Clowns and Anemones Simulation.

[MrBunny]

Clowns and Anemones Simulation.

What exactly is the simulation I am planing on making?
Well, the simulation is based off an agent based model. Some examples of what agent based models are boids(flocking) or predator prey simulations.

Thats great and dandy, but what's that have to do with clowns and anemones?
Well, what my idea is to have a map where there would be clowns and anemones. The clowns would look for the anemones while the anemones are looking for food. Ultimately showing the survival of clowns and anemones and seeing what other interesting things might occur with some clown anemone logic.

Before I can start thinking up the logic of the simulation I need some questions answered.

Do Clowns in the wild always host anemones?
Can a clown survive without a host of any kind in the wild?
What is the main source of food for both the clown and the anemone?
Are they just opportunistic feeders?
What percent of meaty foods dose an anemone need to survive?
Is the other percent light?
Does an anemone move in the wild?
What reason does an anemone move?
What is the relationship between neighboring anemones and clowns?

So I need some help if you have answer to any of the above question would be great if you have resources or links to some of these answers would be even better. If you think some other elements might be essential to the relationship and or something else I should look into would be welcomed. I will update this thread as I go through the versions of this project.

 

[garygb]

I can answer some of your questions: Yes, in the wild clowns are always hosted by anemones (not the other way around, obviously); No, clowns don't survive long w/o a host, research has shown; Main source of food is small critters that drift by; yes, clowns are opportunistic feeders in that they rely on what the currents bring them; I can't tell you about the percentages, flake food or frozen food is completely adequate; Yes, anemones will move in the wild, some believe they move to different locations depending on their size and maturity, however they tend to remain in the same location for extended periods; They might move because of an offending neighbor, such as a stinging coral or maturity level as I already mentioned, or perhaps some other environmental factor relating to current or food availability; As far as the relationship with neighboring anemones, that depends on the species. Some species of anemone are found solitary and others, such as H. magnifica and E. quadricolor are found in large colonies, perhaps clonal colonies. I'm not sure what your question is pertaining to clowns and their neighbors.

 

[garygb]

As far as resources, I suggest Joyce Wilkerson's book entitled Clownfishes, and Fautin and Allen's book entitled Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones.

 

[MrBunny]

Thanks, is Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones. an online book?
http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/intro.html
is that correct?

 

[garygb]

Yeah, that's the correct book.