Has anyone noticed how clownfish can change when a hosting anemone is present in the tank? I had a pair of clownfish that were mated for 3 year. They never really hosted anemones together as the female would host my bta or blue haddoni from time to time but not live in it. I decided to start a gigantea anemone tank and as soon as I introduced my first gig, a bleached purple but healthy for the most part never deflated once, they ran right into it. The next few months they lived happily in this beautiful purple gig. One day the female started getting a bit territorial and decided to start knipping at my male however I felt this was normal "play time" for them. Well apparently it wasn't as I came home from work one day and observed my male kicked out of the purple. I then added 2 more gigs and thought this could help alleviate the aggression. I purchased a small 6" bleached green gig from Pro Reef and Corals that is healthy and never deflated also. Well the female noticed the male hosting in it and decided that she wanted both gigs. At this point she was beating on the male so bad I actually removed her for a few days. It helped until she started up again 2 days later but she wasn't beating him up anymore just kicked him out of the gigs. So I purchased a large 16" gig (last gig addition) that was healthy as can be from a RC member which I drove 8 total hours to get. I figured this would definitely solve the problem and felt that I was superior and smarter than these stupid clownfish that I so dearly loved. Well the male jumped right in it and everything looked good for about 1 day. Yet again I come home to see my male in the corner of my tank lonely and depressed with nothing but empty gigs looking for clownfish loving but the gig grubbing female wouldn't allow it. I only had one more move at this point, remove the female for good and add some juvenille clownfish to pair with the male. So I added a awesome pattern frostbite and normal oscellaris clowns. Everything was going great and BOOM the male starts becoming aggressive and chasing the clowns around while not allowing them in the gigs like he was before. As I observe the behavior of clownfish hosting anemones I have came to the conclusion that the clownfish seem to be getting a sort of "high" when hosting certain anemones, maybe the more potent the sting the more "high" they get, and become territorial to the point of seclusion. I'm now left with an aggressive male, that wasn't aggressive until hosting a gig, and 3 juvenille clownfish that only want to jump in the gigs and get "high" themselves. I feel like a clownfish drug dealer.....video below of my male booting all the juveniles out. I know it sounds ridiculous but it really appears this way to me.
https://youtu.be/6bfY-NquKdg
https://youtu.be/6bfY-NquKdg
