abusive clown?? help

Antonias1391 · May 10, 2010

hello every one i recently bought a GBTA took a hour and a half acclamating him. took him about 45 min to find a spot it like and he hasnt moved yet . he had it easy tho that first bit as i introdused a small tomatoe clown into my tank for my female to pair with. they fought it out for a while and slept in the nem that night. the female clown is very vigorus with her scrubbing in the nem almost to the point of it worrying me. she cleans the area very well and anything that shouldnt be on or around the nem is removed. today i attempted feeding the nem and it started to retract a little the clown removed the food befor it reached the mouth. and then proseded to scrub it into expelling most of its water. it then did this for the next 3 or so hours. the nem has re-inflated but it freaked me out. is this normal?? also when should i feed the nem?? when the mouth is kinda open or just every 3 or so days?? thx alot and heres the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0l-B3YXxzg

hwntunda · May 12, 2010

i once had a lta and my tomato was just too rough with it too but i think its because i had 2 smaller percs hosting it and got bullied out, so the tomato was trying to show who was boss...lol. it tore a hole in its foot and lost him. the nem looks a little small for those guys...how large was it when you got it? i read that the nem should be atleast 2-3 times the size of the clowns. also maybe try keeping them seperated for the time being so the nem has time to adjust to its new home, they might be stressing it too much too fast. you can try feeding when the mouth is open or closed... if its hungry, it will grab the food... or you could try seeing if the clown will take it and feed the nem... hopefully someone else can jump in with more input and help ya. and correct me if i went in the wrong direction.

stedfast82 · May 12, 2010

I have 6 nem's some are in a frag tank and some in my DT feeding the one's in the DT is a PITA the fish will steal the food if i don't shun them away i would if i had the space build a little cage made of egg crate to put over the nem when you feed it just feed and then put the cage over it put a little rock on top and when the nem is done eating take the cage out i feed my nem's 3 time's a week. if the nem is well fed it will be ok just like most of are live stock

Antonias1391 · May 12, 2010

thats a really cool idea with the cage heres a pic of it inflated. there both in it now and i havnt seen him deflate sence that day i havnt tryed to feed him iether tho