Which host for clownfish?

[Roman120G]

Hello

My 120g finished cycling,

got a pair of 2" False Perc Clowns in the DT for a few days now, plan on keeping them for at least 4 weeks.

meanwhile have QT for corals set up and looking to purchase a host for the clowns.

I am debating between Hammer/Frogspawn and Anemone ( Bubble tip)

have been reading about Anemone and spoke to a few LFSs. Some say it needs more established tank, some say get it now, because it moves around the tank until finds its place and may/will hurt other corals.

Well, I have two options with Anemone.
1. If I purchase it first, it will move around the tank without anyother corals and find its place.
2. If I purchase Anemone 6 month-12 months later when I will have some other corals in the tank, it may hurt some of them while moving around.

so, guess everyone already knows the question. Which way do I go?
if I go with #2, then I will purchase Hammer to host the clowns at this time.


buy the way. Is it really necessary to have Anemone as a host to Clowns?
I have read a number of posts where peole say that their clowns are very fine with Hammer/Fragspawn/Elegance, etc, and even prefer them to Anemonies.

so, if that is true, why take a risk and put an aggresive Anemone into your tank?
I am talking about Advantages/Disadvantages.

will be waiting for your comments.

thank you for your time and help

 

[garygb]

Certainly clowns do not "need" anemones in tanks (in the wild, that's a different story). Clownfish will spawn and otherwise live just fine without an anemone. As for preference, of course if you provide a clownfish with a natural host anemone species, the clowns would prefer to live in the anemone. By the way, for ocellaris, the natural host species include gigantea and magnifica, not bulb tip anemones. Very often, however, people have success with their ocellaris taking to an unnatural host such as a bulb tip or mushrooms, or leather coral. Generally speaking it's a good idea to wait until the tank is several months old before adding an anemone. For experienced hobbyists, that may or may not be required. The point is, you want stable conditions, low nitrate, appropriate substrate for the anemone to attach to, which in the case of bulb tip anemones is liferock with lots of holes and caves in it. E. quadricolor (bulb tips) happen to be the most forgiving of the host anemone species in terms of water quality and conditions. For that reason, they are often recommended as compared to say magnifica or gigantea, both of which have a poor survival track record. If you decide to go with some type of coral, I doubt your ocellaris will be more inclined to take to it compared to a bulb tip. Nothing compares to having a natural host species, the fish typically swim right to them, but again, oftentimes ocellaris take to bulb tips in aquariums, even though you would never see it in the wild.

 

[Roman120G]

thank you for explanation.

I will start with Hammer, Torch and Frogspawn, put them in together in one section of the tank and see how the clows react.

if they reject them as hosts, then will think about an anemone later on.

regards,