Percula's Hosting Softies

[helloiamspecial]

Hello all, I have a 55g, mostly soft coral at this point. I just bought 2 false perculas, and it looks like they're pairing up nicely. I was wondering if there are any chances of them hosting one of the soft coral pieces I have in my tank?

The faily large coral includes a medium sized neptia, a large 5 inch diameter neptia, 4 inch frogspawn, and a massive 6 inch radius leather toadstool.

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice or tips on the chances/methods of them hosting any of these.

 

[BeanMachine]

I have a 55 as well. My Saddleback clown hosts the Flower Pot Coral (Goniopora) that I have.

Not sure about particular corals, but I've read many a post here on RC that mention their clowns hosting a variety of different corals.

Bean

 

[helloiamspecial]

As far as the actual hosting, do the clowns just pick a coral and take to it, once they've settled in the reef?

 

[username in use]

MY clown hosts in my frogspawn, she is never more than a few inches away from it unless im feeding the tank. Sometimes it dissapears completely within the coral all day.

 

[helloiamspecial]

usernameinuse, the clowns don't bother the frogspawn at all?

 

[Mariner]

Your clowns could potentially host in any of those corals...or not. Just depends on their personal preference.
My clowns really like my leather toadstool.
Here are a couple of older pics:

Mariner

 

[ILLiDaN]

mine host a frog spawn and a hammerhead......only problems are when they rub real hard sometimes they get cut up but heal in a mater of days

 

[helloiamspecial]

Any ideas for long it usually takes for them to host a coral?

 

[lkc]

You should aim for the leather as a host. Not only do the clowns get cut up, but the frogspawn will become damaged by the clowns constantly rubbing itself against its own calcerous base. It can die. I don't know about flower pots because they are not recommended for captive systems.

 

[Mariner]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14888331#post14888331 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by helloiamspecial
Any ideas for long it usually takes for them to host a coral?

All up to the individual. Some never do. I had one for a couple of years that wouldn't host. When I got the juvi in the pic above, it started hosting in the leather immediately, and eventually the other one caught on.
HTH,
Mariner

 

[ILLiDaN]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14889164#post14889164 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lkc
You should aim for the leather as a host. Not only do the clowns get cut up, but the frogspawn will become damaged by the clowns constantly rubbing itself against its own calcerous base. It can die. I don't know about flower pots because they are not recommended for captive systems.

in my experience it really isn't too much of a problem, my frogspawns have been healthy and growing new heads.

They will host w,e makes them happy so don't worry they will host something sometime

 

[beetlenut33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14889164#post14889164 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lkc
You should aim for the leather as a host. Not only do the clowns get cut up, but the frogspawn will become damaged by the clowns constantly rubbing itself against its own calcerous base. It can die. I don't know about flower pots because they are not recommended for captive systems.

My frogspawn looks like it is growing, no adverse affects from the clowns hosting it. Has this happened to you?

 

[username in use]

yeah, my clown is real gentle on the coral, it swims to the botom of the tank and then raises up into the center of the heads, dissapearing completely. When it is on top, it barely grazes the tips of the branches.

 

[ctenophors rule]

yo get this, my clowns host my hair algae at night!

i hate hair alage

 

[ladyonyx]

As far as how long it takes them to host, that varies a lot too. My clowns took about 5 weeks to host my torch coral, but sometimes they'll host a coral within a matter of days, or sometimes several months. They'll figure it out eventually

 

[schang9584]

some of the heads on my frogspawn almost died because of clowns hosting it. the flesh began receding where they kept rubbing against it so I got two bubble tips and now they usually host in those and only occasionally go hang out in the frogspawn. never had problems with my percs hosting. they will host anything, when I took out the frogspawn to help it recover they went and hosted the hammer, duncans, torch, and bubble coral.