Found a way to 'force' clownfish into an Anemone

xtm

xtm

Active member
I have had the Entacmea Quadricolor and the Maroon in my SPS tank for about a month now and to my dismay, the premnas is just ignoring it. For some reason, the maroon couldn't "see" the BTA, maybe because the tank is loaded with SPS. I tried feeding the Maroon near the BTA and it did nothing. I also tried the flashlight trick and it did nothing also.

Last night it hit me.... If all clownfish in the wild are never found without an Anemone, then something must be scaring them, therefore forcing them to seek protection. So I took the Tomato clown from my nano (who is BIGGER than this Maroon) and put it in my display. In about 2 hours, the Tomato clown started to chase the smaller Maroon.. he knows he HAS to seek protection ASAP!

without further ado, he headed for the BTA and started wiggling around while trying to bite its tentacles for 1-2 seconds, then spitting it out. He also tried to rub his body around the tentacles.. I think he is trying to acquire something from the Anemone (like a scent?) so it wouldn't think he's a meal. He did this for like an hour then finally he MOVED IN!!!! IMO this is probably the best experience I've had in this hobby - to see a clownfish try to "move in". It was awesome!

I caught the Tomato clown this morning while he was sleeping and put back in his nano.. :D

Now that the Tomato clown is gone, is there a possibility that the Maroon will leave his Anemone again, now that the threat is gone??
Do clowns ever leave their host anemone for some reason or another?
 
you should be all set with a maroon in a BTA. It is unlikely to leave it.

I do caution others that some anemone/ clownfish combos can be fatal for the fish if they don't acclimate on their own time. Carpets are particularly prone to snacking on clowns that aren't acclimated to them, but I have heard many instances of other anemones eating a clown that is startled or forced into it for the first time.
 
While it's an educated guess as to how they build resistance to nems, one theory is that they absorb the stinging cells, thus the rubbing and biting tents, but yeah, they can be stung if rushed in like that w/ out building tolerance.
Your assumption that the clown didn't go there because it didn't feel threatened is probably correct, but I still wouldn't force anything.
I'm surprised your maroon didn't go there right away, tank bred?
 
I recently bought a BTA and a Tomato clown that was hosting it in the LFS. I got them both at the same time but added them at different times. The clown was lost at first and was just hiding pretty much so I figured I would try scaring him back into his anemone. I stuck my hand in the tank by him and he darted across the tank right into the anemone and hasn't left since.
 
Re: Found a way to 'force' clownfish into an Anemone

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10675151#post10675151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xtm
I have had the Entacmea Quadricolor and the Maroon in my SPS tank for about a month now and to my dismay, the premnas is just ignoring it. For some reason, the maroon couldn't "see" the BTA, maybe because the tank is loaded with SPS. I tried feeding the Maroon near the BTA and it did nothing. I also tried the flashlight trick and it did nothing also.

Last night it hit me.... If all clownfish in the wild are never found without an Anemone, then something must be scaring them, therefore forcing them to seek protection. So I took the Tomato clown from my nano (who is BIGGER than this Maroon) and put it in my display. In about 2 hours, the Tomato clown started to chase the smaller Maroon.. he knows he HAS to seek protection ASAP!

without further ado, he headed for the BTA and started wiggling around while trying to bite its tentacles for 1-2 seconds, then spitting it out. He also tried to rub his body around the tentacles.. I think he is trying to acquire something from the Anemone (like a scent?) so it wouldn't think he's a meal. He did this for like an hour then finally he MOVED IN!!!! IMO this is probably the best experience I've had in this hobby - to see a clownfish try to "move in". It was awesome!

I caught the Tomato clown this morning while he was sleeping and put back in his nano.. :D

Now that the Tomato clown is gone, is there a possibility that the Maroon will leave his Anemone again, now that the threat is gone??
Do clowns ever leave their host anemone for some reason or another?
Click to expand...
I believe the behavior you saw was the clown stimulating his bodies slime production which protects it from the nematocysts of the anemone.
 
I used a similar method. I bought an ocellaris pair, in six months they hadn’t hosted. So I bought a single clarkii, it hosted in about 2 hours. I left the clarkii in the tank for a month or two, and then removed. Once the clarki was gone, the ocellaris moved in about a week later.

Landy
 
I am going to try that. I have a rose and white bubble tip that i have tried with three different perculas that have never gone to it. Thanks for the hint. I will let you know if it works for me.
 
kcw1099 said:
I am going to try that. I have a rose and white bubble tip that i have tried with three different perculas that have never gone to it. Thanks for the hint. I will let you know if it works for me.
Click to expand...

No such thing as white bubble tip.

I just picked up 2 tank raised occelaris like a few months ago and have 3 bta's in my 30 breeder and they have yet to even go near them.
I tried putting both nem and the clowns in a breeder box overnight and that didn't do anything either
 
Since a BTA isn't a natural host for an ocellaris, it is not surprising they do not come together. Mine never did over many years. They choose a soft coral instead to live in and spawn.

Folks who really want such an anemone/clown combo might be best served by using natural pairings.
 
davocean said:
While it's an educated guess as to how they build resistance to nems, one theory is that they absorb the stinging cells
Click to expand...

Clownfish have a slime coating that causes the anemones to "think" that the clowns are part of the host anemone. Clowns are NOT immune to anemone stings, and if you remove the slime coating chemically, they will be stung and eaten (as has been proven in scientific studies). The slime coating occurs naturally on clowns, but it is believed that their behavior of rolling in anemones makes their slime coating match that of the host anemone exactly.
 
55semireef said:
It has nothing to do with being tank bred.
Click to expand...

Most tank bred clowns have been raised away from anemones. They have to "remember" the anemone behavior at a point much later in life when they have passed that point in their normal development and learned other unnatural behaviors (like sleeping at the water surface, or snuggling up to a tank heater).

Wild caught clowns are guaranteed to come directly from a hosting anemone - so they are searching for an anemone the moment they hit your tank.

Can tank bred clowns host? Absolutely. Will some tank bred clowns host as quickly as wild caught clowns? Absolutely. But are some tank bred clowns confused - and will some tank bred clowns NEVER host? Absolutely.
 
For what it's worth, it has been proven that clowns on a reef locate anemones by smell. They can find anemones several hundred yards away if the water is moving in a direct current.
 
I just pasted pictures on the tank of other clowns hosting in bta's and they took to it right away since they mimic each other
 
jumpman420 said:
I just pasted pictures on the tank of other clowns hosting in bta's and they took to it right away since they mimic each other
Click to expand...

You could have pasted pictures of monkeys playing chess on the side of your tank and the odds of your fish entering the anemone would have been exactly the same.
 
BonsaiNut said:
Most tank bred clowns have been raised away from anemones. They have to "remember" the anemone behavior at a point much later in life when they have passed that point in their normal development and learned other unnatural behaviors (like sleeping at the water surface, or snuggling up to a tank heater).

Wild caught clowns are guaranteed to come directly from a hosting anemone - so they are searching for an anemone the moment they hit your tank.

Can tank bred clowns host? Absolutely. Will some tank bred clowns host as quickly as wild caught clowns? Absolutely. But are some tank bred clowns confused - and will some tank bred clowns NEVER host? Absolutely.
Click to expand...

How do you get away with saying stuff like that? I've said basically the same thing, and it gets treated like blasphemy.:confused:
 
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