donya
New member
Hello everyone, this is the first time I've posted in this section. I have a pair of tank-bred maroon clowns that have been living in a 55-gallon for close to a year now. They have been doing really well during that time.
Last week I decided to add a good-sized anemone that I believe to be Heteractis aurora (was pretty darned sure on that ID, but I have to wonder a bit now after recent events). This particular anemone had been in in the store for months and been very healthy the whole time. I have another, somewhat smaller H. aurora in another tank that has been doing well for many months too and doubled in size since I got it (in other words, I wanted H. aurora because I already have experience with it), but I didn't want to add it to the 55gal because it's still small enough that I didn't want the clowns to smack it to death on the off-chance they decided to host. While the larger anemone was at the store, I watched literally dozens of fish of all different species live in it (bunch of damsel species, bunch of clown species). As it turned out, my pair of maroons had the same idea when I put it in the tank.
There is a problem though: the clowns appear to be getting the tar beaten of them trying to host. The male got popped a couple times and had enough, but the female was stubborn and kept subjecting herself to it several times a day. A couple days back, although I didn't see it, she must have stuck her face into the tentacles or something because she was temporarily blinded - she went swimming around the tank running full speed into rocks and generally being confused for several hours. That passed, and then I saw her nestling in the tentacles more normally and thought "great!" ...but then the following morning she was back out of the anemone with what appeared to be tentacle-shaped burns on a few fins. This evening, those had already faded a bit, but the female was disinterested in food for the first time since I've had her and was acting like she had a sore mouth (and the anemone had one rather shriveled, upset-looking tentacle...). I decided enough was enough with the female's masochistic compulsions and herded both clowns into an in-tank basket while I figure out what to do.
I have read that tank-bred clowns that have never hosted before can have a rough experience the very first time, but this just seems crazy. Can anyone offer insight? Did I just make a really horrible choice of which anemone to expose them to first by picking something that's too spicy?
Should I...
- Give the clowns controlled access to the anemone so they don't overdo it?
- Let the clowns carry on as they were doing before and tough it out?
- Give up on the anemone for the clowns' safety and move it elsewhere? I have an entire room full of tanks - shuffling stuff around is an option if I must. Also, if this is what needs to happen, would I be likely to see the same issue with some other species like a BTA? (Although I'm not really a BTA person...any other safe options?)
Thanks in advance.
Last week I decided to add a good-sized anemone that I believe to be Heteractis aurora (was pretty darned sure on that ID, but I have to wonder a bit now after recent events). This particular anemone had been in in the store for months and been very healthy the whole time. I have another, somewhat smaller H. aurora in another tank that has been doing well for many months too and doubled in size since I got it (in other words, I wanted H. aurora because I already have experience with it), but I didn't want to add it to the 55gal because it's still small enough that I didn't want the clowns to smack it to death on the off-chance they decided to host. While the larger anemone was at the store, I watched literally dozens of fish of all different species live in it (bunch of damsel species, bunch of clown species). As it turned out, my pair of maroons had the same idea when I put it in the tank.
There is a problem though: the clowns appear to be getting the tar beaten of them trying to host. The male got popped a couple times and had enough, but the female was stubborn and kept subjecting herself to it several times a day. A couple days back, although I didn't see it, she must have stuck her face into the tentacles or something because she was temporarily blinded - she went swimming around the tank running full speed into rocks and generally being confused for several hours. That passed, and then I saw her nestling in the tentacles more normally and thought "great!" ...but then the following morning she was back out of the anemone with what appeared to be tentacle-shaped burns on a few fins. This evening, those had already faded a bit, but the female was disinterested in food for the first time since I've had her and was acting like she had a sore mouth (and the anemone had one rather shriveled, upset-looking tentacle...). I decided enough was enough with the female's masochistic compulsions and herded both clowns into an in-tank basket while I figure out what to do.
I have read that tank-bred clowns that have never hosted before can have a rough experience the very first time, but this just seems crazy. Can anyone offer insight? Did I just make a really horrible choice of which anemone to expose them to first by picking something that's too spicy?
Should I...
- Give the clowns controlled access to the anemone so they don't overdo it?
- Let the clowns carry on as they were doing before and tough it out?
- Give up on the anemone for the clowns' safety and move it elsewhere? I have an entire room full of tanks - shuffling stuff around is an option if I must. Also, if this is what needs to happen, would I be likely to see the same issue with some other species like a BTA? (Although I'm not really a BTA person...any other safe options?)
Thanks in advance.
