Hey everyone, I'm relatively new to anemones. I've had my ocellaris clowns in my tank for almost half a year now and I added a BTA a little over a week ago. They don't show it any interest and I've come to realize after reading a few threads on clownfish on this site that they have already established a "host" area or territory by the intake or overflow. Is there any chance that they will host my anemone or is it too late?
Ocellaris Hosting BTA
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Lmecher
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I had a pair that were hosting a hairy mushroom for months. I introduced a rbta, it took them almost a year to discover it. Knowing that the bta is not a natural host for ocellaris I had almost given up hope deciding that they were never going to host. It was funny, I broke the tank down and placed every thing including livestock in a large bucket for 2 days. I was amazed when I noticed almost immediately upon putting them in they began hosting the bta and have been happily hosting for about a year now. I don't think they would establish a "host area" as they will move with the amemone, mine did to the glass wall for a split and them back to the rocks when I moved the 2 halves afterwards, the fish didn't seem upset at all about the location. : )
Well, what I meant by hosting an area is that they sleep and stay within a certain proximity of an area. As soon as I turn off the light the head over to their corner, and the BTA isn't far from their area...I'm just hoping they'll find it. Would a maroon have been a better choice as far as hosting BTA or wider variety of anemones?
Lmecher
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I am wondering have you had this clown for a year and a half and it has been sleeping in the same spot? Has it ever tried to host anything like a leather, mushroom or polyps? My brother's hosts a feather duster.
Mine chose a corrner to sleep in when they were young and pretty much slept there until they started hosting the mushroom. My new onyx chooses to sleep in a corrner near the surface, sometimes I check to see if it still alive, very wierd, usually they will choose a spot at the bottom on the sand. When not hosting they seem to roam all around the tank but once they are hosting they stay very close, darting out to grab food then right back again. Your fish is absolutely not too old or I think you mean set in it's ways to change it's preferred area, just give it time, remember mine took a year to find it's anemone(s) I have just rescentely sold my very testy maroon, it hosted very quickly, I just hated getting bit every time I entered the tank. I'd just give it some time it may host tomorrow or a year form tomorrow. If you choose you can always sell it and get a maroon but ther is no gurantee that the maroon will host for you either. : )
Mine chose a corrner to sleep in when they were young and pretty much slept there until they started hosting the mushroom. My new onyx chooses to sleep in a corrner near the surface, sometimes I check to see if it still alive, very wierd, usually they will choose a spot at the bottom on the sand. When not hosting they seem to roam all around the tank but once they are hosting they stay very close, darting out to grab food then right back again. Your fish is absolutely not too old or I think you mean set in it's ways to change it's preferred area, just give it time, remember mine took a year to find it's anemone(s) I have just rescentely sold my very testy maroon, it hosted very quickly, I just hated getting bit every time I entered the tank. I'd just give it some time it may host tomorrow or a year form tomorrow. If you choose you can always sell it and get a maroon but ther is no gurantee that the maroon will host for you either. : )
Yeah I think I've had them for almost a year, and yes, they do what you just described. They sleep in a corner every night close to the sand. They once killed a goniopora, or flower pot, coral because they tried hosting it. My LFS has a pair of true perculas that I'm eyeing, though. I might swap him and pay the difference. He has them in an anemone tank and they happily jump from bubble tip to bubble tip.
From my experience and what I have read I believe that you need to make a drastic change or do something that causes them to feel uncomfortable with their current host. Mine were hosting the corner near my power head and once I introduced my final fish, a flame angel, they began to host my GBTA within a few days. I guess you can understand that if nothing is wrong with what they are doing, then why change... kinda works like "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
i have an ocell clown and a true perc and i taped pictures of clowns hosting anemones on the tank and it started trying to host my hammer within a week i took the pics off and 1 month later i added a BTA and it hosting it within 30 mins when i first put it in. (i know this sounds wacky but it works believe me)
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