Stop clownfish hosting in Toadstool

[Whiterabbitrage]

My pair of Ocellaris have been flirting with the Toadsool Leather for a couple months. Well today it looks like they have moved in, much to the Toadstools chagrin. Will they move out again on their own? Or will they stay until the Toadstool is dead?

 

[davocean]

You could cover it and hope they move on, a strawberry basket or similar depending on size may work.

 

[ThRoewer]

Unless you give them something better (=anemone) they will likely stay in it. Also, clownfish have pretty good memory so even if you cover the coral, as soon as you remove the cover they will see their "old home" and move right back in.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Thanks guys. Ordered 3 more BTA. Let's hope one is attractive enough to tempt them.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

They just fed the Toadstool! I blasted the food back out.

 

[runninlow]

its totally fine for the clowns to host the stool, my pair hosted my hammer then moved to my torch. i now have 4 large bubble tips and the clowns does not even look at them(torch and hammer).

 

[davocean]

My last pair took to a number of things before I found the right nem for them, a toadstool being one.
I did cover mine as I described, and they moved on to a frogspawn, and I had plenty of that and hammer for them to choose, so they never went back to the toadstool.
Still, nothing seemed to make them look really content, they always looked at the other frogs and hammers w/ curiosity, until I found the right nem for them, and then they were happy and never left it or looked at anything else.
Hopefully your occs will take to the BTA's

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

I sure hope so. Though it looks like the Toad is getting used to them and is staying open now. I'd really wish I could provide a natural host. For them, but those Nems all look too dangerous, so BTAs will have to do. I just hope I can keep them alive. I've tried BTA several times, but something always happens. I lost a pink one in the move, then the other pink one never found a spot he liked. He roamed around the same rock for months and finally melted. I have a green one and a rainbow one now. The rainbow has been shrinking more and more and looking dark grey. It lives next to a skunk shrimp and the shrimp steals the Nems food even if I feed the shrimp first. The green one has also been looking worse and worse, getting smaller and more pale with shorter and shorter tenticles. I have him in the shade now and am feeding him every other day but he is very weak. These Nems are supposed to be easy. I wish I knew what I'm doing wrong. I hope I have better luck with this new batch. They arrive tomorrow.

 

[davocean]

Well, there are so many factors it's a shot in the dark for us, so maybe start a thread on your tank so we may see something that may not be obvious to you.
The fact you are calling them pink makes me think you may have had a semi bleached red.
They really should not need food if they are healthy, light is their main source, as long as they are healthy and have zooxanthellae to produce that light into useable energy.
Start a thread listing time running, params by number, and all gear, and maybe your issues can be solved here.
I have seen some toadstools deal w/ it, may depend on the clowns and how much they are loving on it, size of toadstool/clowns, so on.
Good luck either way.

 

[zooman72]

I have seen some toadstools deal w/ it, may depend on the clowns and how much they are loving on it, size of toadstool/clowns, so on.

This - one of the LFS's near me has had a large leather hosting a pair of occellaris clowns for several years in the main display tank, but the leather is at least a foot across, so size of the surrogate definitely matters...