Clowns not choosing a host.

[WetShepherd]

Please excuse me if this has been asked - search criteria brings up a lot of 'not hosting in x or y', where my question is more general.

My pair of Ocellaris clowns don't appear to be interested in choosing a host - is this normal and is it a problem? I'm also somewhat unclear if they are paired, in the process of pairing or have reached a mutual understanding (i've read the faq).

First - neither fish sleeps in a single area, and they frequently sleep in different areas. The female has so many different places that she likes to sleep I can't really list them all, but they include vertically next to a recently added thermometer, vertically in any of the corners, horizontally almost anywhere else. The male seems to favor three different caves and one power head. The male does protect one of the caves from our royal gramma and yellow wrasse, but shares it willingly with two cleaner shrimp. About a 5th of the time, both fish will share a cave - maybe less.

Regarding their pairing - the female and male are obvious. We reached the stage where she was picking on him incessantly and he'd given up and just spent most of his time in one particular cave. That passed, but rather than swimming together now, they just go about their business as though they were different species. He's only occasionally picked on now, but does submit and twitch as expected.

I've had them in the tank for a little over 7 weeks. I'm not sure how old they were when I bought them home, but they were somewhat grown at 2+ inches.

Any insights?

 

[garygb]

It's not harmful if clowns don't have a natural host. Many clownfish are successfully bred and reared without a natural host anemone (or surrogate host for that matter). You don't mention what type of host you are hoping they will go to. For ocellaris, the natural host species are the following anemones: gigantea, magnifica and mertensii. In aquaria they will sometimes take to other cnidaria like hairy mushrooms, polyps, other species of anemone like Entacmaea quadricolor. However, if you want to make sure your ocellaris go to a host, provide one of the natural host species (all of which are considered difficult and for hobbyists with several years experience).

 

[WetShepherd]

It's not harmful if clowns don't have a natural host. Many clownfish are successfully bred and reared without a natural host anemone (or surrogate host for that matter). You don't mention what type of host you are hoping they will go to. For ocellaris, the natural host species are the following anemones: gigantea, magnifica and mertensii. In aquaria they will sometimes take to other cnidaria like hairy mushrooms, polyps, other species of anemone like Entacmaea quadricolor. However, if you want to make sure your ocellaris go to a host, provide one of the natural host species (all of which are considered difficult and for hobbyists with several years experience).

Being both new to the hobby (hobby seems like a weak description after a few months) and running a 55g long I've pretty much ruled out an anemone. I didn't list what I'm hopeful they will chose as a host because I wasn't actually harboring a particular hope, except perhaps that they not choose my elegance hehe. I had just assumed that they would pick a place on their own (cave, coral, rock - even heard of power heads). Actually I guess I assumed it, which is what led to this thread. My only real concern is that it's not a sign of distress that they sleep anywhere and everywhere. They seem happy otherwise - they have both grown and are happy to be hand fed.

Thanks for the reply