Clownfish species most likely not to host

CoralBeautyII

New member
What species of Clownfish is most likely NOT to host a coral?
I have a mixed reef (no anemone), mostly LPS and softees.
Problem is I have a very large Giant Cup coral, and Occ. clowns are to tempted to host in it, and well you know what happens then, the coral gets a nourishing meal.
I am not going to part with this coral, so is their any species of clown that is more picky than the ocellaris when it comes to hosting? and may not find my cup coral so appealing?
 
Clownfish "associate", anemones and corals "host"; hotels host, guests associate. No species of clownfish that I know of is more or less likely to associate with an anemone.
 
He said that as far as he knows. all clownfish have an equal chance of hosting or not hosting. He is also implying that the anemone is hosting the fish and not the other way around. Hope that helps.
 
He said that as far as he knows. all clownfish have an equal chance of hosting or not hosting. He is also implying that the anemone is hosting the fish and not the other way around. Hope that helps.

Correct. Must be insufficient coffee on my part.
 
Actually I would say there is one species that is often slow or many times does not go to a host nem, and that would be ocellaris, but sounds like yours are doing what most of us want them to do.
Most of us get clowns to view that symbiotic relationship
 
Actually I would say there is one species that is often slow or many times does not go to a host nem, and that would be ocellaris, but sounds like yours are doing what most of us want them to do.
Most of us get clowns to view that symbiotic relationship

Yes, A. ocellaris is slightly less likely to go to a host anemone, but they do pick corals or sometimes hardware so it is sort of the luck of the draw. I know I have had them damage corals.
 
Took my ocellaris pair no more than 5 minutes to dive into my H. magnifica.

That is because that is a natural host nem for them, definitely speeds the process up and assures success in accepting a host, but not a lot of people know how to care for a mag or gig properly, so most are trying to get by w/ a BTA, which is not natural.
 
I've never had trouble with ocellaris hosting a coral, any coral, new specimens only would take a few weeks to host for me.
Had a pair kill a bubble coral once, but mostly for me they have hosted hairy mushrooms, which I do have at this time as well, but that giant cup mushroom expanding to 12" across I guess is just way too tempting, it was sad to see them go like that..so I think I should spare clowns and not get any other species as long as i have this monster
I did have a saddle back clown a few years back, that one never hosted anything, just enjoyed a rock inspite of the tank being packed with corals, but I only had her a few months before I tore that tank down and gave her away, so she may have ended up hosting something eventually..will never know
 
Most of the time when I see a post in clown/nem forum asking how do I get my clowns to accept a host, it usually ends up being an ocellaris, or an unnatural nem/clown combo, or both.
 
Sometimes even with clowns, it takes some help. Before I added my RBTA, my Maroon clowns accepted my corner overflow as their host. After adding my RBTA, it spent ended up choosing the top rock in the center of the tank. After two weeks, my clowns would not wander far enough from their corner overflow to find the anenome. I had to take the rock with the anenome on it and move it to the corner of the tank where the clowns hung out. Within 5 minutes, my clowns were swimming in and out of the anenome (I'm assuming the anenome was hosting the clowns).

After a day, or so my RBTA made it back to the middle of the tank where it liked the light and the flow, and the clowns followed it, of course.

That was in my 120g. When I upgraded to my 225g, I had to remove the rock with the RBTA on it to a temp tank while I made the swap. My clowns had such a strong relationship with the RBTA that they jumped onto the anenome when I removed it from the tank, and literally stayed in the anenome while I pulled the rock out of the water, and walked it across the house to the temp tank. They were literally laying on the anenome while it was out of water and being walked across the house.
 
Clarkiis will associate with any anemone in my experience. I have not had ocellaris or percs associate, but it's been a while since I've tried with them.
 
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