Purple tip crispa anemone
- Thread starter smkkib
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Reefahholic
New member
Yes depending on how old your tank is.
And....Yes, clowns will bring food for the nem.
:beer:
shifty51008
12-5 Chiefs record
yes they can survive without a clownfish. however clowns in general do not bring food to the anemone strictly for the anemone to eat, instead they bring it to the anemone to hide it or save it. the same same way squirrels hide their nuts. however by hiding the food in the anemone the anemone does eat it.
OrionN
Moved on
I don't think there is any evidence of fish, any fish, hide their food so they can eat later. We cannot generalize what we see in land animals to waterborne animals. Food in sea water will spoil very quickly. That is the reason fish, unlike land animal, never store their food. They cannot. We do see that damsels tend to their garden and chase other herbivores away.
Clown fish do bring food to feed their anemone, the larger pieces that they cannot eat, or when they are full. Larger clown fish, Clarkii and Maroon, bring smaller fish and feed the live fish to their anemones. We observe this in our aquarium. This behavior is advantageous to the clown and anemone pair, so they evolve and retain this behavior.
In aquarium anemones will do fine with out clown fish, if you provide the right environment for it, and clown fish will do just fine without anemone.
Clown fish do bring food to feed their anemone, the larger pieces that they cannot eat, or when they are full. Larger clown fish, Clarkii and Maroon, bring smaller fish and feed the live fish to their anemones. We observe this in our aquarium. This behavior is advantageous to the clown and anemone pair, so they evolve and retain this behavior.
In aquarium anemones will do fine with out clown fish, if you provide the right environment for it, and clown fish will do just fine without anemone.
shifty51008
12-5 Chiefs record
I am just going by Joyce Wilkerson's book, I am not saying she is right or wrong. but to me a clownfish (being a not so good a hunter) would try to save food.
so yes there is actually no way to know for sure if they are trying to save the food and the anemone eats it, or if they truly are feeding the anemone. that is one of the mysteries.
so yes there is actually no way to know for sure if they are trying to save the food and the anemone eats it, or if they truly are feeding the anemone. that is one of the mysteries.
D-Nak
Active member
I'm not sure what Wilkerson's book states, but what Fautin & Allen ("Field Guide to Anemonefishes and Their Host Anemones") believe to be occurring is neither storage of food nor feeding of the anemone. They state that clowns are merely taking food back to shelter to eat it, but that their shelter happens to eat the food.
Here's the actual passage:
"Indeed, aquarists have added much to knowledge of this symbiosis. Many have seen fish bring food to their anemones. This behaviour seems confined to aquaria. The normal diet of clownfishes is small plants and animals that live in the water above the anemone, or algae that grow around it (chapter 4). In nature, they do not encounter large particles of food, so they eat their food where it is found. Feeding large morsels to a fish in an aquarium produces an artifact: the fish, unable to devour the piece immediately, takes it home to work on it in the relative security of its own territory, as is typical of predators that obtain food in large amounts. But the territory in this case consumes the food!"
Here's the actual passage:
"Indeed, aquarists have added much to knowledge of this symbiosis. Many have seen fish bring food to their anemones. This behaviour seems confined to aquaria. The normal diet of clownfishes is small plants and animals that live in the water above the anemone, or algae that grow around it (chapter 4). In nature, they do not encounter large particles of food, so they eat their food where it is found. Feeding large morsels to a fish in an aquarium produces an artifact: the fish, unable to devour the piece immediately, takes it home to work on it in the relative security of its own territory, as is typical of predators that obtain food in large amounts. But the territory in this case consumes the food!"
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D-Nak
Active member
On a side note, the book is available online. I have the hard copy because it's got great photos, but if you need to reference the book, it's available here:
http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/intro.html
I actually recommend all hobbyists who own clowns and anemones to bookmark it.
http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/intro.html
I actually recommend all hobbyists who own clowns and anemones to bookmark it.
davocean
New member
I can tell you by my experience w/ several clowns I have had, most obvious w/ a pair of clarki's that I witnessed the clowns actually force food into the nems mouth, and push on it prodding them to eat.
They would do this every time I fed, before even eating for themselves.
After pushing food into the nems mouth a few times, then, and only then did they actually begin eating.
While I agree a nem does not need a clown, and if light is good they don't even need to actually be fed, I do say that a good hosting clown or pair of clowns can be a benefit in less than desireable conditions for nems.
I attribute my success w/ my crispa and doreensis of 5.5 years to those clarkis, because I know at that time my lighting was far from adequate for at least the first couple years.
They would do this every time I fed, before even eating for themselves.
After pushing food into the nems mouth a few times, then, and only then did they actually begin eating.
While I agree a nem does not need a clown, and if light is good they don't even need to actually be fed, I do say that a good hosting clown or pair of clowns can be a benefit in less than desireable conditions for nems.
I attribute my success w/ my crispa and doreensis of 5.5 years to those clarkis, because I know at that time my lighting was far from adequate for at least the first couple years.
M Woodhill
New member
Mine always try to grab things out of its anemone, the so called mouth washing behavior. None of em ever tried to feed
davocean
New member
Going by most dottybacks behavior I can't see that too much of a negative!lol
Yes, I too have seen them push weak fish, drag shrimp molts, nori, things they do not even eat and push them in, so I'm sold some have this instinct.
My present clowns while super nice and passive, do not have such instinct to do this, kind of wish they did, but hey, I'll take that over biting my hand.
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