Another clown hosting anemone thread :-)

[ngvu1]

I have 3 tank bred Picasso clown fish that never saw a nem since they were born. I put them in a tank with 1 clown that hosts a nem expecting the big clown to teach the tank bred clown what to do with the nem. Pictures time I guess

See where the Picasso clowns are hanging and where the nem is

The teacher

The students

Here is the long version

I went to a buddy reefer who breeds clown fish and planned to buy 2 of the "designer" clowns for my new tank. The seller was going to eliminate the last one because he has a birth defect. I felt bad for the guy because he was the smallest and he looks perfectly healthy and happy. If you remember, Nemo also has a birth defect. I decided to take him a long with the other two. I ended up with 3 baby clowns in my sump for a long time since my new tank took for ever to be done due to my work schedule. These clowns were in a 14 gallon JBJ cube with no rocks or any kind of corals. My sump has 2 chambers, 1 is a fuge and 1 is the return pump. The baby clowns decided to move to the return pump chamber which does not have any corals either . When I moved my clowns to the new tank, I had 2 big Pukani rocks in the tank. And guess what, they moved to the caves under the big Pukani rock to avoid the flow from my tunze 6095. They never had to deal with that much flow before either. ; A months or more later, I moved the nem to the new tank. The old tank has a 3 mis-bar clown that I have had for a while. He->she has been living in the nem for like 1 year . I was going to get rid of it but I decided to keep because someone needs to show the 3 baby clowns what to do with the nem. My new baby clowns might never go to the other side of the Pukani to even see the nem forgetting hosting it.
I took the nem to the new tank first and of course none of the baby clowns recognized what it was for the first week. A week later I dropped the old clown in the new tank and she jumped to the caves with the new clowns too. I was like what the heck..... However, the next day she moved right back to the nem. A week past and I didn't see the baby clowns in the nem, but I have seen the big one inviting the small clowns to the nem and I have seen the baby clowns swimming around and very close to the nem a few times already. The baby clowns sleep in the caves still but at least they leave the caves to discover the rest of the tank for a bit. I guess it will take time for them to adapt to the sting of the nem. I have not seen any baby clown touching the nem either. I expect that 1 day all my 4 clown fish will settle in my big nem

 

[Zane]

The clown I have now is a snob, and won't take the nems I have, but here is one I had in the past. I miss it.

 

[ngvu1]

Nice. If you have 1 that hosts, the rest should ;-)
That hosting ability is in their blood. They can't avoid that, just need to be shown sometime; -)

 

[ngvu1]

So tonight, I looked at the tank and the smallest clown has decided to host the nem with my big clown. He was swirling and twisting in the nem happily. He is moving around so fast I cannot take a good shot of him, but he is just like nemo in his nem!

What I am afraid of might happen. These two will become a mated pair and kill my designer clowns pair. Unless they join at the same time and become a herd, the pair with more strength will not let the weak one survives.

 

[Brian Kim]

So tonight, I looked at the tank and the smallest clown has decided to host the nem with my big clown. He was swirling and twisting in the nem happily. He is moving around so fast I cannot take a good shot of him, but he is just like nemo in his nem!

What I am afraid of might happen. These two will become a mated pair and kill my designer clowns pair. Unless they join at the same time and become a herd, the pair with more strength will not let the weak one survives.

That happened to me once...my baby black ice started visiting my bta and shortly after my other 2 davinci joined him. After a week, that black ice got greedy and would not let the other two come near, as a matter of fact, he didn't even want to see them in the same tank and ended up killing the other two. My fault placing 3 baby clown fishes on a 28 gallon tank
I will never get clown fish unless they are already paired now. I also hate how territorial and aggressive they become once they start hosting an anemone. well when an anemone host a clown...they can sure hurt with those little teeth

 

[ngvu1]

Sorry to hear that. So you had 3 clown fish and 1 kill the other 2?

My tank is a bit bigger, and the situation is a bit different. 2 of my 3 baby clowns pair up kicking the smallest one out of the caves of the big rock. The small one won't be able to fight the 2 big ones....

The problem is before the smallest clown joined/paired with the big clown, the big clown often tried to invite the small clowns to come over to the nem. Now she has a mate, she might not let anyone come near the nem and eventually might try to eliminate the 2 small clowns. My plan is to take the big clown out and let the smallest clown teaching the other 2 to host......I think I will end up with 2 clowns in the tank as I originally planned!

That happened to me once...my baby black ice started visiting my bta and shortly after my other 2 davinci joined him. After a week, that black ice got greedy and would not let the other two come near, as a matter of fact, he didn't even want to see them in the same tank and ended up killing the other two. My fault placing 3 baby clown fishes on a 28 gallon tank
I will never get clown fish unless they are already paired now. I also hate how territorial and aggressive they become once they start hosting an anemone. well when an anemone host a clown...they can sure hurt with those little teeth

 

[den75]

FWIW, the clown doesn't host anything. It's the nem that hosts the clowns, not the other way around.

 

[ngvu1]

; I totally understand what you mean. I have also read the other post about this term. However, What is a short way for saying "My clown fish moves near the nem for the nem to host it"? And how do you say when a clown fish refuses to let the nem host it? I actually thought about it before typing, but I think people understand what I am saying, and that is the only thing matters.

FWIW, the clown doesn't host anything. It's the nem that hosts the clowns, not the other way around.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

It won't be long and they will all be in there if not already! Love it!

 

[ngvu1]

Tonight I came home and I was not able to find the 2 Picasso clowns around the big rocks. They just moved to the nem

It won't be long and they will all be in there if not already! Love it!

 

[Tori]

FWIW, the clown doesn't host anything. It's the nem that hosts the clowns, not the other way around.

Thanks! I'm new to reef tanks and it was bugging the heck out of me trying to figure out how the clown is hosting the nem when it seemed like the nem, or other coral, is hosting the clown.

 

[ngvu1]

I often see this question posted on clown fish sale threads "does it host nems?"; If you were the seller, what would you respond to that question? "FWIW, the clown doesn't host anything. It's the nem that hosts the clowns, not the other way around."

I never saw that question about a nem sale thread. because the nems don't chose the clowns. BTW, I know some nems don't host clowns like the Condy nems.....

So experts, what is the right question to ask when someone is selling a clown fish? "Does this clown fish......VERB..... nems?"

Thanks! I'm new to reef tanks and it was bugging the heck out of me trying to figure out how the clown is hosting the nem when it seemed like the nem, or other coral, is hosting the clown.