How to get clowns to host an Anemone?

[aaronlp]

Heres an age old question how do you do it?:deadhorse: Well here it goes i have just today purchased a mated pair of maroon clowns i was lucky enough to have them go straight to my Rose Bubble ANemone but say i setup another tank and its Percs or Ocellaris clowns or some other species, how do i do it and how long will it take?

Thanks!

Any help is much appreciated!!!

Happy Reefing!

-Aaron

 

[IronMan72]

I have a pair of amphiprion ocellaris and four rbta for them to choose from - they have never shown any interest.

 

[Tonynlo]

If they like it, they will go in. If not, then they will host in your brain coral. I know from experience... ugh.

 

[aaronlp]

haha i got lucky my maroons went straight to my rose bubble...imjust trying to figure out say u start them off in a biocube with tons of naemones will they then hsot anything else?

 

[jeremyjoslin]

Depends on if your clowns want to. They're like cats, I guess. If they don't want to, then forget it now.

I've tried:

1.) taping picture to side of tank showing of a clown doing what they're supposed to in an anemone
2.) adding anemone crabs to make the clowns jealous
3.) removing anemone and clown into a 5g bucket to put them in time-out so they can think about what they've done and focus on the task at hand.
4.) feeding the anemone while clowns are hungry so they have to go into anemone to get food.

All were 100% failure.

 

[Willistein]

Not sure exactly what you're asking - either the anemone hosts the clowns or it doesn't. For Percs and Ocs, the BTAs are not a natural host (if I remember right).

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

1) Put clowns and 'nem in the same tank
2) wait

 

[aaronlp]

^ +1 lol

 

[Grenade Glass]

1) Put clowns and 'nem in the same tank
2) wait

ditto, took my clowns almost a year to figure it out

 

[jeremyjoslin]

1) Put clowns and 'nem in the same tank
2) wait

I hear geriatric clowns are more likely to be hosted...

 

[TruespeedEM1]

This may be superstituos, but after I got my nem, i read only that someone taped a picture of a clownfish in a anemone to their tank and it worked, so I said hey what the heck it cant hurt to try.

Well, I left for work that morning and taped in on the tank, when I came home from lunch, they were playing in it. I had just gotten the anemone a day before and they didnt even acknowledge it. Worth a shot!

 

[jeremyjoslin]

Depends on if your clowns want to. They're like cats, I guess. If they don't want to, then forget it now.

I've tried:

1.) taping picture to side of tank showing of a clown doing what they're supposed to in an anemone
2.) adding anemone crabs to make the clowns jealous
3.) removing anemone and clown into a 5g bucket to put them in time-out so they can think about what they've done and focus on the task at hand.
4.) feeding the anemone while clowns are hungry so they have to go into anemone to get food.

All were 100% failure.

Just for the record so no is confused, I did all of these a YEAR after they were introduced.

A day of adjustment like TruespeedEM1 had is not a convincing anecdote, although I wish I had his/her luck.

 

[TheRealRuk]

ditto, took my clowns almost a year to figure it out

Mine took a little over a year, now I can't get them out of it.

 

[acdraindrps]

Do your clowns sleep in the upper corner of your tank?

My last pair wouldnt host either, and eventually one of my nems crawled up to the corner where they "slept" and after that they hosted. Worth a shot.

 

[teamdulski]

The picture trick worked for me in under an hour, I almost fell over.

 

[TruespeedEM1]

The picture trick worked for me in under an hour, I almost fell over.

Glad it worked for somebody else too!

 

[cardiffgiant]

I have a couple of black percs and a couple of RBTAs. They've checked the nems out, but only host in my GSP. Not casually either. They go crazy in the stuff.

 

[Jacwil]

The picture trick worked for me in under an hour, I almost fell over.

How long were the nem and clowns together before this and was there any interest in the nem?