Occys biting BTA

[ReefAus]

Hi

I have two B&W occellaris that are biting the underside of a BTA I have and I'm not sure what they're doing for ie food or is it part of their bahaviour? The BTA certainly isn't playing host to these guys and when ever one of the tenticles touch the female she freaks out. Any thoughts on the behaviour? Thanks.

Rgds

Steve

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

They are biting the anemones to get it to produce more mucus. They'll rub the mucus on themselves therefor coating them with a layer of the anemone's mucus and they'll be able to go into the anemone without being stung or recognized as another animal. I'm guessing they'll be hosted withing a week or two.

 

[ReefAus]

Gee, I'll be happy if that happens as I've had these guys with the same nem for about 18 months and they haven't seemed too interested until recently. Thanks.

Steve

 

[ocellaris123]

My pair of b/w ocellaris have been harassing the anemone by biting the undersideto get better access to their chosen spawning site. This caused my anemone to close up significantly. Since they are probably not going to spawn for another couple of weeks the anemone is fully open again, and they no longer harass the anemone, for now at least.

But as waffle says since the anemone is not hosting the clowns, they are probably getting used to it.

 

[ReefAus]

Well, it'll have to be a wait and see game for me then...I'm going to put a Crispa in the tank and see what that does. The occys are captive bred so don't hold out too much hope of them being hosted by a nem.