Is something wrong with my nem?

[mattaytayan]

Well, i left after my feeding post and i come back to see the dam hermits snatched the silverside [emoji23] its probably a good thing they did. I just got a clown to and am trying to pair it with the nem so he can end up feeding it mysis. Any tips on pairing a clown to a nem? Btw its a nano 5g tank

 

[ShaunRobinson]

As has been mentioned stay clear of silversides, in the past they were used often but experience and knowledge has moved on. You really don’t need to worry too much about getting your nem fed by the way, it looks a good colour with healthy tentacles already.

If you want to feed the nem, then presumably you feed your fish Mysis? Once you have put some in the tank for the fish use a turkey baster and with the pumps off, lightly squirt a little just above the nem and let it fall down. It will grab hold of the pieces and draw it in. I have 5 rbta’s in my tank and I rarely feed them, maybe once every couple of weeks if that. I chop up a defrosted prawn/shrimp into about quarter inch sizes and drop one onto each nem. The only trouble here is that as you have found, other livestock (in my case, my cleaner shrimp) will try and take the food. This is bad as you really don’t want food ripped out of a nems mouth as it is half devoured. The good thing about mysis or small pieces is you only have to hang around for a minute or 2 until it disappears.

Finally don’t panic about getting your clown hosted, clowns do not need nems and vice versa and there isn’t much you can do apart from let nature take its course. The clown will find it eventually, took mine almost 12 months. Hopefully it won’t take anywhere near that in a nano.:)

Good luck,

Shaun.

 

[mattaytayan]

As has been mentioned stay clear of silversides, in the past they were used often but experience and knowledge has moved on. You really don’t need to worry too much about getting your nem fed by the way, it looks a good colour with healthy tentacles already.

If you want to feed the nem, then presumably you feed your fish Mysis? Once you have put some in the tank for the fish use a turkey baster and with the pumps off, lightly squirt a little just above the nem and let it fall down. It will grab hold of the pieces and draw it in. I have 5 rbta’s in my tank and I rarely feed them, maybe once every couple of weeks if that. I chop up a defrosted prawn/shrimp into about quarter inch sizes and drop one onto each nem. The only trouble here is that as you have found, other livestock (in my case, my cleaner shrimp) will try and take the food. This is bad as you really don’t want food ripped out of a nems mouth as it is half devoured. The good thing about mysis or small pieces is you only have to hang around for a minute or 2 until it disappears.

Finally don’t panic about getting your clown hosted, clowns do not need nems and vice versa and there isn’t much you can do apart from let nature take its course. The clown will find it eventually, took mine almost 12 months...

Good luck,

Shaun.

Thanks for the advise I appreciate it

 

[Donald Gilliss]

Well, i left after my feeding post and i come back to see the dam hermits snatched the silverside [emoji23] its probably a good thing they did. I just got a clown to and am trying to pair it with the nem so he can end up feeding it mysis. Any tips on pairing a clown to a nem? Btw its a nano 5g tank

As far as getting your clown to host, there’s really no way to per say “train” them. Some of the things I know to try is 1) try feeding the nem mysis first to see if the clown will come over to it. 2) put a pic of a nem and clown together on your tank 3) once you turn the lights out try using a flash light and put it over the nem, sometimes the clowns will go to the brightest light, and lastly (the one I had the most success with) is I took my nem and one clown, put them in a small bowl together and fed mysis. The clown was a little sketched at first but within 10 mins he was swimming through the nem and eating the extra shrimp from him. I put them back in the tank and it worked... the other clown I have eventually came around once she seen the male was going in it. No guarantees this will work but it’s worh a shot... goodluck!!