Anemone and Clowns - order?

Chuu

New member
Any personal experience on adding an anemone (long tentacle - Marcodactyla doreensis) and Wild Percula Clowns, should I add the anemone first and let it settle or will the clowns should they choose to have it host them hurt it if they were in the tank first?

I'm reading conflicting evidence on whether they help it settle in or hurt it more.

Thanks
 
My opinion is, that anemone is one of the most hard-headed sea creatures. It will probably move across the whole aquarium to find the right place to live. Even if it would be in the darkest cave. :D

If the anemone will be big enough, I think it doesn't matter if you add first clownfishes, anemone or both at the same time. At most, they will just like bite the anemone to make more mucus, which is not so bad for the anemone. And probably it will take some time till the percs domesticate the anemone(no clownfish is automatically resistant to the anemone's tentacles).

But to say truth, I am not sure, if the percs will domesticate M. doreensis, cause they don't live in this anemone in the wild. For this anemone are better A. chrysogaster, A. clarkii, A. perideraion. Hope you will be lucky. My false percs just ignore the BTA and chose rather Sarcophyton. :-(
 
Cheers mate, the anemone is quite large. Here is a picture of it if anyone wants to comment on it, i'm awaiting more pics of it:

lta.jpg
 
At first blush, I would say that's H. crispa. Pics of the column would help for an id, but it looks more sebaesque to me than M. doreensis-esque. Which, if it is indeed a crispa, is a better match for percula clowns, as H. crispa is a natural host. It's a long shot that a percula will take to M. doreensis.
 
Never really looked at H.Crispa before, but I see what you mean gary. How are they care wise compared to the Doreensis? As I have a rather deep sand bed that would have suited the doreensis well.

I'll have more pics soon when the seller has the time to send me them.

Cheers
 
Sebaes are similar to M. doreensis in that they bury their column in the sand. Assuming you get a healthy one to begin with, they are generally considered relatively hardy, as anemones go. Hardiness for the commonly imported host species ranges from: BTAs are regarded as the easiest, haddoni would be next, sebae next, then you get to gigantea and magnficas toward the more difficult end of the spectrum. Things like H. malu, mertensii, and H. aurora are not that frequently imported, but I would say each of the last three species fall somewhere in the middle. The pizza anemone is hardly even a host species since it's only found with clarkii, and is seldom seen in the hobby, they are supposedly quite hardy. I may be leaving out a species, but that gives you a general idea of the hardiness of the various host anemones. I would say, even for the more difficult species, the key is getting a healthy animal to begin with...then provide good/excellent conditions (generally that includes a specific gravity of natural seawater 1.026-1.027, reef temps 78-82, low/no nitrates, proper lighting and flow and a substrate that suits the species).
 

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