Sea Anenome Facts

[breaknrun911]

How do you feed an anenome? When the lights are off and the fish cant see the food? And how do you know that the anenome is getting food?

How about when they die?

Finally,


How long does it take for a clown to enter an anenome wants placed into a tank and the anenome has set itself to a spot of the tank?

[zhenya]

Hi breaknrun911,

How do you feed an anenome? When the lights are off and the fish cant see the food? And how do you know that the anenome is getting food?

What species of sea anemones do you have?
I used to feed my Entacmaea quadricolor (Bubble tip anemone) directly using tongs and at the same time as I was feeding the fish. Anemone will close it;s tentacles around the food after you place it on the oral disk and proceed to move it to it;s mouth. After food is taken anemone will open up again for more food...
Fish is rarely can take food from anemone because they may become food themselves, so you shouldn't worry about fish taking it away from anemone.

How about when they die?

What do you mean? Do you mean to ask what anemone looks like when it dies? It will be a pile of goo that needs to be removed quickly before it fouls your tank. However, you need to clarify your question before I can help with that.

Finally,


How long does it take for a clown to enter an anenome wants placed into a tank and the anenome has set itself to a spot of the tank?

Well, that would depend on the exact species of host anemone and species of the clownfish. If specific clownfish coexist in nature with specific host anemone it is usually almost instantly. Certain species of clownfish, like Amphiprion clarkii for example, accepts all ten species of host anemones as a host.
I recommend reading this online book to have a better idea of which host anemone found in nature together with particular clownfishes.
Anemone fishes and their host sea anemones

And this online articles on keeping sea anemones.
Reefs.org: Where Reefkeeping Begins on the Internet - Keeping Anemones
Be A Host To Your Anemone - Reef Hobbyist Online Magazine

[breaknrun911]

I have bubble tip nems. All the clowns that were in the tank at the dealers store hosted this nem. And they are the same kind. But I am told that if the clowns are captive bred they may not host them. Oh well I guess.

I know when the nems die they can spoil my entire tank I just wanted to know what to look for when this happens so Im not losing $100s of dollars.

I feed the nem with tongs I'm just worried its not eating. Is there anyway I can 'hand feed' the bubble tip? Or is it going to sting??

Thanks for your help. I greatly appreciate it. I may have more to come in the future.

[zhenya]

I have bubble tip nems. All the clowns that were in the tank at the dealers store hosted this nem. And they are the same kind. But I am told that if the clowns are captive bred they may not host them. Oh well I guess.

I know when the nems die they can spoil my entire tank I just wanted to know what to look for when this happens so Im not losing $100s of dollars.

I feed the nem with tongs I'm just worried its not eating. Is there anyway I can 'hand feed' the bubble tip? Or is it going to sting??

Thanks for your help. I greatly appreciate it. I may have more to come in the future.

Well, the idea that clownfish that are captive bred wouldn't accept suitable host anemone been bouncing around the boards. And it may be thrue, I haven't kept any of the captive bred clownfish so it's hard for me to tell. However, without knowing exactly what species of the clownfish we are talking about it would be hard to even taking a guess. ;)
Can you post a picture of your anemone and the clownfish that you have?
Also, what type of food do you feed to your anemone? Or do you have more than one?
By the way, I wouldn't use hands to feed them, it's not a good idea to stick your hand into anemone tentacles as they may sting you pretty bad.

Good sign that anemone is dying is when you see it retracting tentacle completely(sort of like a ball) and not coming out for a long time. They may do that at times but never for a really long time.

[ibefishy]

My captive bred clown took to my anemonae after 2 weeks. And now goes between my BTA and hammer coral.

[Ninong]

Well, the idea that clownfish that are captive-bred wouldn't accept suitable host anemone been bouncing around the boards. And it may be true...

zhenya,

I don't believe that to be true at all. What I believe is happening is that people are trying to pair up anemonefish with a host sea anemone that is not one of their natural hosts. For example, having an Entacmaea quadricolor (BTA) and then being shocked that it is not immediately accepted by Amphiprion percula or A. ocellaris or any of the other species of clownfishes that are not natural symbionts.

Ocellaris clowns will usually -- but not always -- accept a BTA as a surrogate host in captivity. Percula clowns will sometimes accept a BTA. This has absolutely nothing to do with whether the fish is captive-bred or not. You have to remember that these two species of clownfish never accept a BTA as a host in the wild.

People read posts by other board members saying that their Ocellaris clowns accepted their BTA, or their Percula clowns accepted their BTA, and then if it just so happens that your clowns don't, other people start speculating that it's because your clowns are captive-bred. That's nonsense.

If someone says that captive-bred clowns are less "spastic" than wild-collected clowns, I could understand that. Wild-collected clowns have learned to be wary of all the predators surrounding them. That's why they don't venture far from the protection of their host anemone. However, acceptance of the right host anemone is not something that is learned. It's hardwired. There are no clownfish parents to show the baby clownfish which anemone to choose as a host.

There is no way that you are going to breed this instinctive anemone recognition and acceptance out of a clownfish species in anything less than a thousand generations. It's just not going to happen. That's the problem with anecdotal reports on the boards. The person posting very rarely gives all of the information necessary for others to make useful assumptions. And the people reading the posts are even worse. Ninety-five percent of them (maybe more) read the wrong thing into what was stated. They end up drawing the wrong conclusions. That's how we end up with the urban myth that captive-bred clownfish won't accept an anemone. It has nothing to do with whether they are captive-bred or not and everything to do with whether the anemone is one that the clownfish is hardwired to recognize, usually by chemical signals given off by the anemone.

If you have had captive-bred clownfishes in your tank for some time (months, years) and you suddenly add the correct species of host sea anemone, one with which they have a natural relationship, they will usually adopt it within hours or days, seldom weeks, but they will eventually accept it. In fact, it is really rare that the process takes more than a few days.

Just put a BTA in a tank with Premnas biaculeatus (maroon clownfish) and see how fast they accept it. That is their ONLY natural host, so they have a very strong, specific recognition of that one species. Some clownfish have natural associations with four or five different anemone species, so their attraction to any one of those natural hosts is not as strong as a species like Premnas biaculeatus that associates with only one species in the wild. Clark's clownfish (A. clarkii) are the only clownfish that associate with all ten host anemone species in the wild, which explains the widespread distribution of Clark's clownfish.

I know you are familiar with Daphne Fautin's book but I'm going to stick this part in the thread anyway:

LARVAL LIFE AND SETTLEMENT

Hatching generally occurs during the evening, shortly after dark on the sixth or seventh day after the eggs are laid. In an aquarium, the freshly hatched fish first sink to the bottom, but within a few minutes, swim to the upper part of the tank. The larvae are about 3-4 mm total length and transparent except for a few scattered pigmented spots, the eye, and the yolk sac. Recent studies of larval duration in damselfishes have greatly improved knowledge of early life history stages. By counting the daily growth rings in the ear bones (otoliths) with an electron microscope, scientists can determine the time between hatching and transformation to the juvenile stage. There is much variation between species of damselfishes, with the longest larval stages about 6-8 weeks. Clownfishes have the shortest larval period of damsels, ranging from about 8 to 12 days. It is assumed that during this time they are planktonic -- living in the surface waters of the ocean, where they are passively transported by currents. The short larval stage of anemonefishes is no doubt responsible for the localised distribution of many species.

The larval stage terminates when a young fish settles to the sea bottom and begins to assume the juvenile colour pattern. Aquarium observations indicate this metamorphosis is a rapid process, occurring within a day or so. At this stage it is vital for the young Amphiprion or Premnas to find a suitable anemone host or it will surely be consumed by one of its many predators. There is evidence that fish of some species can actively search and follow a trail of chemicals released by a host anemone, but others seem not to do that, and may locate a suitable host by sight, or simply encounter one by chance. For fish of some species, it takes several hours to become fully acclimated to the anemone once it is located; this is achieved by a series of progressively longer contacts with the tentacles, like the elaborate "acclimation behaviour" seen when an adult fish is artificially removed from its host. Other fishes seem capable of swimming right in without harm, according to Miyagawa (see chapter 5). Although she denied they go through "acclimation behaviour", she described swimming that resembles such behaviour. With 10 species of host actinians and 28 species of fish, there are probably many variations on how hosts are located and adapted to.

We assume that metamorphosis requires the presence of an anemone, since the fishes seem defenceless without one. We and others have done experiments proving that even adult anemonefishes cannot survive for long without the protection of a host actinian. What is obvious is that there are far fewer open slots available in appropriate anemones than there are fish to fill them. So there must be tremendous mortality among fry and larvae.

Even if it successfully locates an anemone, the immediate survival of the fish is not guaranteed. If the host is already occupied by anemonefish, the unusual social structure of the inhabitants makes life difficult for a newcomer. The number of fish that occupy a single anemone depends on species of fish, size of host, and sometimes size of the fish as well, but typically there is an adult pair and two to four smaller fish. As will be explained more fully below, the largest fish is usually the female and the next largest individual is her mate. A hierarchy, or "peck-order", exists in which the female is the dominant individual. There is generally an amicable relationship between the adult pair, and aggressiveness by the female is largely channeled into ritualised, non-harmful displays. Aggression is more overt farther down the hierarchy. The male spends considerable time chasing and "bullying" the next largest individual, which in turn vents its aggression on the smaller fish. Therefore, a new arrival becomes the immediate target for the resident fish. Attacks may be so severe as to drive away the newcomer, who must find another anemone or perish.

Field Guide to Anemonefishes and Their Host Sea Anemones, by Dr. Daphne Fautin.

[UTCreefer]

My clowns host my frilly mushrooms and the GSP some times.

[mbunakeith]

i just added a clarki pair to my tank with a 12" diameter heteractis crispa and they both took to it immediately. no hesitation at all. in fact i think it was a little too fast because they both acted like they were stung by it for a few minutes. i thought i was going to have to yank them out with my hands. they finally settled into it and are doing great. so far, the clarki's are amazing to watch. so colorful and active. i should have gotten a pair of these before now.
i have had tank-raised ocellaris take to a gbta within a couple hours and also had one take a couple weeks to "find" the anemone. every fish is different.
anemones are diverse animals. make sure to research the habitat your nem likes. some like rocks, some like sand and some, like my h. crispa like to wedge into the crack where the rock meets the sand. they need a lot of light, but for some reasons a lot of bta's seem to do very well under pc's. i have my crispa under a 250w mh and is healthy as ever. when i got it, it was bleached white, but slowly gained color and it grew noticeably after every feeding. crispas do especially well if they have clown partners.

[Ninong]

Amphiprion clarkii is the only species of anemonefish that accepts all ten of the clownfish-hosting sea anemones in the wild. This is why it is so widespread.