit.
My wife says I should buy an anenome for Nemo and see if he will host in there. It's a possible solution, but it may not work. Who knows weather or not Nemo will host the anenome? And what if the anenome dies or gets sick? Could crash my whole tank. Huge risk that I'm not really to keen on.
Any ideas? I could trap the wrasse and trade it, but thats kind of a last resort too. I like him. He's just a bully and he's so mich bigger that I'm not sure things will ever level off.
I'm worried about Nemos health. It can't be good for him to be stressed out like that. He used to swim back and forth on the front glass all day. Happy to dive in and out of the current from various powerheads. Gettin' his exercise.
In the last few weeks, the wrasse has become very aggressive. He was always a bully--but lately it's gotten BAD. Nemo is only about 1.25" long and Striper is easily 2" long, maybe 2.25" long. Significantly bigger than Nemo. He basically has Nemo stuck in a corner now. Nemo won't come out of his little corner at the top of the aquarium except to eat. Striper constanly swims up in the corner and shows aggressive behavior. Raises his dorsal fins and bats his tail at Nemo or nips at him. Nemo runs away, but then goes back to his corner as soon as Striper leaves.
I'm getting pissed about it. Nemo has't figured it out yet that he could hide in the rocks or host a mushroom. Maybe thats just not his natural behavior--to swim in the rocks?
What can I do? I've thought about trapping Striper and putting him in a small plexiglass box--an in tank refugium of sorts. Basically put him in jail and let Nemo have the run of the tank again. I don't know if behavior modification is possible with fish. Would it be possible to train Striper to just leave him alone? I don't imagine it will be easy to trap Striper once--but multiple times? fugetaboutit.
My wife says I should buy an anenome for Nemo and see if he will host in there. It's a possible solution, but it may not work. Who knows weather or not Nemo will host the anenome? And what if the anenome dies or gets sick? Could crash my whole tank. Huge risk that I'm not really to keen on.
Any ideas? I could trap the wrasse and trade it, but thats kind of a last resort too. I like him. He's just a bully and he's so mich bigger that I'm not sure things will ever level off.