tips on clownfish/anemone combo

[lerch]

Okay i bought a very small clown and bubble tip anemone and so far the clown has not shown any interest in the anemone. my question is any tips on how to get him to to pair up?? the guy at my lfs told me to print off pics of clowns in anemones and tape them to the side of my tank and he will see those and mimic their behavior. i have to admit this sounds dumb but i can see some logic in it

any other tips??

due to his size i am figuring the clown is tank bred, he is only a 3/4" long at the most. just wanting to help him along

thanks
steve

[Ninong]

A bubble-tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) is a natural host to the following clownfish: Amphiprion akindynos, A. allardi, A. bicinctus, A. chrysopterus, A. clarkii, A. ephippium, A. frenatus, A. mccullochi, A. melanopus, A. omanensis, A. rubrocinctus, A. tricinctus, Premnas biaculeatus.

What species is your clownfish? If it is one of those species named above, then it should eventually accept the BTA as its host. If it is A. ocellaris, it may eventually adopt the BTA as a surrogate host. If it is A. percula, it might eventually adopt the BTA as a surrogate host but it is more likely to reject it. The bubble-tip anemone is not a natural host to either Ocellaris clowns or Percula clowns.

Didn't the guy at the LFS explain this to you when you purchased the BTA and the clownfish? It is a shame that most LFS employees are apparently clueless.

Good luck!



P.S. -- The fact that your clownfish is captive-bred will have no bearing whatsoever on it's choice of host. This is not a learned trait. There is no mama clownfish around in the wild when the tiny clownfish completes metamorphosis and must quickly find the right host anemone. This association is hardwired, it isn't taught. If it's a baby Maroon clown (P. biaculeatus), it will take to the BTA like a fish to water. If it's a baby Ocellaris clown, it will probably take to it eventually even though this is not a natural pairing. If it's a baby Percula clown, there is a chance that it might eventually accept it but it is more likely that it will never accept it.

[Ninong]

I just checked on the size of your aquarium. Don't get a Maroon clown (P. biaculeatus) because a 34-gal tank is really too small for that species.

Chances are good that what you have is a baby Ocellaris clown. If so, you have a good chance that it will eventually adopt the BTA as a surrogate host. This process could take a few days, a few weeks or a few months. I'm not sure if anything you do will make a difference. If you put up a photo of a BTA with a mature Clark's clown or Maroon clown in it you might just frighten your poor little baby clown, which is almost certainly an Ocellaris clown.

[lerch]

I am pretty sure it is a A. ocellaris,

the pics i put up on the aquarium are of A. ocellaris also so maybe it wont scare him. he was looking at the anemone alot last nite so maybe soon. is there another type of anemone A. ocellaris prefer over BTA????


thanks
steve

[Ninong]

is there another type of anemone A. ocellaris prefer over BTA????

Yes, the natural hosts for Ocellaris clownfish are: Heteractis magnifica; Stichodactyla gigantea and S. mertensii, but all of those get much too large for a 34-gal tank.

You are better off with the BTA and chances are very good that your Ocellaris clown will eventually accept it.

[lerch]

well i will just give him time then, do you think there is any benefit to putting the photos of ocellaris clowns in BTA"s on the side of the tank??


thanks
steve

[Ninong]

I really don't know. As long as it's not a scary photo of some large maroon clown or Clark's clown, then I don't think it will cause any problems. Try it and see what happens.

[Ninong]

I forgot to ask you why you didn't get two baby clownfish instead of just one? I think you should get another one of the same species now so that you can watch them grow up together and sort out which one of them will get to be the female. I think clownfish do much better as mated pairs and they're so easy to pair up -- except for maroons. They can be downright mean.

[lerch]

well my lfs is out of baby Ocellaris right now but i am going to get another good one saturday. what has me worried right now is that after a week my current baby clown is still acting strange. he still hasnt touched the anemone, which is okay. but he still stays almost constantly at the top of the tank. he doesnt venture around any and it just seems like he cant get at all comfortable with his surroundings. any tips to get him to settle down?? he is accepting flake food and shows almost no fear of people, but he just wont settle down and explore the tank.

will a partner help calm him down??

thanks
steve

[lerch]

oh and the reason why i didnt start out with two clowns is because my LFS is not the best source for info. i dont really trust the place because they are mostly just salesmen, not that some of them arent just generally nice people. but being in sales myself i have a kind of low tolerance for sales people and it just bugs me some. they have led me wrong in the past a few times so i just buy what i like and lightly take advice.

thanks
steve

[Ninong]

There is nothing unusual in the behavior of your clownfish. It make take a couple of weeks or more for it to settle down. It will probably accept the BTA within a few weeks and then it will hang out very near the BTA.

[lerch]

okay thanks, i just gotta get a little stressed for the little guy

[lerch]

alright i got another clown on saturday, another baby ocellaris (sp) . so far the two have bonded and are teamed up, the new one is just a little bigger but it doesnt seem to be a problem. the get along fine but both are still keeping to the far side of the tank. what was weird is that the new clown seemed to stare at the RBTA for a long time but then didnt go to it.

any idea on how long it might take for them to head to the anemone??


thanks
steve

[Ninong]

It will probably accept the BTA within a few weeks...

It could be a few weeks, maybe a few months. There is only a slight chance that it will be never, especially now that you have two of them.

If your BTA is really small, that can also be a hinderance to getting this process going. Fortunately your clownfish are also very small.

BTW, as you are seeing, it's a lot easier to put two baby clowns together -- less aggression. The one that is slightly larger now will probably remain slightly larger as they mature. This difference will become more noticeable as they reach sexual maturity. The larger one will pass through the male stage on its way to becoming female. The smaller one will be stuck in the male stage.

[lerch]

thanks for the help so far Ninong

i am giving the fellas ( fellas for now) time to get accustomed to the anemone. so far they spend almost all there time on the far right side of the tank and the anemone is on the left corner. would i be ahead to move the anemone to the right side since the seem to like it?? I know the tend to move around where they like but i thought i could give it a try if you thought it might help

thanks
steve

[Ninong]

The anemone is going to go where it wants to go. Unless it is in a spot at the back of the tank where you can't even see it or feed it, then leave it alone. It's up to the anemone to decide where it wants to stay and up to you to move anything else out of the way. Moving it unnecessarily will only stress it. Besides, it's not like to stay where to put it anyway.

[lerch]

okay sounds good

the right side of the tank is coral heavy anyway and i didnt really wanna try to re arrange stuff. just wanna give the guys the best chance to pair up with the anemone.

thanks
steve

[Ninong]

I have heard of Ocellaris clowns accepting a BTA within a couple of weeks and I have heard of them taking six months before finally accepting it. It's not a natural host for them but they will usually accept it anyway.

Remember, this is not a learned behavior in the wild. Clownfish are born knowing which anemones are their proper hosts. In the wild the teeny tiny baby clownfish must find the right anemone fast or they will perish. There is no mama clownfish to teach them where to go. It could be that they are receptive to certain chemical cues. No one knows for sure how the attraction works but it's constantly being studied.

Some clownfish are attracted to three or four different species. The maroon clownfish is attracted to only one species, the BTA. Clark's clownfish will accept all ten clownfish-hosting anemones in the wild, which explains the wide distribution of this fish.

[thomasvision]

I am having the same problem. I have two saltwater tanks an in my 75 Gallon tanks my two Cinnamon clowns jump right in my two anemones. Ones sleeps in my small rose anemone and the other one sleeps in the condy (LFS) people say clowns will never host a condy usually but mines did. Now in our 29 Gallon Tank we have to false perc's and a Seabae Anemone. They have been in there for about a week and won't even look at it. So since it has just been a week I will give it some time. I am guessing since Cinnamons here are usually wild caught that could be why they host so quick.

[Ninong]

I am having the same problem. I have two saltwater tanks an in my 75 Gallon tanks my two Cinnamon clowns jump right in my two anemones. Ones sleeps in my small rose anemone and the other one sleeps in the condy (LFS) people say clowns will never host a condy usually but mines did.

The bubble-tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) is the most common natural host for cinnamon clownfish (Amphiprion melanopus), so it was only natural that it would accept that anemone as its host. As far as the condy is concerned, the larger clownfish species will often accept it as a surrogate host, so that's not unusual at all. The smaller species will usually reject it.

Now in our 29 Gallon Tank we have to false perc's and a Seabae Anemone. They have been in there for about a week and won't even look at it. So since it has just been a week I will give it some time.

This is not a natural pairing. Sebae anemones (Heteractis crispa) are not natural hosts for Amphiprion ocellaris clowns. It may or may not eventually accept it as a surrogate host. True percs (A. percula) do have a natural association with this anemone but not false percs.

All of this information is readily available online. It helps to know the natural pairings before you make your purchasing decisions so that you won't be disappointed later.

I am guessing since Cinnamons here are usually wild caught that could be why they host so quick.

No, as I explained in detail in a couple of my previous posts in this thread, that has absolutely nothing to do with it. Your cinnamon accepted the RBTA because that is its natural host. And the other one accepted the condy because that frequently happens in captivity with the larger clownfish species.

The problem with condy anemones is that they are a serious threat to eat other fish in your aquarium, especially smaller, bottom-dwelling fishes.