Carpet Anemones Eating Fish While Hosting

[Overboard]

I would appreciate other opinions and experiences.

I have never kept a carpet anemone in my display tank out of concern it might eat my other fish. I have heard several people (mostly clown breeders and LFS) say that if a carpet (Gig or Haddon's) is hosting a pair of clowns, it is not a real risk. They say the clownfish will keep other fish away from the anemone.

I know of one poster here on RC that have had a Gig in their display for many years, but only one.

Have kept a Mag for extended periods of time, while hosting clowns, and never lost a fish, but that might be different.

Your experience / opinion?


Thanks,
Mark

 

[AJ69]

I lost my purple tang to a green carpet which a pair of blk ocellaris were hosting , they were all in a 120. Imo stay away from them if you have big fish in your tank

 

[OrionN]

I have lost fish to my Gigantea and Haddoni, but not that often.
If you have a 500.00 dollar fish that you cannot loose then don't keep Carpet in that tank. Some fish just smarter than other. Pygmy angels and Mandarin are the worst. I lost my 5 year old Leopard Wrase was eaten also.
You most likely to loose fish if you spook the tank. Other than that the chance of loosing fish is not great but definitely happen.
Sorry but I do not have the data to back what I said up, other than state that this is my experience

 

[Toddrtrex]

This is just my experiences with keeping clowns with S. haddonis for the past 15 years or so.

I have actually lost more fish to an S. haddoni (( have had 6 different ones for extended periods of time )) when there was a clown being hosted.
Should note that the most issues came when the clowns being hosted were spawning.
While I have lost other fish (( Mandarin, wrasse, blenny )) the most loses were dwarf angels. Only one was a new addition -- chased right into it, tried to save it, but it died 12 hours later.
The rest of the time the clowns would attack the dwarf angel(s), the dwarf would chase them back to the anemone..... Or, the dwarfs would start the chasing, and get too close....

Oddly enough, for the last 2 years I have had 3 dwarf angels in a 65 with an S. haddoni --- NO CLOWN --- and they pay zero attention to it.

If I ever go back to an clown(s)/S. haddoni combo it will be just them.

 

[marc price]

Eventually, my A. polymnus clown badgered all of my flasher and fairy wrasses into the grip of it's host S. haddoni carpet anemone!
Also lost a large adult Powder-blue tang to a haddoni carpet.
On the other hand the little P. fridmani psudochromis would swim every which way around under and thru the haddoni carpet without ever getting snagged, smart little fishy.
And on the flip side, i had a large Pomacanthus xanthometopon Blue face angel pick apart a Blue S. haddoni carpet anemone.

 

[Overboard]

Excellent information. Todd's observation of carpets hosting clowns causing greater losses is particularly interesting. All had pretty clear evidence of issues with both Gigs and Haddon's.

I love carpets, and would really like to try a Gig, but it sounds like there is risk. I have nice wrasses that I would definitely not want to lose. Still considering it though.

Other than my Mags (which never ate a fish)I also had a purple sebae (H. crsipa) that hosted a pair of white cap clowns. No issues there either. Finding a purple crispa seems harder than finding a Gig these days.


Thanks to all!!

 

[ocellaris123]

Have lost a yellow tang and a flameback angel to a blue haddoni carpet being hosted by a pair of black ocellaris and another time a pair of gs maroon clowns. I suspect they were caught during lights out.

 

[marc price]

I love the purple H. crispa sebae anemones and yes they are so few and far between. H. crispa sebae anemones are not much of a threat to our fishes.
Imo, a standard 150 gallon aquarium isn't that big for the fish to easily avoid large clownfish hosting anemones like carpets and mags, it does sound like you got lucky with your Mags not eating a single one of your fish.

 

[OrionN]

I never loose fish to Magnifica, Malu, Crispa, BTA or LTA(I did not keep this one fer very long). Just Haddoni and Gigantea.