My Clownfish sucks on the anemone

[jenzabear]

I just fed my fish today and noticed that the clownfish did not eat any of the brine or mysis, but started to suck on the tips of the anemone. Is this normal, is it eating something, I dont know??

 

[Pandora]

My clown does that also, and I've heard Bob Fenner on WWM talk about it as being common and normal behavior, mostly just cleaning them. There are supposed to be other theories as well that involve their symbiotic relationship and getting themselves immune to the nematocysts, but I don't think any have been confirmed yet.

 

[coker98]

that is their way of removing the "slime coating" off of their anemone.