Mantis+Clownfish& their anemone

DivaMan

New member
Well Im going to college here in a year, and the place im panning onm going to allows pets that can stay underwater for more than 15 minutes. I Was planning on a 30gallon breeder tank to house my anemone and associated clownfish. However, my mantis, G Weenrae is one of my favorite animals, next to my clowns, and I was thinking that because the clownfish live their entire lives in the anemone the mantis would leave them alone. The clown are A. Percula and the anemone, E. Quadricolor, rose variety (Rose Bubble Anemone)
 
I think that setup would be fine if your clown fish stay in or around their anemone during the hours your mantis is active, if they do a lot of swimming around in open water they'll likely be eaten. I have had a 4" G. Chiragra in a 24 gal nanocube with a Skunk Clown & BT Anemone for about a year now (it will be a year in October). The only time my mantis has tried to move in on the clown is during feeding. When food hits the water the clown fish stops watching the mantis and will swim out into open water to get its food, that is all the mantis needs to catch it. The clown almost died that way about half a dozen times before I figured out that I should be feeding him when the mantis' burrow is closed for the night. That won't solve all of your problems as you will still need to feed your mantis and your clown fish will probably go after that food too, but it does cut down on the "OH ****!!" moments.
 
Here is a picture of my Clown fish/Mantis setup, I just added the Sunpod light on Saturday (its glorious :cool: )

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A short (1 minute) vid of my mantis and clown fish. You can see the clown in the upper left hand side of the screen:

******* width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i238.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid238.photobucket.com/albums/ff208/jcerdena/Mantis_and_Clown.flv">

Direct link if the above video doesn't work:

http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff208/jcerdena/?action=view&current=Mantis_and_Clown.flv

I'm not very familiar with posting pics/vids on this site so I hope these work, and provide atleast some help in setting up your tank.
 
I have a wannerae in my 55 gal reef tank. I have a pair of clown in their anemone. The mantis has not tried to get the clowns. I have damsels in there as well, they all lived happily.

I hope your clown and mantis get along.
 
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