Clown Biting Off Duncan Tentacles

[EricR]

My clownfish recently started biting the tentacles off of my Duncan coral.
Solo clownfish I’ve had for 3.5+ years since juvenile in my last tank.
Duncan coral I’ve had for 1 year — went from single head to 6 large heads with some more, tiny, new ones sprouting.

Sucks ‘cause the clown was my first fish and the Duncan was my favorite coral,,, think it’s pretty much a goner unless I do something.
This just started about 10 days ago — I catch the clown doing it multiple times per day so it’s not a one-off incident. (Haven’t been able to catch her on video yet)
*had a 2nd single head Duncan that did great for many months then, suddenly started looking like this one does now and eventually died — never saw the clown touch that one but now I’m starting to place blame there

I’ve found other posts and YouTube videos of the same so I guess it’s not a completely unheard of problem.

If anyone has had this problem, did it resolve itself or did you end up intervening?
What did you do and how did it work out?
*really don’t want to setup a 2nd tank so hoping others have gotten through this some other way


Don’t take a lot of pictures but here’s the duncan a month or two ago:

Here’s what it looks like now:
*one day looked like above (or better),,, next day this

 

[twentyleagues]

Remove one of them.

 

[EricR]

Remove one of them.

Well, yeah, that'd work,
but I don't really want to set up a 2nd tank and was hoping to keep both.
Oh well,,, we'll see.

I was wondering if there was something like a large enough anemone cage I could put over the duncan to keep the clown away and still allow enough flow and light to the duncan, but probably not.

 

[PharmrJohn]

If the clown has a taste for duncans now, it may be time to rehome the clown. A couple of options are 1.) Get the clown a mate and/or 2.) Get the clown an Anemone. Only problem with these two options are that the clown will still have a taste for duncans and the distraction(s) may not be enough. Sorry man. This situation sucks.

 

[EricR]

I was hoping that someone who has gone through this would chime in with what they did/tried and how it worked out,,, but I guess not. (I've found multiple other posts with same issue but seems not too common).

*can't get rid of the clown -- first fish,,, wife/daughters won't have it!

On the topic of trying to pair with a new, SMALL clown, any thoughts on how likely that is to work out?
-- Clown is Darwin Ocellaris
-- had her 3.5+ years since tiny so I'd guess that means she's likely 4-ish years old
-- been solo (no other clowns) this whole time

...think I'm too much of a wimp to try an anemone

 

[EricR]

I think my clownfish finally gave up on destroying my duncan over the last week or two.
Seems like it's jumping back to healthy-ish:

*also posted in my tank thread but just in case anyone else with similar problem ever finds this

 

[ScottJ]

Your Duncan looks so much better! Darwin clowns are the devils spawn! Never again!

 

[EricR]

Your Duncan looks so much better! Darwin clowns are the devils spawn! Never again!

Yeah... knowing what I know now,,, would I ever own a clownfish?
...but, you just have to have one or two, right?

 

[Tahoe61]

Yup its what clowns do. They mouth host.

 

[EricR]

I guess the clown was just biting the duncan as a way of trying to get used to it as a potential host or something.

Now that the duncan is just big enough, the clown finally uses it as a fun hangout:
*no anemones in the tank so next best thing I guess

 

[ScottJ]

I think if I had to do it over again, I would steer cleat of clowns. I have one that bothered my Dunkans almost to death. I had to move them to my other tank. Now the stupid clown has taken a liking to a goni that was doing nicely but now isn't looking too great. I might just have to introduce Miss Clown to the LFS used fish department.