Can clown fish survive without an anemone host in the wild?

[L.C.H]

Hello everybody,
I've encountered a problem where I cannot find any information online...
Can wild clownfish survive for an extended period of time without an anemone host?

Thanks：lolspin：：lolspin：

 

[CoralsAddiction]

There was a study done by a Boston University professor on true percula social rank. He wrote that in a group of clownfish theres a strict order of a dominant breeding pair. Subordinate clowns stay in their lane because they wait for their opportunity/time to become a breeding male or female. All of the new settlers in anemones are recently hatched clowns (non-threat) that are accepted by an established breeding pair.
Now to your question. The same study showed that clowns never "migrate" from anemone to anemone for two main reason. Invading other anemones and clown groups doesn't always mean they can take over the dominant pair there. The second main reason is clowns can easily fall prey to predators due to their poor swimming skills. So based on that analysis I'd say that the majority of clowns wouldn't be able to survive without anemones in the wild.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

I'll post a link to the study if I can dig it up.

 

[addictedreefer]

There was a study done by a Boston University professor on true percula social rank. He wrote that in a group of clownfish theres a strict order of a dominant breeding pair. Subordinate clowns stay in their lane because they wait for their opportunity/time to become a breeding male or female. All of the new settlers in anemones are recently hatched clowns (non-threat) that are accepted by an established breeding pair.
Now to your question. The same study showed that clowns never "migrate" from anemone to anemone for two main reason. Invading other anemones and clown groups doesn't always mean they can take over the dominant pair there. The second main reason is clowns can easily fall prey to predators due to their poor swimming skills. So based on that analysis I'd say that the majority of clowns wouldn't be able to survive without anemones in the wild.

+1. Clowns would be toast without a host nem in the wild.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

I think it would also be fair to conclude that constant threat from predators without safety of a host anemone can inhibit clownfish breeding thereby adding to decline in clownfish population.

 

[Jeff4777]

Would a monkey be safe from a lion without a tree to climb? Haha jk. Yeah without an anemone, clown fish are ez pickins for other hungry creatures.

 

[ca1ore]

Done lots of pacific diving, seen thousands of anemones with resident clowns - don't ever recall seeing a clown free swimming.

 

[m0nkie]

Done lots of pacific diving, seen thousands of anemones with resident clowns - don't ever recall seeing a clown free swimming.

sounds so awesome! I'd love to see that. I've done probably ~30 dives around United States and a few in Maldives.. haven't seen any anemones/clown combo.

 

[ThRoewer]

...Now to your question. The same study showed that clowns never "migrate" from anemone to anemone for two main reason. Invading other anemones and clown groups doesn't always mean they can take over the dominant pair there. The second main reason is clowns can easily fall prey to predators due to their poor swimming skills. So based on that analysis I'd say that the majority of clowns wouldn't be able to survive without anemones in the wild.

This is true for all anemonefish with one exception: A. clarkii.
Post larva clarkii will settle in H. malu or H. aurora which are not accepted as hosts by other clownfish. After reaching a certain size they migrate to larger nearby anemone species.

Coexistence of two anemonefishes, Amphiprion clarkii and A. perideraion, which utilize the same host sea anemone. (full text PDF)

"...

Juvenile A. clarkii, but not A. perideraion, settled on hosts even smaller than 400 cm 2. Although A. clarkii inhabiting small hosts never bred, they have the opportunity of moving to larger hosts at a future time because of their tendency to move between hosts. On the other hand, A. perideraion was less mobile than A. clarkii, and avoidance of settlement by A. perideraion on small hosts can be attributed to the lack of opportunity for subsequent interhost movements.

..."