Questions to ease my mind

cschweitzer

cschweitzer

New member
We have a little debate going on in my club forum as to the hosting of anemones in an aquarium setting.

1 Is there a type of clown(WC or TB) that is more likely not to host?

2 If a clown isn't hosting, is it more likely TB or WC?

3 Do TB have more of a chance not hosting(at least right away) than WC, or is this not true?

I'm fairly(99%) certain I know the answers to these, but some people have had differing opinions and I would like to get your guys' opinions...

Thanks
 
I don't know that I can answer all your questions, but I can give you my experience, for whatever that's worth. But the answer might just be "depends on the fish" which isn't really the answer anyone is looking for! Who knows :)

Anyway, I have a pair of occellaris, I'm fairy certain they're captive breds. They hosted a variety of things right away and were hosting our crispa the first day it was introduced to the tank.

good luck on your quest!
 
my tank bred rods are so host freindly

i see too many tank bred clowns hosting to see any difference in the two

wild caught clows will not always host, just like TB
 
1. I would say no, depends on the fish. ( i have had WC nigripes, sandarcinos, frenatus,melanopus,percula,premnas,akindynos,chrysopterus, clarkii.. i forget which else..lol.. but ach one had a different time frame. the fastest i would say is the percula.

2. Im gonna say depends on the fish. like i said i have had
WC's that didnt jump into a anemone rite away.

3. I would say yes if they are TB and not introduced to an anemone at a young age as they would in the wild they will need to find/learn what it is.. but when natural instincts take over they will always find it.
 
So you're saying it is equally likely that a TB(initally) will host as it is a WC(initially)? The question is not whather TB will host, it is are they as likely to host as WC. I know TB will host and I know that it is possible for any clown to host just about any thing. My question pertains to likelihood of hosting and which is more acepting of a host right away.

From my experience, I see things exactly opposite. I personnaly feel that a TB clown is much less likely to host than their WC counterpart. Not saying that a TB will not host, please do not misinterpret. But if a clown is not hosting an anemone that is in good health, correct size, and in perfect condition, it is your belief that the clown is as likely a WC as a TB?
 
Everyone is saying it is natural instinct. My question is this: is it instinct or survival the reason behind the anem/clown symbiosis. Explain why you will NEVER see a clownfish without a host anem in the wild...they won't host zoos, they won't host shrooms, etc.

In a tank, they host anything...when I say anything, I mean it. I've had them host(just a partial list) xenia, frogspawns, zoos, shrooms, pink star polyp skin, a featherduster, overflow boxes, pumps, powerheads, veggie clips...ANYTHING!! Explain to me why I have clowns that pass up an anem(trust me, no problems with either of them) and go over to a frogspawn?? Or my picassos that sat out on an overflow box for 9 months. I put a WC clown hosting in an anem in with them and within 5 minutes they were in the anem with him? I just don't understand how nobody else see's this.

I would say 99% of the time when someone comes to this site saying, "why are my clowns not hosting their anem?" it is directly related to the clowns being TB. Is this a coincidence or is it again just me??

Like they say, you can't be paranoid if everyone's out to get you. Same rule applies for coincidence. It can't be a coincidence if it happens all the time(not all the time, but say 80% of my TB fish and 0% of my WC fish).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9606053#post9606053 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cschweitzer
What makes you think they are TB?
Click to expand...

When we got our pair we chose from a tank of 20 babies (or more), but the thing that realy makes me think they are is the facial features of our male. He's got what I think I've heard described as a bull dog face. Basically his face is shorter than hers. I've read this trait shows up quite a bit in TB clowns.

I could be wrong in my assumption, it would be nice if I was :)
 
Nope, you're probably right...if it was from a bunch of babies, either one big WC family of juvis got caught, or more than likely they were TB.

Some TB breeders do keep their young offspring in tanks with anems...again, not extremely likely, but a possibility.

Let me clarify the question...this TB comment pertains to juvi's who were definitely not introduced to anems previously(like ORA and most other commercial breeding facilities)?
 
Re: Questions to ease my mind

1 Is there a type of clown(WC or TB) that is more likely not to host?
Generally no, the only clown species i have had take more time to adjust to none natural anemone hosting was chrysopterus, they always take longer for some reason.

2 If a clown isn't hosting, is it more likely TB or WC?
Depends on type of clown and type of anemone. I have had certain species of wc clowns take longer to host the same thing they're cb equals hosted within minutes.

3 Do TB have more of a chance not hosting(at least right away) than WC, or is this not true?
I believe this to be untrue. Possibly it could take longer for a cb clown to raise, but again it depends on the anemone. My cb ocellaris, both black pair and orange pair, have always hosted within a day for they're natural anemones: mertensii, gigantea, and magnifica.


I'm fairly(99%) certain I know the answers to these, but some people have had differing opinions and I would like to get your guys' opinions...

Thanks

fwiw
 
Re: Questions to ease my mind

In my experience and from seeing questions on this forum, it is very common for ocellaris and percula clowns, both CB and WC to be slow to accept anemones. I had a WC pair of ocellaris that took over 2 years to accept a BTA in their tank. My CB orange skunks went into their anemone before I could get the bag out of the tank.
I think if all we had were CB clarkis and tomatoes, we would never be having this discussion. I think it is more a function of being ocellaris than it is being tank raised.
 
I currently house two TB Black Saddel Clowns, a pair of TB Picasso Clowns, and a WC percula clown in my tank with two BTA anemones. The saddle clowns have been in the tank for over three years and have never hosted in an Anemone. They have hosted a big Toadstool leather and nothing else. I added the wild Caught Perc next and she has been in the tank for over a year and immidiately started hosting an Gonipora Coral a few days after introduction. She hosted it until she eventually killed it a few weeks ago and then moved into my big RBTA. I added the Picasso's about six months ago and they did not host anything until a couple of weeks ago (a few days after the WC perc chose to host the RBTA).
Based on what I have observed in my tank and others, I would say that all of this depends on the clown species and anemones in the tank. I see several TB skunk clowns on a weekly basis and they will generally host within minutes of being introduced to an anemone. The same thing goes for WC percs.
TB Ocellaris and percs seem to take a while to figure it out but that can usually be sped up if they see another clown hosting.
 
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