A question asked a thousand times..

[FishNutzBoi]

I know this question has been asked sooooo many times before but I'm getting really frustrated with this issue so I'm just going to ask it again and see if anyone has new ideas

So the question is "How do you encourage clownfish to host an anemone???"

Here is my story:

I had a mated pair of False Perculas and a GBTA together for more than 2 years. They were in 3 different setups over that time period together: 29G, 75G and 110G. The clowns had absolutely no interest in hosting the anemone.

Now I have another mated pair of False Perculas with a GBTA in an 8G Biocube. They have been together in the tank for 2 months and the clowns only look at the anemone once in awhile then just go on swimming around. They usually hang out either in the right of the front or the back close to the substrate.

I've always wanted to see the anemone & clownfish hosting relationship What to do???

Here is a quick picture of them

<img src="http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/11/18/391738/FTS4.JPG">

TIA!

 

[Irvine Man]

maybe try "forcing" them into it, or like scaring them into it or feeding the anenome to get the clowns to pick at the food. Doing these things MAY get them to rub into the tenacles and maybe they will realize how awesome it is. haha, awesome is probably not the right word for it. I scared mine into a RBTA and it worked out alright, not right away, but it worked, they were in a frogspawn for months and hadn't felt the RBTA so I helped them feel it, just with hands/net, not hurtin them or anything.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Yup like said up there you can always force them to rub it. Just give them time. Eventually they will pick something. Funny how you want them to host, and mine seem to bounce from one coral to another each day. They sleep around:lol:

 

[kenyacat]

Took my clowns 4 months in the tank with a huge Sebae before they hosted. I think the smaller clown went in to try and get some food I had just fed them and decided he liked it. Took a day of him playing in the nem before the female came over to check it out.

 

[bwest]

It seems to me like ocellaris and percula clownfish are the hardest in general to host.

Within one day I've have clarkii, tomato and maroon clownfish hosting, but when I had a pair of ocellaris, it took about a month and some coercing.

Maybe I've just had good luck. Who knows

 

[Bmgrocks]

you could always switch your clowns out. I've done it a few times, Just removed one of the pair, and traded it for another, with a Neighbor, or friend's whos clown hosts. The New Clown takes to the host showing your clown what it means to host. At that point, I take out the Teaching Clown and get my old clown back..

Does it make sense

You have a Pair
Remove 1 and replace it with a Teacher (Clown known to host)
Add Teacher to the Tank it will host, and in turn, teach your Clown How to host

At That time, teacher is removed, and you get your other clown back, who is taught how to host ....

Let me know if I worded it right, its just swapping out clowns who know how to host, letting them learn and then returning them

 

[FishNutzBoi]

Thanks for the advice so far guys. I don't really like the idea of scaring or hurting my clowns to make them run into the anemone but I guess I'll give it a try

Bmgrocks, I understand your suggestion. I was thinking of switching my pair for another pair and maybe I'll get better luck but I've gotten attached to Bruce and Sydney... :lol:

 

[wegotcrabs]

I did what Bmgrocks did. It worked great.

 

[anemone123]

This may not be what you want to hear, or try. Put a maroon in with your bubble anemone. The bubble anemone is the natural host for the maroon clownfish and they go together nicely. The advantage of the maroon/bubble is that they are a natural pair. Because they belong together they do things I didn't expect to see. The female maroon will feed my anemones (sometimes) for me. I put a piece of shrimp on the top of the water and she fetches it and takes it to the anemone. She sleeps in the anemone too. It is cool to see.

I like percula and ocellares too but I just don't put them in a tank with an anemone. This way I have several small tanks with different clowns and one big tank with anemones/clowns.

 

[FishNutzBoi]

Taking out the clownss is not an option here. I'm in a small college town (College Station, TX) and the only "LFS" around is Petco. They don't allow any livestock from other tanks into their system. I don't know any other local reefers that would take them either.

Any other suggestions?

 

[FishNutzBoi]

Any more suggestion?

 

[garygb]

As you probably know, it sometimes takes months for a clown to go to the anemone, so I would just wait myself. I've heard of people shining a flashlight onto the anemone once the lights are out. Sometimes I suppose the fish are lured to the anemone that way. My guess is that one day you will look in your tank and one or both clowns will have found the anemones. Nice looking tank there, btw.

 

[FishNutzBoi]

believe me garygb, i had strong believe that that day was going to come with my other pair and it turned out i had to sell the setup before i even get to see that day :lol:

nothing still...

 

[kar93]

what i did was....... Print out a picture of 2 clowns hosting a nem, stuck it to the tank side as close to the nem as possible and the next day i come home and they are hosting

 

[adamsky27]

The funny thing is... I have heard that what Kar93 said to do works!

 

[FishNutzBoi]

I've heard and.. tried that with both pairs. The pictures just scared the clowns away from that spot. Maybe I'll try it again...

 

[ficklefins]

In addition to the hosting photo there are a few others that I have heard of in the past that relate to an animate technique. I'm not sure how well these work as I haven't had to use them.

Putting a picture of a clown/fish predator on the side of tank to scare the clowns toward the anemone. This differs from you pushing them towards the anemone because they find it on their own... potentially.

The other technique is to get one of those clown looking veggie clips from a LFS and place it near the anemone.

 

[ficklefins]

Similar to this little guy:

http://www.aquariumguys.com/lettuce-clip-clownfish.html

 

[FishNutzBoi]

Today I dropped a few pieces of mysis shrimp right on top of the anemone hoping the clowns would try to eat it and rub themselves into the anemone.

Nope.. the male wanted to get to the shrimps but as soon as he got close to the anemone he just got scared and swam away

??? clowns are scared of anemones?! arghh...

 

[GSMguy]

it will happen wait it out.,....