[dYnO]

I bought, “I think”, a green bubble anemone for my tomato clown in my 5-gallon nano-reef. The anemone was adapting well and started to open up fully until my tomato discovered it. He can’t get away from it, and I know about the relationship clowns have with these animals, but the clown is harassing the anemone it kind of bites it once in a while and the anemone shrinks, then it bulges up again and the tomato bites again, is this normal? The clown does like it but the anemone is staying closed now. He’s harassing it pretty aggressively though, what should I do?

[David]

dYnO- not to be rude but IMHO it is downright cruel to keep a Tomato clown in a 5 gallon tank. Female Amphiprion frenatus can easily grow to over four inches, mine is pretty close to that after only 6 months since "quarter" sized. The male is already over two inches. Take pity on both the bta and the fish, give the tomato to someone with a much larger tank. Again, jmo.

[bongobrian]

dYnO~ welcome to Reefland!

To answer your question... the clown's behavior is normal. Why they do this? I have no idea. My maroon clown does the same thing... every once in a while she will swim up to the bta and either suck or bite on the anemone's tenticles. I don't think your clown is trying to "harass" the anemone. I think it likes the anemone so much it wants to put it in it's mouth. Does your clown spend time just laying in the anemone? has it taken the anemone as a host? I think the clown will eventually stop this behavior. Make sure your anemone gets plenty of light and food or else it may end up dying from the "attacks".

It seems like clowns are a good choice for the small nano-reef tanks, but a 5 gallon might be a bit too small. Just make sure your tomato looks happy and doesn't look to be growing too big for the tank. I think you might be able to keep the tomato successfully in that tank. Good luck!