How to get clowns to host in my RBTA

Ding2daDong

Ding2daDong

New member
I bought a RBTA a week ago and my clowns are just not going in it. They were in a tank previously with a carpet anemone so I thought they would easily go into the RBTA.

Is their any tips or tricks to get them to go in the RBTA besides "time"?

Thanks for the help

-Matthew
 
use a fish net, catch em, and put the in the anenome. pretty soon they won't come out and they will host in it forever. thats what I did.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13439829#post13439829 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by weluvfish54
tape a picture of clowns in an anemone to the side of your tank that the anemone is..its been proven to work.
Click to expand...

Where do I get a huge picture of clownfish in an anemone?

I thought about the "catching and throwing in the anemone" idea but I don't want to stress them out.

Thanks for the help guys.

Any other suggestions.

-Matthew
 
you can find a big pic of them in anemone on here. It was in a thread just a few days ago, but I think they are ocellaris and not percs. My ocellaris won't have anything to do with her gbta - I had a ritteri prior to the bta, and couldnt keep her out of it. However the ritteri was unsavable (got it super cheap @ the lfs because it had puked its zooxanthellae but I couldnt revive it -tried doxy dips- and it wouldnt ever eat, it was just too far gone) so I got the bta for her. Its as big as the ritteri was and coloured similar but she knows its not a natural host and won't go near it. You may try spot feeding the clowns near it to coax them. I've decided that some clowns just won't host. I traded my last pr of ocellaris (different tank) for a pr of gsms so I could see them host my gbta and rbta.
 
I just posted a picture the other day on a thread for someone to use to try the same thing. Waiting to hear the result's.
I told my neighbor to do the same thing with the picture, she was having the same problem getting her clowns to host. She posted two picture's on the side of her tank and by the next morning all four of her clowns were in the anemone's. So weird as it may sound I guess in some case's it works.
 
google image ftw i used this pic taped it on side of my tank with in 6hrs both clowns were hiding in the nem...

clownfish.jpg
 
I think the clowns go into the anemone because they get stressed out and need to find something to "hide" in. My ocellaris clowns didn't touch my anemone for 10 months. I moved my tank in the spring to the new house and didn't get a chance to set everything up before I went to bed. The powerheads were in the tank, but the water level was a bit low, and the return pump from the sump wasn't on. I woke up to find the clowns in the anemone. I think the move stressed them out and caused them to go into the bubble tip.

The large picture of the clown probably scares them into hosting. Maybe any large picture of a predatory fish would do the same? Good luck getting them to host.

Ohh, by the way, the clown in the anemone picture didn't work for me. I left 2 pictures up for a few months and didn't have any luck.
 
I think I went overboard with the pictures...

IMG_1976.jpg


IMG_1977.jpg


They are definetly disturbed by the photos but still have yet to go in the anemone.

-Matthew
 
LOL that's awsome. I hope it works out for you. What's a predatory fish that preys on clowns? A grouper? I wonder if anyones tried NirvanaFans hypothesis?
 
1 of mine took 3 days and it was in the BTA - the second hasn't gone into it yet, when it's stressed, it goes onto a hammer I have.
I hope they move in together.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I replaced a few of the clownfish pictures with clownfish in RBTA so hopefully that will help.

Still no luck yet but they pass it all the time. Still keeping my fingers crossed.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

-Matthew
 
You may want to try a picture of the clowns actually in a Nem. This is the picture I posted for another person to use.
DSC04248-3.jpg
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13439938#post13439938 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ding2daDong

I thought about the "catching and throwing in the anemone" idea but I don't want to stress them out.
Click to expand...

That would probably kill them, since clowns need to acclimate themselves to an anemone slowly on their own. I've used the pic method with success. I tried different pics over the course of a week and it finally worked. I agree with others here that the clowns move into the nem when they feel threatened or hunted.

I'd also politely advise that everyone make sure that the BTA is fairly large (a full 6 inches diameter at least?) before taking on a pair of clowns. A BTA that is too small can get "loved to death" by their new clown tenants.

The smarter guys and gals can confirm, but I think the issue is that the BTA isn't a natural host for percs, so it doesn't "smell" right. If you add one of the right carpet types, they usually run right to them.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13446127#post13446127 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jubjubrsx
give it a few days big guy....took my clowns a few days of the pic to get them to host.
Click to expand...

Okay I will. Oh and I lovee your avatar, brings me back in elementary/middle school when I used to watch that show and while everyone I knew was watching nickelodeon.

Coral C's, I will try that picture aswell. Printing now.

BigJay, I know about having to acclimate clownfish to anemones. I meant to elaborate that I wanted to atleast get them to touch it and I think that would be enough for them to eventually go in it. My RBTA is about 6-8" in diameter. It should be good enough.

Thanks again for the help guys. No luck yet but all the pictures are up and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

-Matthew
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13447895#post13447895 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ding2daDong
BigJay, I know about having to acclimate clownfish to anemones. I meant to elaborate that I wanted to atleast get them to touch it and I think that would be enough for them to eventually go in it. My RBTA is about 6-8" in diameter. It should be good enough.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as patronizing.

Here are a couple of threads with really nice pictures of clowns hosting, along with more hosting advice. I hope it comes in handy.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1478888
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1471790
 
i tried the pic thing, too.... it didn't work.. I blame ORA with their tank-raised fish that've never seen an anemone. (not knockin' breeding, though)
 
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