Purchasing a nem

[BinaryRun]

Hello everyone,

Brief question about nems. I have always been looking into purchasing one, especially as my clown seems aimless without one. Always wandering about, but never truly at ease.

I'm aware of the requirement to have at least 6 month old established tank, which is why I'm currently asking this question. My tank is 6 months old, but there is a minor but. I recently moved to a new apartment quite unexpectedly, during which my tank moved as well. It was a quick move (only a block away) and my tank was filled and functioning again with my happy xenia coral and fish after just 3 hours.

Has this reset the clock / time requirement before getting a nem or would it be okay to get one at this point? If so, do you have any particular tips for ensuring that I purchase a good specimen?

 

[flooddc]

As long as your parameters are stable and you're keeping up with your maintenance, I think you're be okay.
Just be aware that some clowns will/might not go near the nem.
Nem will move around and destroy your corals.
Make sure you have cage in your powerheads to protect the nem.
RBTA is much easier to keep.
Good luck

 

[homer1475]

Clowns are funny creatures! Some will never take to a nem, so don't think them not having one is going to diminish their life by anything, or that they are "unsettled".

My clowns prefer to host the return nozzle as opposed to the nem.

And the idea of waiting 6 months is so your tank has matured and your hopefully through your newbie stage. You have your maintenance schedule down, tank parameters are stable, and your done fiddling with things.

Keep in mind, when a nem dies, it will pollute your tank. Thats the reason for telling people to wait.

 

[vhuang168]

The guaranteed way to have a clown choose a nem as a host is to pick its natural host.

What kind of clownfish is it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SycoCell]

Following - I too want to add my first nem. My 4 little clowns are lost and lonely in my 6' tank.

 

[davocean]

The issue of hosting or accepting a host is often confused, it's not that some clowns seek a host and some do not, it's rather that some clowns will accept a non natural host anemone match and some do not.

If you give a clown an anemone species that it would be found in the wild hosting usually happens very quickly if not immediately.

The most popular clowns would probably be occs or percs, and the most common and easy to obtain anemone would be a BTA, AND THOSE ARE NOT NATURAL MATCHES, this is why so many have issues getting their clowns to accept a host.

As for your move and time running, as long as your rock is established and params are stable you should be fine, I would just take a little time reading on which anemone is natural to your particular clowns, and see what those anemone's need, they all have different needs.

There is a sticky in the anemone forum, but it does list BTA as a match to occs and percs, the list needs to be corrected(we've been saying this for years now...) so keep in mind they are not.

 

[BinaryRun]

The guaranteed way to have a clown choose a nem as a host is to pick its natural host.

What kind of clownfish is it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I currently have a single occ. clown. I used to have two, but one perished after his lips somehow got swollen and he was unable to eat. This happened about 2.5 months ago. They never really became a pair though.

I'm actually considering to buy a second clown together with a nem. Obviously this will be a smaller one, although mine isn't really large yet. (My clown is about 2 inch)

 

[davocean]

The deal w/ getting a new potential mate is not just that it be smaller than your existing, but rather it be small enough to assure it is still male or sexless, and generally speaking this means about an inch and a quarter or less, and best intro is to use a specimen container and observe your existing to see if she is curious or visibly bothered, charging at it like she wants to kill it.
A female may not always accept a new clown even if it is male/sexless, sometimes it may take a couple/few attempts w/ different potential mates, so the specimen container allows you to observe and pull that new clown w/out harm or hassle.

 

[BinaryRun]

Alright, so I bought a very small clown, less then one inch. Once they got together the female flashed her side a few time and the small clown submitted to her dominance. No aggression at all and quite often they swim together and when they don't they usually keep an eye on eachother. They've been together for a few days now and no damaged fins nor other signs of aggression, so that's pretty great. Even feeding time goes well.

Currently still thinking about getting a new or not, currently looking into the possible species of anemone, as you mentioned earlier that BTA might not be the right match.