which clowns are best at.....

A

anemoneguy

Member
this is a wide open question i know, and know it will be a poll only from individual results, but for those who have clowns that feed their nems, what kind are they? ive had 2 different pairs of true percs, and neither seemed to do this. i have a very nice pair now i got from dr. f&s a year ago, and have almost got rid of them a couple times for taking food away from the nem, but like i said, they look nice. anyway i was feeding their nem last night. a rather large green h. crispa, and noticed they just put down their first batch of eggs. so now how could i get rid of them? anyway on the other side of my 180 i have a gigantia, that i want to get a pair of clowns for, and just wanted to see if one species of clown does the feeding better. so please poll up . tx
 
yeh its sad to watch because if they dont eat what they take, they just carry it away from the nem. i thought id try silversides thinking they wouldnt eat them, and i was right, they just removed it from the nems mouth,and took it away.
 
My adult Clarki would feed the Nem when it was younger. But now will steal it. My Juvenile Clarki feeds the nem the first piece of food it gets every time just about.

I stuff a big piece of silverside into the nem and keep my hand in the tank to shoo the clowns away. Then throw in tiny pieces one at a time slowly for the clowns. Keeps them busy for the minute it takes the nem to woof it down.
 
from the way I understand it, the clowns don't nessasarly feed the nems. the clowns will go get food and bring it back to thir home and hide it to save for later just like squirls do with nuts. only thing is the nem eats the food the clowns were saving.
 
i believe your right on that. lets say id like a pair to save instead of waste. my large crispa doesnt seem to be lacking anything. im sure the waste from the clowns and misc. food gets to it, but i want to try and grow my new gigantia now that it seems well setteled in, and think some clowns would help as long as their not taking food away. and its much cooler to think your clown is feeding its nem rather than taking away from it. even if its only storing food for itself.
 
in the wild the anemone will catch small fish to eat. so in a tank you will have to provide the food for the anemone such as shrimp, silversides, ect.
 
Clownfish DO NOT FEED their anemones. POINT AND FACT. This behavior is merely them hourding there foot in their "nest site". If the anemone grabs it, great. The clownfish most likely will get it back before the slow eating creature can swallow it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13169076#post13169076 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dalilgriffith
Clownfish DO NOT FEED their anemones. POINT AND FACT. This behavior is merely them hourding there foot in their "nest site". If the anemone grabs it, great. The clownfish most likely will get it back before the slow eating creature can swallow it.
Click to expand...
Please post a link your source. I don't belive this is true. Fish do not horde food. Clowns feed and clean their anemone. It is a truly symbiotic reationship.

OP, maroons are the best at caring for their nem, IME.
 
Clowns also deliberately feed power heads, flower pots, and numerous other non-living objects.

Not sure individual examples are valid in proving a wide variety of species behavior. For example, my larger clowns eagerly rip apart silversides and eat them even though they are far to large to swallow intact.

Fine discussion, but let's net set an expectation of settling the behavior with anecdotal evidence.

Cheers.
 
Then comon sense should be sufficient. Hoarding would never have evolved for a clown fish because such behavior would not contribute to the fish's survival if the anemone ate the hoardings which it will surely do. Evolution has a way of eliminating behavior that doesn't benefit the organism.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13177952#post13177952 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by traveller7
Clowns also deliberately feed power heads, flower pots, and numerous other non-living objects.
Click to expand...

The feeding behaviour is instinctive just like hosting. Yet I have yet to see any evidence of hoarding in clownfish or any other fish species for that matter.
 
Last edited:
Clowns are omnivorous, hosting anemones don't actually eat everything(plant matter) brought to them by clowns or by other natural means. Anemones also have a tendency to regurgitate food(especially large meals), hence the clowns may be "hoarding" food in the anemone, rock, or whatever to obtain an easy meal at a later time.

To be clear, I don't have a dog in this hunt, just voicing an opinion a full study would be required to actually settle the question vs. guessing with the snapshots we have available to us today.
 
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