My Clown Hosted my Alveopora?

[Brucechm]

Hey there, I have a pair of tank raised clown fish. I've been trying to get them to host my bubble tip with no luck. Suddenly they decided to host my Alveopora when I have a perfectly fine bubble tip 8 inches away from it. They won't come out of it, they even sleep in it.
Do anyone know if having clown hosting my Alveopora is going to kill my coral? It doesn't seem to be stressed out by it, the polyps all stay fully extended, it just makes me nervous when they are rubbing up against the hard body of the coral.

 

[balz3352]

Clownfish are stupid they "sleep around" my torch hosted them before I moved the torch out of the tank.

 

[Brucechm]

Think they'll kill it if I leave them?

 

[A sea K]

They may irritate it and cause slow minimal damage that could be harmful in the long run. I would just keep an eye on the corals overall health, I'm sure as long as the polyps stay extended it is a good sign.
I have two clowns, one is hosted by a neon green trumpet and the other by a frogspawn (both corals are only a few inches apart). I've witnessed no decline in the trumpet but the frogspawn does not extend as far as it used to. Its been eight months now and even though it does not display the same amount of polyp extension I don't believe it is actually harming the coral.

 

[bked120]

That's interesting that they have no interest in the bubble tip. Although, I have 2 clowns that won't host anything except the corner of my tank. Maybe over time they will go into the anemone.

 

[homer1475]

Clowns are funny in what they host, tank raised especially.

Being tank raised they have no idea that they are supposed to be hosted by an anemone for protection from predators. In captivity there is no predator so they are just as happy being hosted by a power head as they are an anemone.

My female clown prefers the powerhead in the upper corner, where as my male prefers the gorgonian on the opposite side of the tank, even though I have a BTA in the tank. FWIW BTA's are not natural hosts for clowns.

 

[jayball]

They may irritate it and cause slow minimal damage that could be harmful in the long run. I would just keep an eye on the corals overall health, I'm sure as long as the polyps stay extended it is a good sign.

This, it is established that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. One of my clowns has moved in to my duncan. She ripped apart a dime sized spot between polyps and a bunch of tentacles but that was the extent of the damage.

 

[Brucechm]

Well they also like a terra cotta pot I put into the tank. I was hoping they would lay eggs in it. They go into it more often now during the day, it just looks out of place in a reef tank full of love rock and coral.

 

[balz3352]

Hey at least its coral i have some hair algae im working on getting rid of that the stupid clowns love

 

[Brucechm]

I just load my filters with Phophate Absorbing Media when I see unwanted algae of any type...

 

[Rilelen]

Hair algae....bwahahaha! My clowns were in love with my mag cleaner for a while....then the return nozzle from the sump (which their spawning site). My female percula has recently decided she needs to be nuzzled into the xenia at all times. She'll dart over to the return nozzle, do a little dance with my male perc, then zoom back into the xenia across the tank. Aaaaand repeat.

 

[Brucechm]

How can I force my clowns to go into the Bubble Tip? I want to pull that unnatural looking terra cotta out of my tank.

 

[A sea K]

How can I force my clowns to go into the Bubble Tip? I want to pull that unnatural looking terra cotta out of my tank.

Simply put, you can't. You can however remove where they are now (terra cotta pot) and they might just decide to rehome in the BTA.