uggg-lawnmower nipping!

[mayjong]

eeek-
day before yesterday i saw my derasa was not looking good. mantle was receded to the edge of the shell (no extension) my other two(maxi) clams looked fine. thought i might be having PMD or some predetor (snail?)
after lights out, clam looked normal (relaxed with mantle partialy extended)yesterday when i came home, mantle was (mostly)extended. as i examined mantle, saw a couple (bite marks??) spots on edges of mantle.
as i was watching. lawnmower blenny swam up, and takes a bite out of mantle! dang! clam closed completly, then slowly opened. blenny takes another bite?!!!! ah crud!
as i monitered, saw it bite mantle 4 seperate times! (leaving obvious bite marks)
i was surprised blenny would do that at all!!!! i have seen it "cleaning" the clam shell. my theory is it was "eating" off the shell, and accidentaly took a bite of the mantle (gee, that tastes good), now he won't stop!.
i ran to store and bought a clear plastic (popcorn) container that fits over all three clams, and covered them.
question- since it has only taken "bites" for a couple days, do you think if i cover them for a couple weeks, he will stop. or is it too late? now that he has "tasted the forbidden fruit" he will never stop???
thank goodness he bit on the large derasa, rather than my (much)smaller maxi's!
if he won't/doesn't stop, how in the world can i catch this jerk?!?!?

[gofor100]

Do you have any other algae growth in the tank? Maybe he doesn't have enough algae to eat and is trying to supplement his diet with whatever mucous the clam mantle exudes...

[mayjong]

not much...
it's a "catch 22" -we work to remove all nuisance algea, now blenny may be hungry!

what can i fatten the blenny up on? i've never seen him eat the seaweed i attach to a rock, that all my other fish eat...

[gofor100]

I would try Formula 2 flakes or pellets... Mine also eats brine and mysis, but I know they need vegetation for a supplement since that is what they mostly eat in the wild.

Since I change water in my tank once a week, I usually don't clean the back or side panels of the glass between water changes so that he can eat algae off of the glass as well... I see him eating the "glass algae" all of the time, so that might help too.

[NYCBOB]

once a fish starts nipping, most likely it isnt going to stop even if well fed.

[gofor100]

Yeah, maybe, but if it has other things to "nip" on (like algae on rocks or the glass), it is less likely to pester the clam to death. Instead, it will probably just nip here and there and not be anything more than a little pest.

[mayjong]

yuk-
i have the clams covered, i'm going to leave them covered for a couple weeks, hope the blenny "forgets" about them. he only nipped for two days...

[gofor100]

Another good idea mayjong... cover it up with the lower half of a clear 2-liter soda bottle so the clam can still get light, and see if the blenny "forgets" about it (which I've heard works sometimes). But I would also suggest trying to keep some panels of glass "dirty" with algae if you find that the blenny starts eating off of the glass (you can tell because they look like "kiss" marks on the glass).

[mayjong]

clams are covered with a clear bottle. i'm going to leave them covered for a couple weeks, see if the blenny "forgets"!

[moliken]

make sure there are holes so you have some flow in the bottles

[mayjong]

10-4