amphipods eating clam ?

I've found pods crawling and hiding under my maxi mini nem if this matters

[asylumdown]

I never realized this could be a problem, there's millions of those guys in my tank, though in all fairness I haven't looked closely at my clam in about 3 months.

The only fish that I know of that actively hunts these critters at night is a copper band, would you ever consider getting another? Why did you let go of the first one? Mine never stops hunting and I still have a noticeable population of them though, so even with a Copper Band you're not going to eradicate them, just reduce their numbers.

[TimT]

FME peppermints wont bother clams.

I would suspect there are lots of different species of amphipods, each with their own dietary preferences. Animals tend to prefer the easiest sources of food. Perhaps feeding meaty foods would distract the pods from the clams by providing an easier source of food. Then if you added a pod predator to reduce their population density during the day it might solve the problem.

You said that the problem started after you lost the copperband so it must have been keeping the pod population in check during the day.

If you don't want to go the wrasse method you could always try an Orchid Dottyback, Mandarin Goby, Rainford's or Hectors Goby etc.

[daniella3d]

Problem is, I just got rid of a copperband that I had for 2 years because he started nipping at my clams. So I won't get another one no as it was very hard decision to sell him after 2 years.

But yes he did a great job at keeping those pests at bay.

Copperband don't sleep and hunt all night long, so yes he was hunting them while they were out at night and I could bearely see any of them day or night. Since the copperband has left, about 2 months now, they are thrive.

Orchids dottyback are the nastiest little bastard I have ever owned. Never ever again, plus they sleep at night. I have two mandarins in the tank and they sleep at night, plus they don't eat those big amphipods, only copepods. all wrasses do as well.

Originally Posted by asylumdown

I never realized this could be a problem, there's millions of those guys in my tank, though in all fairness I haven't looked closely at my clam in about 3 months.

The only fish that I know of that actively hunts these critters at night is a copper band, would you ever consider getting another? Why did you let go of the first one? Mine never stops hunting and I still have a noticeable population of them though, so even with a Copper Band you're not going to eradicate them, just reduce their numbers.