possible way to get clowsn to host

[monkeybiz]

i had a couple of ocellaris clowns in my tank since november and along the way added one small rbta and a much larger rbta that split into two smaller ones. well needless to say the clowns never showed any interest in the anemones.

i recently decided to sell my clowns so i put them in a tupperware container with alot of holes drilled in it. the idea behind this is that transferring fish and acclimating is stressfull so chasing them around a tank for 15 minutes with a net right before i bag them up in the last thing i wanted to put them through. i then noticed that one of the rbta clones climbed up on the back wall. so i removed it and put it in the bowl with the clownfish.

as soon as the lights went out the smaller male was swimming in and around the rbta. by morning the lager females was hosting the rbta and not letting the male in.

i always thought about trying this and didn't actually do it till woodstock (donisreef.com) said that it should be ok.

just wanted to share my experience. please realize there is a risk in trying this. the main reason i did it was because i had to separate the fish cause they're going to be sold and i saw a chance to get the anemone before it crawled onto a rock never to come off again.

here's a link to a video i took. don't know how to post the video...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42995111@N07/4341424758/

im actually really sad to sell the fish, but i really wanted a pair of picassos and dont have time/money to maintain two tanks.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Glad it turned out for you, but I would suggest against trying this. With any of the more aggressive/sticky anemones could have very well ended up with an eaten clown.

 

[tahoe61]

glad it turned out for you, but i would suggest against trying this. With any of the more aggressive/sticky anemones could have very well ended up with an eaten clown.

+1

 

[monkeybiz]

i agree as well, and would have hesitated if the anemone were larger in size, but the nem wasn't much larger than the clownfish and felt that the rbta would have had a slim chance of holding onto a healthy clownfish.

that being said i would like to say again that anyone trying this should very well be prepared to lose a fish as it is possible that the anemone will eat the clownfish before the clown has had proper time to get that coat of mucus that lets the anemone know theyre not food.


the fact that theyre hosting now does make it alot harder for me to sell them though... but those picasso from donisreef are soooo nice.