Anemone-1 blue hippo tan -0 lesson learned

[solarwrx]

lets just say last nights fish feeding turn bad, the blue hippo tang to close to the anemone while i was spot feeding, and in it went !!!

so i grabed some gloves as fast as posible and i was able to pull the guy out of the anemone before it became part of the food chain but it died 10 mins after probably because of shock and the poison maybe,

anemone 20.00$
blue hippo tang 35.00$

 

[Boostable]

OUCH!!!! I lost a couple damsels like that but a tang would suck.. sorry for your loss.

 

[solarwrx]

yea if it was the damsels it would be doing me a favor !!!! but noooooooooooooooooo

 

[cschweitzer]

What kind of anemone, just for other people's sake? Also, Boostable, are you sure the anemone killed the damsels, because clowns and damsels are extremely close relatives and damsels have an immunity to anemone's poison much like the clownfish. That is odd that an anemone would do that to damsels, truthfully, I would believe it would be much easier for a tang to get caught, especially with the curious nature of the tang and the fact that it feels it is necessary to swim in every nook and cranny of the tank, where damsels stay more towards one spot and get very terretorial...In fact, my damsel has in the past killed an anemone. I'm very sorry for the loss of such a beautiful fish.

 

[solarwrx]

thanks cschweitzer it was one of my favorites !!! the annmone was sabae i bieleve shot tenticles.

from now i am going to make sure all the fish are well fed before spot feeding the anemone,

funny thing is i cant get the clown fish to get anywhere near the thing !!

 

[cschweitzer]

Is that since this incedent or since inception in the tank that the clown won't host? What kind of clowns? The sebae is usually a good host for most clowns, but if you give me the clown species, I can check their natural compatability and get back to you. Just bought the clownfish bible by Wilkerson and am going to try breeding at some point. Bubbletips are a very common anemone for clowns and will naturally host 11 of the 13 species in regular aquarium trade. BTA's also will usually leave other fish well alone. If they still won't get together, might want to try a new anemone. Also, if your clown was tank bred, it will take a while for it to know the anemone as it's host. In the wild, it is natural for a clown to go right into an anemone, but in captivity, it is a learned trait. Is it just one clown? A lot of times if you pair a clown up, they will take to an anemone much quicker.

Mine didn't start hosting(not an anemone, star polyps) until I put another in with it and they paired up and hosted within 30 seconds of the second one hitting the water. Had a problem where one died, the other stopped hosting the star polyps right away.

 

[solarwrx]

well its a clown fish i have had for 2 years now it is a true percula clown and it only one , i bought hte anemone from SITC abought amonth ago and it has taken to it, the clow did host in my flowr pot and ended up killing it =<

i purchased a 2nd tru percula 3 weeks ago to try to pair them up it was a small one they say have 1 big and 1 small clown fish to help pari them up after a week of harrasing from the bigger clown i think he ended up dying i never did find him.

im pretty sure the anemone i bought from SITC is a sabae or short tenticle, is there a web site with pics of all the anemones maybe i can compare it to,

 

[cschweitzer]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemones.htm

 

[cschweitzer]

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dy...tp://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/intro.html

 

[solarwrx]

awsome stuff, thanks

 

[waterfaller1]

Craig, anemones can even eat clowns. A clown has to get 'used' to the anemone so to speak. They do this by slowly acclimating themselves to it a little at a time. If it dives right in..it's food!
Sorry for the loss of your tang.

 

[tangers]

craig, quick question-
i was once told that only the domino damsel has the immunity like clowns and that all other damsels are like all other fish.

 

[cschweitzer]

Not sure about that...I know the three stripes live in anemones as babies(just saw a picture of that in my book)...maybe just that shaped damsel can live through it, but I also heard of the blue devil's picking on clowns for their home.

Are you sure about that Carole? From what I've been reading, once it nears the anemone as a child, it's immunity is built up enough to live, even as small babies. That may be more true for tank-bred, as they have never experienced the sting as a child and therefore may be much worse(possibly toxic) as an juvi/adult, kind of like chicken pox for humans. Bu tfor clowns in the wild, from what I've heard, they are naturally attracted to the anemone and as a baby, quickly gain resistance. I'm not saying this is true for all anemones and all clowns, but I thought that was the general idea.

 

[waterfaller1]

Well you basicly said the same thing I did Craig ..in a round about way. We take an anemone and place it in our tanks..we buy some clowns or whatever and we put them together...two organisms that have never encountered each other before. So,yes I do believe there is a period where a clown has to build it's resistance to an anemone it has'nt encountered before. I have seen it time over..when I worked at SITC. If we had say a maroon in with an RBTA..it would hover near the anemone and touch it slightly for several days..before snuggling up close to it. You will even see with clowns that are hosted by certain corals. There is a discoloration sometimes...like a spotting that is visible on the fish as it is basicly stung by their nematocysts in the acclimating process.My female clown shows these pigments..from the frilly shrooms that host them.

 

[XeniaMania]

I had a Domino that thought it was a clown hosting in a frogspawn I could see it getting stung, but it kept trying and eventually one day, it disappeared...:lol: