Clowns and hosting.

R

Reefnoob

For the life of me, no clowns ever host in my anemones, I have a pair of false oragne percs and black trues and neither even look at my two bubble tips, Do these clown fish not host in this kind, there not tank raised or bred, its really annoying....
 
mine went into the anonome as soon as they saw it.
http://www.dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=27266&highlight=pair+percs

i have a pair of false and they host as well.
 
It really is hit or miss. We have one small ocellaris that is a hosting fool- he hosted a powerhead in qt, then a feather duster, then some zoas, then a mushroom. His buddy, another larger oc, started with a patch of GSP.

The smaller one was tank bred from ORA, and the larger one was WC, we think.
 
My very first one I got, I acclimated the clown and nem' in the some bag together. The last clown I got, went strait in the nem' with the other clown
 
Tank bred or wild caught doesn't have much bearing when you look at the numbers. It more has to do with us attempting to force clown/anemone (percs and false percs don't host BTA in the wild) relationships that aren't natural and it's truly hit or miss.

I've had 3 pairs or percs/false percs in my life. One was in a tank with no anemone for months and they would host anything they could added a BTA and they were in within hours. The second pair was in a tank with a BTA and it took them almost 2 months but they eventually hosted. 3rd pair that I have currently have never even though about hosting and it's been almost 6 months. Very hit or miss. Maroons and Clarkii's host naturally in the BTA and will 99% of the time go straight for them.
 
We had bought our black percs w/o a nem and they attempted to host everything else in the tank... Once I bought a RBTA, they really didn't notice it... So I played a trick... Dropped some of the garlic extreme into the water to get their hunger up, then stuck a piece of freeze-dried brine shrimp into the nem's tentacles... One of the percs followed its nose and just went nuts... about three days later the other perc followed suit... now I cannot even put my hand in the tank without getting attacked as they defend their buddy big time...
 
In all seriousness, I have heard of people getting the algae clips that look like lil' clown fish, and clipping it to a stick or something, swimming it around in the tank, and swimming it into the anemone to give their real clowns the idea...
 
IMO Clownfish hosting is a combination of people trying to pair clownfish with anemones they would never encounter in the wild, and lack of predators in our tanks.

Heres a list of anemone clownfish relations in the wild
http://clownfish.webreefs.com/clownfish_anemones.php

Also most of our tanks, the clownfish feel relatively secure, which may make them not go to an anemone for security needs.

Its really hit or miss beyond that, as if they will host. IME the easiest clownfish/anemone pair Ive had is pink skunks and LTA's. Ive had two pairs of pink skunks that will go immediately to any LTA put into the tank.
 
I just got my first clown and BTA w/in the last few weeks. I put the BTA in first, then about a week later, got the Maroon clown. It took him three days to find it, but loves it now! Maybe I got lucky, but here are some things I think could have helped.

1. The BTA was in there first, before the clown.
2. I had a few other fish in there before the clown, so he may have felt the need to find some protection from those that already lived in his new home.
3. I checked about every 5 minutes to see if he had found it. (Ha!Ha!)
 
@SharkHunter wrote:
Maybe I got lucky said:
You put a natural host in. They wil almost always find their natural host fairly quickly even if tank bred. They are just wired that way.

Shane that is a great link!
Click to expand...
 
thats a cool chart. thanks :D Looks like I will be looking for a carpet anemone some day for my false percs. Glad I did get a bta yet
 
Well the bta has been in there quite a time and now its one the move! Its on the shell of my clam !!! There are two pairs of clowns in there and neither of them even care. Thanks for the site thats really good. Serk are you talking about those little clownfish clips that they sell that are iradescent orange ?
 
My true percs have hosted in my elegance, toadstools, and sinularia, but never the BTA's. I think I prefer them in the toadstool. They get in the middle and wallow around like little pigs.
 
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