is it possible that some clowns won't host anything?

[lionbacker54]

i have a tank bred ocellaris, and it won't host anything. i have a BTA, as well as two types of xenia and a large colony of button polyps. it just shows no interest. is it possible that some tank bred fish just won't host anything?

 

[scottallert]

yes.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Tank breed has nothing to do with it. Being hosting is an inborn act, as opposed to learned.

 

[Dragonlady]

Patience is the key here, as it is with almost everything. It might help to print out a picture of a clown hosting in an anemone and have it as a temporary background near the preferred host.

 

[davocean]

Occs seem to slowly if ever take to a host.

 

[600k4]

It took my tank bred about a year before it hosted my rbta.

in a prior setup I had a maroon clown hosting in two seconds..

good luck and have patients!

 

[vaporize]

I agreed, I once introduced a new batch of t.r. ocellaris and in their lives they only see heaters / airstones / air pump and food coming from the top.

Once they are in the tank of RBTA, they rush in.

However I do agreed that they do 'learn' by watching others.

Video of them after 5 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrCXgEILwXY

 

[noboddi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14343284#post14343284 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
Tank breed has nothing to do with it. Being hosting is an inborn act, as opposed to learned.

My experience over 20 years is completely different. I find that wild clowns are much quicker to host, but I don't think it's because they are wild. I think it's because they have hosted before and are quicker to identify hosts. Occelaris identify their hosts through smell, so it may take a while for your guys to figure it out as BTA is not their natural host.

For the record, I do not recommend wild caught clowns, for a variety of reasons

 

[hahaitzmickey]

yea you gotta have patience. um what i did was i took both my clowns ( TR true percs.) and i took my new bta i bought. i put them all in a floating basket.turn the lights to dim or off
and 10 hours later they started playing in it and i slowly put it back down to the surface with the lights off still so they would stay in it. you can try that out and see if it works for ya. but remember its up to the clown if they wanna use it as a host. i'll send ya a link of the pictures.

 

[hahaitzmickey]

here is the link to my thread, but i heard if you do it in the dark, try not to wake up the clowns while they are sleeping. could send them into some crazy shock and jump out the water.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1568286