Clown fish harassing my Duncan

Cameron · Oct 2, 2015

I fed my Duncan coral and clowns a little bit ago, and when I went back in to check on everything, one of my clowns was swimming into the center of my Duncan by his mouth. The best way to describe it is that he was pushing against the coral, which made him release a brown stringy substance. I'm guessing that this is his zooxanthellae. Then the clown attempted to eat it, but he spit it back out. I watched him do this to two of the three heads, but I didn't get a picture. I don't have any way of separating him and taking him out of the tank right now. Is this normal? Is there something I can do to stop him? I figured maybe I didn't give him enough food, so I gave the clowns a little more. I'm not really sure what to do. Thanks in advance for the input.

Cameron · Oct 2, 2015

So I fed him a bit more and he did it again. I'm wondering if maybe he's trying to get the coral to host him?

Ahruk · Oct 2, 2015

It certainly sounds like he's trying to host your duncan. Also I think you duncan was probably just throwing up/pooping not ejecting his zooanthelle. My torch used to do that all the time.

Cameron · Oct 2, 2015

Thank you Ahruk, that makes me feel a bit better

Sabellafella · Oct 2, 2015

Yea deff tryn to host Nd whats also crazy is my clownfish used to take some frozen food Nd feed my torch also

Cameron · Oct 2, 2015

I'm thinking maybe I need to get them an anemone, i guess this is them telling me that they want one. I'm just not sure which kind would do well for them and fit happily in my 20 gallon

eliramos · Oct 2, 2015

Cameron said:
I'm thinking maybe I need to get them an anemone, i guess this is them telling me that they want one. I'm just not sure which kind would do well for them and fit happily in my 20 gallon

Don't got for the nem just yet, seems the clown is definitely trying to hose the Duncan, don't worry about it just yet. How big is he Duncan colony compared to the clown.
Clowns will host any and everything if they want. Some will never host anything. Last thing you want to do is introduce an anemone for the clown and then the clown stay with the Duncan.
I have a clown that is hosted by my torch coral, at first the torch coral wasn't so happy about it but after a few days it got accustomed to the clown and my rose bubble tip anemones are completely ignored by my clown. Go figure

ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1443789568.195396.jpg

cmanning317 · Oct 2, 2015

My clowns started to attack my duncans colony after I added a nem for them and became very aggressive towards anything that gets near it

Cameron · Oct 3, 2015

The Duncan is very small compared to the clowns. I snapped a pic of them next to each other, but I just fed the Duncan, so he's a little bigger than he looks in the picture.

eliramos · Oct 3, 2015

I think you will be okay
Don't get the nem, how old is your tank

Cameron · Oct 4, 2015

It's only a few months old, I want to add a nem eventually, but I don't need one, so I'm gonna hold off for a while

Michelle B · Mar 27, 2021

Cameron, Whatever happened here? I am having the exact same problem with my female clown. Out of nowhere she started shoving her face into my duncan and biting off chunks. I have a 25 gallon tank with a lot of corals and not a lot of room for a nem. Wondering if your duncan and clown worked it out or what happened. Thanks!

Caleb barger · Apr 12, 2022

My clown is doing this aswell, swimming into the side of my Duncan’s until it’s closed, and he’s been trying to take chunks out of it. It doesn’t seem like hosting behavior.

blaxsun · Apr 13, 2022

Michelle B said:
Cameron, Whatever happened here? I am having the exact same problem with my female clown. Out of nowhere she started shoving her face into my duncan and biting off chunks. I have a 25 gallon tank with a lot of corals and not a lot of room for a nem. Wondering if your duncan and clown worked it out or what happened. Thanks!

My clownfish literally harassed several corals (torches) to death, and as soon as I introduced an anemone they gave up tormenting my duncan (next on the hit list) and took up with the anemone.