I have had a maroon clown in my tank for about 2 months now. My future planning calls for adding a bubble tip anemone in another couple of months, my aquarium is about 3 months old now and has just seemed to become stabilized recently. Do clownfish eventually lose their natural instinct to want to host within an anemone? My concern is that after having not been with an anemone for at least 5 months, there is perhaps a greater chance that the clown may not take to the anemone....or would time not really play a factor in it's decision to host or not? Of course, if the clown was perhaps tank bred (wasn't labeled as such at LSF), it may have never seen an anemone period. Also, does anyone know what percentage on average of clownfish in an aquarium will accept an anemone to host within? I want an anemone regardless just for it's own beauty, but was just curious if anyone knew these answers. Thanks.
maroon clown- bubble tip anemone
- Thread starter yakfishin
- Start date
Marinemom
New member
It can be a crap shoot with clown fish and thier anenomes. Some will host ansd some will not. Some will host weird things like a powerhead. I guess you will have to just wait and see. However, your tank only being up and running for three months now seems a little young to put an anenome in anyways. I had one when my tank was around seven months old and the thing was running all over my tank knocking down corals and creating havoc everywhere it went. If I were you I would think this through a little more before attempting an anenome in the tank. Clowns do not necessarly need an anenome anyways and do fine without them.
Marinemom
Marinemom
papagimp
COMAS Rocks!
This is a good point. No guarentee that he'll want your anemone though. It's a crap shoot. You could put that expensive nice display specimen green bubble tip anemone in there and he could very well run over to the cheapy GSP colony that somebody gave you and host in there. Woulnd't that just tick ya off, lol. My clowns go for whatever frogspawn is there favorite for the moment. They like to move from euphyllia to euphyllia all the time.
I'm just doing hardy mushrooms, a few zoo's and polyps. The tank is a 215G, so hopefully the anemone will have room to roam and find a suitable spot. I know anemones are not great additions to reef tanks, but would one be ok with a few soft corals? Zoomfish- I know that after reading a post and the next answer or two, you can sometimes forget what the original poster said. I did mention that I wasn't planning on adding an anemone for another couple of months, I would say 2-3 months from now, which will make my tank at that point in time about 6 months old. Is that still too young of a tank for adding an anemone? Please let me know. I want to do everything right and have the best chances for success the first time around. Thanks everyone!
zoomfish1
New member
No, 6-8 months is the recommended maturing time. If your confortable with addding it at 6 months, then I would say go ahead.
Anemones really don't move around that much after they find a spot they like. I have really only had trouble with an lTA rolling all over. If you have the lights to support it, go for it.
Anemones really don't move around that much after they find a spot they like. I have really only had trouble with an lTA rolling all over. If you have the lights to support it, go for it.
returnofsid
New member
Maroons are about the easiest to get to host. I've had Maroons in 2 different tanks that either NEVER had a host or hadn't for a very long time. Both hosted with RBTAs within minutes of it being put in the tank. I actually wish they'd have taken a lil' longer to host as it woulda allowed the RBTA more time to settle in.
Great information guys, always nice to get advice from those more experienced in this hobby. I'll make sure my tank has been stable for a few months before adding the BTA. At least now I know that time away from an anemone doesn't seem to play a factor in wether or not it will host, so I won't think I have to rush anything. I think I will wait until sometime after my vacation this summer before attempting to add the BTA. I have power compact lighting, probably not enough light at the bottom because the tank is 29" tall, but I have rock work that goes at least 2/3 of the way to the top on side of the tank, so he should easily find a place where the lighting is certainly suitable, I may even add another strip of lighting to that side of the tank just in case. Thanks again!
returnofsid
New member
I've been commenting on this same issue in another thread the past few days. I have a 46 bowfront and had a 29 gallon reef. Both tanks were lit by PC lighting. Both tanks had RBTAs that were thriving and growing very well. A lot of people will tell you it can't be done...and maybe it's not the best way to go about it. All I know is that it worked for me and my RBTAs usually had nice bulbed tentacles....not all stretched out like they were needing more light.
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