Someone talk me down (haddoni)

[jasonrp104]

There's always the option of using coral for a host.. Frogspawn, Toadstool, clove polyps....Just a thought.

edit: I've been thinking about using a toadstool in my next setup. If you find one with real good color, they look alot like a gig

 

[greech]

Wow, thanks for all the repsponses.

dalston - that is an excellent point. It is fairly shallow up front and deepens to about 3" in the back due some mounding caused by the flow bouncing off the front glass. I may add just a touch more sand before the nem goes in.

davocean - I have read that as well and pretty much came to the same conclusion shortly after I posted that idea last night. Thanks for the warning on the Squids.

ghostman - that is DEFINITELY concerning. How long was the clown with the haddoni before it was eaten by the nem? I may have to rethink this if that is anwhere close to a common occurance.

Todd - Thanks for chiming in. I have read many of your threads/posts on nems and appreciate your input. Your carpets are stunning. I will not have any other fish in the tank except for the pair of black and whites. However, from what ghostman mentioned, those might not even be safe . Sorry to hear about your back. Hope you recover soon.

jason - I had a very large frogspawn that they did try for a brief period but they did not stay put. The pair keeps changing their spot so my thought was maybe (maybe) a nem might give them a place to settlle down.

 

[ghostman]

Greech-my clowns never really adopted my blue haddoni and avoided it for months. The male started displaying sign of interest in it by doing many "drive bys" during the day. Then one day he was gone. No sign of him at all. I had a thread on it here a few months ago, and after looking over the compatibility charts I decided to try a new clown pair. They adopted the Haddon right away, and have been fine ever since. I also have not lost any more fish since the clowns clear out anyone who strays near their home. It's too bad since I (read-my kids) really wanted a pair of occelaris or percs, but ended up with the akindylos. While they are nice, they are not my favorite clownfish. Good luck with your tank, it looks beautiful.

 

[greech]

Sorry for all the post/questions but in response to ghostmans report of his haddoni eating his clown I found a short article on clowns getting acclimated to a nem. It sounds like clowns will typically begin to mouth the nem by basically sucking on its tentacles and sort of work the nems slime coat over there body. This is very interesting because my female has been doing this excat thing to my duncans. After she did this for a while she would sort of stick her head between the polyps and then quickly brush along the polyps and head back to her normal spots.

So that makes me feel better about my female sort of knowing how to acclimate herself but my male does not show this behavior and am a bit worried he will just dive in. Is this an accurate understanding of this behavior or just someone's theory

 

[greech]

Greech-my clowns never really adopted my blue haddoni and avoided it for months. The male started displaying sign of interest in it by doing many "drive bys" during the day. Then one day he was gone. No sign of him at all. I had a thread on it here a few months ago, and after looking over the compatibility charts I decided to try a new clown pair. They adopted the Haddon right away, and have been fine ever since. I also have not lost any more fish since the clowns clear out anyone who strays near their home. It's too bad since I (read-my kids) really wanted a pair of occelaris or percs, but ended up with the akindylos. While they are nice, they are not my favorite clownfish. Good luck with your tank, it looks beautiful.

Thanks for the additional information regarding your experience and for the kind words on the tank. I'm trying to do the best I can with it

 

[crazy4salt]

They are fish eaters!!!!!

We have one in a 55 gal, just him and his black and white clowns and 1 small green chromis.....everything was great for about 2 months....did a water change and spooked him( Or so I thought)....he ate the smaller clown fish....thought ok, that was my fault, went and purchased another small clown......shortest lived purchase I have ever made! I acclimated and released the clown..... he went right for the anemone.....and the anemone ate him....5 seconds flat!

He is fed every other day, so it's not hunger.... he just has a taste for little guys! (The clowns were hosted for the 2 months, slept in him and everything)

Just a consideration, especially if you are fond of your clowns.

 

[greech]

Well that stinks! Thank you for the heads up crazy4salt.

Love the sig line BTW. Funny stuff

 

[crazy4salt]

You're welcome.

And really, just because I put all my disposable income into 2 glass boxes filled with water, that doesn't make me an addict right?????:spin2:

 

[greech]

Nope not at all. I prefer the term completionist

 

[greech]

I just read a post where someone was concerned about the health of their carpet and someone asked if the owner had a sea cucumber in the tank. There was no further discussion on the cucumber after that except that the owner did not have one. I do have a tigertail cuc in my tank and am wondering if that should be something I should be concerned with?

Also, any tips to acclimation? Can I out some rock pieces in the acclimation bucket so I can just remove the rock with the nem attached instead of having to pry its foot off the bottom? The LFS has agreed to hang on to the nem for a couple weeks until I get things ready.

 

[crazy4salt]

Don't know about the cuc.

The best thing would be to put the rock in for it attach to during acclimation, but try to move the anemone in water...ie; bowl or other smaller container to transfer from bucket to tank. The weight of the anemone can crush it's internal structure if lifted out of the water.

 

[crazy4salt]

Also wear gloves!!!! These guys sting pretty badly!

 

[greech]

Great tips on acclimation, thank you!

My LFS was not certain but he was not aware of any situations where a cuc was eaten by a nem and thought it might be expected that the cuc would likely hang out under the oral disc.

 

[Toddrtrex]

You should fully expect any members of your clean up crew to be eaten -- snails (( even large turbos )), urchins, hermit crabs, etc will be eaten by them. There is a collection of shells underneath my red one's oral disc.

 

[greech]

I understand on the snail and crab losses from my reading but still have not found an answer on the tiger tail. Have you had any experience with cucs and carpets?

 

[Toddrtrex]

I had a tiger tail many years ago (( many many )), and after awhile stopped seeing it, I can only assume that my Haddoni ate it. I would expect any tiger tail to get eaten by an Haddoni -- just a matter of time.

 

[ReefNutPA]

Here's a pic of my 40 breeder with my haddoni. It's a bit larger now than this pic shows, but it hasn't ever moved since it found this spot about 2 years ago. Flame angel has been in with the carpet from the beginning...as has the single chromis and a royal gramma. Unfortunately, Diamond Gobies don't fare too well with a carpet...as I found out the hard way...twice. The Picasso's don't go near the carpet though They are hosted by a brain coral. Go figure.

Tom

 

[greech]

Here's a pic of my 40 breeder with my haddoni. It's a bit larger now than this pic shows, but it hasn't ever moved since it found this spot about 2 years ago. Flame angel has been in with the carpet from the beginning...as has the single chromis and a royal gramma. Unfortunately, Diamond Gobies don't fare too well with a carpet...as I found out the hard way...twice. The Picasso's don't go near the carpet though They are hosted by a brain coral. Go figure.

Tom

Thanks for sharing. Very nice Picasso's! Hope they take to the nem eventually. Ever considered the photo trick? I'm currently on the hunt for a healthy carpet. The one I was waiting on didn't fair too well. I may end up going through Divers Den.