helpmy carpet tried to eat my clowns why

[ricordia nut]

help i woke up after a nap and did not see my clowns turned on the lights and my carpet was trying to eat them had them pulled almost into thier mouth but i got them out and now they are swimming just fine but have some white stuff on them but they seem ok why would my carpet do this to them i thought the clowns dont get caught in them the clowns are only 3 days old in the tank i took the carpet out and put in another tank but why would it do it

 

[GSMguy]

are you sure they were being eaten and not hosting?

 

[raleej337]

if your carpet is haddoni there is a possibility, i have my clown almost eaten by my haddoni.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Re: helpmy carpet tried to eat my clowns why

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488660#post10488660 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ricordia nut
help i woke up after a nap and did not see my clowns turned on the lights and my carpet was trying to eat them had them pulled almost into thier mouth but i got them out and now they are swimming just fine but have some white stuff on them but they seem ok why would my carpet do this to them i thought the clowns dont get caught in them the clowns are only 3 days old in the tank i took the carpet out and put in another tank but why would it do it

what kind of "carpet"?
what type of Clownfish?

 

[marc price]

i'm guessing that they aren't a natural host.

 

[kkyyllee]

what type of carpet? did you have to actually remove them or did they swim out fine?

 

[ricordia nut]

had to remove them its a hoddoni
they are black and white o/c and my truer black onyx

 

[phender]

It is not unusual for ocellaris clowns to get stung by haddoni carpets.
Haddoni carpets have a very powerful sting. Clowns that naturally accept haddoni carpets have more natural resistance to the sting than ocellaris do. I don't know if the polymnus and clarki complex clowns have a slightly different chemical makeup of their slime layer or the layer is thicker, but they don't get stung as hard as the ocellaris.

In addition clowns have to acclimate themselves to the anemone. Some clowns do this by rubbing against the base of the anemone. Some allow themselves to get stung a little at first to get some anemone slime on them. Because haddonis sting is so powerful and the ocellaris' natural immunity rather weak, the initial contact sometimes doesn't go very well for the ocellaris.
In nature it is not a problem because ocellaris clowns are not found in haddoni carpets.

 

[AquaReeferMan]

My S. haddoni ate both of my ORA Black and White Ocellaris clowns(nice$80 meal) and almost got my Percula. I was able to pull the perc out. Such a shame they were a nice trio of clowns. They wouldnt go near it for months. Then one day my power went out and they dove in. I knew it something was wrong because they couldnt get away. Like stated above I was only able to save my Perc. I now have a pair of Saddleback clowns(A. polymnus) with it.

 

[rkelman]

Its odd I never saw the acclimation behavior with my Ocellaris clowns. After about 6 days they started to be hosted. Until then I never saw them near the anem.