Anenome's and Clownfish

[H2-0WE]

Clownfish are the silly cousins of the dreaded Damsel fish, they make up for their relation by being simply wonderful inhabitants, if your looking to purchase clowns, insist on tank bred, wild caught are prone to a variety of diseases and capture trauma, if youve seen anything about tank raising clowns, you can rest assured their habitat was top notch.(or the fry won't survive)
Tank raised clownfish have had no ocean learning so they usually don't know about Anemones being their host provider, this believe it or not can be taught by taping a picture of Clownfish in an Anemone to the tank as a visual aid, Clownfish are like streetwalkers, they will lay down just about anywhere.
On a more serious note Clowns do not require a Host and buying an Anemone for that purpose alone is not a good practice. A very often overlooked species of Anemone is the rock or flower anem, they are cheap,plentiful and about as hard to kill as aptaisia, some of them are incredibly colorful and make a great starter anem.
I have a Seabae and a GBTA that are 7 or 8 yrs old now, the clowns totally ignored the GBTA but only come out of the Seabae for food.My best advise on buying an Anemone. No online purchases(ever) Insist, with a deposit your LFS keep your choice for 2 weeks and let it settle in, be sure its eating and the most important, during the two week wait visit the LFS with ALL your testing equipment and test their water, slowly change your parameters to match theirs, especially salinity and temp this will greatly decrease stress and make acclimation much more successful. I believe about 75% of mortality in anems is transport issues, as they respond very slowly to trauma they may in fact be too far gone to save when they reach you.Be prepared to not pick up your purchase! your anem may have attached it self somewhere and the usual process is to peel it off and bag it, a torn foot can be disastrous, ask the LFS to direct a powerhead at the anem and come back when its on the move, I know this goes against the "I want it now!" we all are prone too but remember only bad stuff happens fast lol. Best Luck! 

[michael]

Tank raised clownfish have had no ocean learning so they usually don't know about Anemones being their host provider, this believe it or not can be taught by taping a picture of Clownfish in an Anemone to the tank as a visual aid, Clownfish are like streetwalkers, they will lay down just about anywhere.
On a more serious note Clowns do not require a Host and buying an Anemone for that purpose alone is not a good practice.

surely thought they instintively feel the need to host something?

i totally agree with the point that they dont need a host.

great post, thanks for the info

[H2-0WE]

Tank raised clownfish have had no ocean learning so they usually don't know about Anemones being their host provider, this believe it or not can be taught by taping a picture of Clownfish in an Anemone to the tank as a visual aid, Clownfish are like streetwalkers, they will lay down just about anywhere.
On a more serious note Clowns do not require a Host and buying an Anemone for that purpose alone is not a good practice.

surely thought they instintively feel the need to host something?

i totally agree with the point that they dont need a host.

great post, thanks for the info

instinct I suppose, based upon fear/survival/upbringing is possible, I prefer to think they developed immunity to the stings from sheer determination and silliness lol

[michael]

[/quote]

instinct I suppose, based upon fear/survival/upbringing is possible, I prefer to think they developed immunity to the stings from sheer determination and silliness lol
[/quote]

A very good point, i suppose fear did lead them to host and i suppose over milleniums they have adapted to stings, great point

[Hosser]

Colby Podkin-Johnson in the April 09 issue of aquarium fish states "The desire to occupy a host anenome is a very strong instinct for anenomefish. This genetic trait doesnt just simply dissapear" -
It is a very good read for anyone who has or is contimplating clowns. I do agree with the buying tank raised. Ive had several of several types and never had a single problem having them host.
Another fine point he brings out in the article is regarding anomiles or deformities. Basically saying that its not due to overbreeding or in breeding but yet the fact that 95% of tank raised clowns live where as on 20% in the wild live. In the wild the abnormal ones are often killed by other of their kind due to them being differnat and it possibly being a sign of sickness.

[Hosser]

As far as the stings go, the instinct to host overwhelms the pain or burn of the stings. The beauty of a clown fish though is that they form a film or mucus coat that protects them after a very short time. You can see signs of burn marks in little black dots after you take a anenome or other stinging coral they have hosted and the mucus coat goes away. Eventually the burn marks do go away though.
The mucus coat has to be restablished If they havent hosted in a stinging home for some time.

[H2-0WE]

Great additions Hosser! and I do remember the burn spots now you mention it, have to find more info on territoriality as well

[Hosser]

The better the hostability and amount of hostable pices will help in aggresion. Once hosted they tend to stay pretty much around their host.

[H2-0WE]

yes, I meant multiple fish per tank of the same type, 2's company 3's a crowd never had 2 pairs to try so I wonder how much real estate they require

[Hosser]

I would imagine the same applies with like kind species as well.

[Teric]

what kind of clown do you have hosting the sebae?

[H2-0WE]

tank raised false perc's

[evil.konceptz]

I was reading online somewhere, and I can't for the life of me recall where, that the instinct to host in clowns in imbedded so deeply in their brain, that tank breeding them doesn't have any affect on their want, or need to host.  I have a tank raised Marroon clownfish, he hosted within 2 days of having an anemone present, with no assistance.  The need for safety drives them to host.

[drunkymunky]

ot a bit but what other corals can they host, i do not want to get an anenome for my tank, dont want the risk of dying and wiping my tank out. i heard that some one had success with hosting to an pink anthelia. forgot who *wanna say hosser* sorry if im wrong

[evil.konceptz]

I would advise against trying to have them host a coral.  They don't require a host to survive.  Most of the time if they host a coral they will stress the coral to a point of death over time.  Nems won't kill your tank if removed fairly quickly if your skimming good.  My mom has had one dissolve in a 55g and I had one eaten and died in a 29g. HTH