clown first or anemone?

[Aristarchus]

I am thinking about buying a clown this weekend. Would it be ok if I bought a clown first and then added an anemone? Would the clown host it or would it be accustomed to the tank without the anemone? I have a hitchhiker anemone growing right now that is really small and might be big enough to host in a few months or so.

 

[fooseball08]

order dosent matter as much as which species of clown and which species of nem... are you sure the hitch hiker nem isnt an aptasia, because those will take over your tank and are bad... how long has your tank been set up??? nems need an established tank to survive...how stable are your perameters???they also need very stable perams... your lighting should be able to house a bubble tip high in the tank... what type of anemone were you planning on getting??? what clown were you planning on getting??? i would recomend a bubble tip nem and an ocellaris clown... hope this post helps you

 

[davocean]

Pretty much agree w/ foosball other than the occ if you really want a nem hosted clown, and just cause they are slow to take a host nem.
And you need to match light/flow to nem, and it is nice to have a natural host nem for whatever clown you decide, though some clowns just aren't picky for host.
Time of tank running may decide for you, should be 6 mo for a nem, but either order is fine as clown or nem first goes.

 

[Aristarchus]

I'm pretty sure the hitchhiker anemone isn't aptasia, it almost looks like a zoanthid. I can't find any pics that look similar to it but it is light green and circular shaped with a small mouth in the center. The tentacles look similar to a zoanthid, it doesn't have long ones like a aptasia or majano might have. It seems to close up at night when the lights are out and really opens up when the lights come on.
My tank has been up and running for about 4 weeks now and it seems to have stabled out finally. Water parameters have been checking out good and my nitrates have been around 20 this week. So from what I am reading I should probably wait another month or two on the anemone? Thanks for the help, appreciate it

 

[davocean]

About 6 months running before nem is rec.

 

[fooseball08]

Ya agreed ... You need to wait about 5 more months before you jump into one

 

[JamesJR]

I personally like to have the anemone well established and settled in before I add clownfish as I find that for the most part clowns can interfere and make it difficult for the anemone to adapt to captivity. This is especially true with anemones that can be hard to feed like S. Giganteas or H. Magnifica. If you find a healthy enough anemone of a species that adapts better like bubble tips it probably won't matter all that much.

 

[Aristarchus]

Thanks for all the help. I will hold off on the anemone and the clown then for awhile. I will see what happens with the "anemone" that I have already. Hopefully it's not a pest! From the sound of it, the BTA will be the way to go since it is one of the more hardy and adaptive. Again, thanks for the info