clown pairing and RBTA questions.

nlutfi · Mar 1, 2019

Hi everyone I have 2 questions I'm hoping you guy can help me out with. First my RBTA that I have had in my tank for about a month seems to be slowly moving in my tank, it has pretty much stayed in the same spot in the tank since I put it in there but the last few days seems it has decided it wants to move. Is this normal for them? I haven't added anything new in the tank as far as equipment and all my perimeters have stayed the same as well (78f, 1.025 salinity,PH 8.2 ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 3-5, phosphate 0, calcium 400-425, magnesium 1280, alkalinity 7.2-8) Just worried it will start to venture to far and sting some corals. The other question I have is I also have 2 onyx clowns that I bought at the same time as the anemone. They both were juveniles with one being a little bigger than the other. For the first few weeks the bigger one, which had found them nem and is hosting, stayed in the anemone alone while the other swam near but never in it. Last weekend I added 2 new fish, a leopard wrasse and Midas blenny and ever since the smaller clown has made its way into the anemone with the other one causing them to constantly fight. They have times where they seem content with each other, mainly at night, but a lot of times they are chasing each other around biting and locking mouths. I haven't really noticed any major damage on either of them besides of few scuffs on them and the smaller ones "chin" looks to be a little white or bruised, but no missing fins or anything like that. Again just curious if this is normal pairing behavior or something I should be concerned about. Possibly remove one or both and look into buying 2 that are already paired or just living with one? My tank is an IM mini 40 with a hydra 26 for lighting running BRS's AB+, mighty jet return with vivid aquatics RFG's and 2 aqami kps's. Ill post some FTS's from about a week ago and today to show the anemone movement. TIA!

Nem moving up and backwards in the tank.

mehaffydr · Mar 1, 2019

Anemones will move that is very normal. They will look for the place that best suite them for light and flow. As far as the fish I think if its minor conflict I would let them settle it on their own just watch and make sure it does not get so nasty that they are really hurting each other. With time they will most likely pair up.

nlutfi · Mar 1, 2019

Yea like I said I don't see any major damage on either of them but they do have their moments where the battles looks pretty bad. I'll let them settle things themselves for now unless it gets to bad. Thank you for the fast response.

PDR · Mar 1, 2019

mehaffydr said:
Anemones will move that is very normal. They will look for the place that best suite them for light and flow. As far as the fish I think if its minor conflict I would let them settle it on their own just watch and make sure it does not get so nasty that they are really hurting each other. With time they will most likely pair up.

I agree, it is normal for anemones to move, especially bubble tips. Just watch the clowns and if it gets much worse you may need to separate them.

nlutfi · Mar 1, 2019

PDR said:
I agree, it is normal for anemones to move, especially bubble tips. Just watch the clowns and if it gets much worse you may need to separate them.

I guess how do I know when its to much?

PDR · Mar 1, 2019

nlutfi said:
I guess how do I know when its to much?

I would say if you start seeing serious damage or one is not eating, things like that.

nlutfi · Mar 1, 2019

PDR said:
I would say if you start seeing serious damage or one is not eating, things like that.

Yea they both seem to be eating with no issues, I'll just keep an eye out for any major damage to either of them.

nlutfi · Mar 1, 2019

on a side note can anyone tell what kind of nem I have? Is it a rose, or possibly rainbow? here is a better pic.

ShaunRobinson · Mar 2, 2019

nlutfi said:
on a side note can anyone tell what kind of nem I have? Is it a rose, or possibly rainbow? here is a better pic.

Some would probably call it a Rainbow but all these colour variations are really just Rose Bubble Tips. Calling them other names is really just an excuse to charge more.

nlutfi · Mar 3, 2019

Well unfortunately the clowns are going back to my lfs tomorrow [emoji17] after talking to my lfs today and seeing more damage the lower jaw/mouth of the smaller one I think it's best for them before there is any permanent damage. But on that note it's time to look for a new pair/single clown. My lfs had a pretty cool looking fire clown or was possible looking at a cinnamon or tomato. They had some pretty cool black storms too but they might be a little out of my price range. Anyone have any input on their favortie clowns?