How long for tank raised clown to host?

A

aydemir

New member
I have a tank raised ocellaris clown (not sure of his age, but he is about 2 inches long right now), and a sebae anemone. The nem is bleached white with purple tips, hopefully he turns brownish in a few months. So far the clown hasnt really shown any interest in the anemone at all, how long would it take for it to host? Also the anemone hasnt really stayed in one spot for more than 3 days, and doesnt seem to be accepting food. Ive dosed the water with Kent microvert but how do I tell if the anemone is doing good? Also, Im thinking of returning the nem because its not a good fit for the tank, what would be the best kind of nem to get for the clown? (10g temporary tank, upgrading to a 40 soon)
 
Dang, Its only been 3 weeks, but it feels like FOREVER! It would be the coolest thing in my tank by far to have clown/anemone symbiosis
 
I heard good results by either feeding the nem and seeing of the clown goes in for he food, or post of a pic of some clowns in nems against the tank and sometimes they "get the picture". If our have room by your tank, try playing a loop of clowns in nems on your laptop or PC and let them see it.
Another option is to get a smaller clown that is already hosting in a nem at the store, and the other one should do the same once she sees him doing it.
 
Yeah Ive been doing the pictures, I have 4 taped onto the tank lol. Its only been 2 days since the pictures have come up, don't see much of a difference in his behaviour. I even got pictures of ocellaris and white sebae! I moved it to where he sleeps but he didnt seem to notice and the nem moved back. Im considering getting an ocellaris from the ocean...
 
Wild caught are much more prone to diseases. I work at a Petco, and plenty of clowns I get in will start hosting the nems I have in their tank. Just pick one out that has already started hosting. Just make sure it's 1.5 inch or smaller if yours is close to two already to make sure it's a male.
 
Crispa is not a natural host for ocellaris, so it may or may not be hosted. If you provide a natural host, then it usually happens very quickly. Being captive bred isn't a factor in whether a clownfish will be hosted. Their attraction to natural host species is instinctive.
 
My first oce started hosting in my Xenia colonie as soon as it was big enough, and kept the black oce away from her little patch. Then as soon as I placed the black oce into the tank with a rbta, he went into it immediately. Then when I introduced their new mates, the new ones also immediately went into the host. It only take one fish to show another, but it really depends on each fish and sometimes they chose not to host in anything. That said, bta are the most widely accepted host anemone, and the easiest to keep. It does not need to be a natural host of that clown, just a hosting nem.
 
Tank raise or not is not really a significnt factor in accept host anemone. Natural host species or not is a much more significant reason. It the fish feel threathen, it will more likely dove right into the host anemone. Becareful with Carpets and LTA, they have been know to eat the clown righ up when this happen (not everytime, but often enough) even if they are the natural host of the clown fish.
At a LFS here in Corpus Christi, I saw a large healthy Haddoni carpet ate a wild caught Clarkii as soon as the clown was release from the shipping bag and jumb straight to the Carpet.
 
joekidwell said:
My tomato found my rbta in two days, all fish are different.
Click to expand...

That is because BTA is a natural host for tomato clowns.

For the OP, my female ocellaris took a year before it decided to go in my BTA. I am pretty sure she was tank bred.
 
I agree its up to the individual fish. I have 3 tanks with BTAs. One with a pair of tank bred and raised darwin black occys, they associated with it in a day.

One with a pair of yellow stripe maroons (who are naturally found in BTAs) that took 6+ months to associate with their BTA.

And a pair of orange skunk clowns (some say the easiest to get to associate with any nem) that has yet to associate.

So the rules of thumb are just that, not hard and fast rules.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2
 
The clown got really close a couple of times today! It looked like it was pecking around for food around the tank, and looked like it nipped the anemones tentacles. Then Im not sure if it was intentional, but it rubbed the anemone with its belly, but it looked like it was pecking at food on the substrate (it wasnt facing the anemone). Does this mean it is starting to host?
 
Yes it does. I am sure if you put your hand into the tank the clowns will dive straight to the anemone. Congratulation.
 
aydemir said:
... Ive dosed the water with Kent microvert but how do I tell if the anemone is doing good? Also, Im thinking of returning the nem because its not a good fit for the tank, what would be the best kind of nem to get for the clown? (10g temporary tank, upgrading to a 40 soon)
Click to expand...

Many, many years ago, clowns and anemones were what brought me to salt water aquarium also.

10 g is really too small for a H. crispa. Hope you will upgrade soon. Kent microvert does not do the anemone any good. I would wait until he settle and dig into the sand, then feed him.
You do have a sand bed don't your? Sebae anemone is a sand bed anemone and require a sand bed to dig their food into to be happy. What kind of light do you have on this tank?

Once the anemone settle, feed him with small chopped sea food, total of about 1/2 cc and see if he take it. Chopped the seafood down to the size of mysis shrimp would be great/best. I use human grade food to feed my anemone. Too many time I find frozen food for fish to be spoiled and could be very detrimental/kill the anemone if these food are fed to them.

Good luck
 
I have 2 20w 50/50 coralife bulbs on the tank hood (will be upgraded with the new tank, thinking of radions). Btw, anyone know of any corals that will hold their own against the anemone? Im sure the anemone will settle in a spot and stay there for most of its life, but in case it decides to go on vacation Im trying to get some hardy corals. Can I feed it mysis shrimp? And yes, I have a sand bed, its about 2.5 inches deep. Thanks for all the help guys :)
 
aydemir said:
.... Can I feed it mysis shrimp?....
Click to expand...

Like I said before, I only feed my anemone with human grade seafood. Mysis is OK for fish, they spit it ow if it is bad. Anemone will get infected and likely die if it swallow bad/spoiled food. Anemone just have chemical stimuli and ingest food accordingly. It cannot tell bad/spoiled food from good good.
 
I recently got a RBTA. My 2 ocellaris ignored it just like yours, other then the first day I put it in they inspected it for a few minutes.

Well luckily the anemone moved right into the clowns sleeping spot, and now I will see the bigger clown brushing up in it all day and won't let the smaller one near it. Not sure if it's hosting it because he doesn't sleep in the anemone.
 
update

update

Good and bad news: The clown looked like it was starting to host the sebae (rubbing against it for a second about every 10 minutes), but the anemone was declining in health, so I traded it for a bta. Hopefully the clown starts hosting soon, since it started trying to host the sebae, will it take a while for it to start hosting the bta? The bta moved up right by the power filter, looking for more flow I presume. Anyway for me to get it to move (lol)? I just purchased a hydor pico pump, 200gph, to go along with the power filter. One more quick question, LFS owner that sold me the bta said it looked like a rose bta, but I wasn't so sure, any ideas?
 
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