Clown won't host BTA.

sil40sx · Oct 4, 2016

njtiger aquariums said:
My rainbow nem is about the same size if not smaller than my tomato and he took to that as well as my other nem.

Oh, sorry to confuse you,. but my comment about anemone size isn't about hosting or not, but more for the Anemone's health.

GOPMatt120 · Oct 4, 2016

1Clown said:
I have put my 2 clown fish in a breeding net along with the BTA, my larger clown hosted it. I took them out after 2 days and it hasn't gone back to the BTA since. I have also put pictures on 3 sides of the tank of clowns in a BTA to no avail.

Any other advice on how to get this done? Thanks.

I have 2 black ice clowns.... I've went through a few bta if the beginning being new they died or died for other reasons.... 2 years go by.. I buy a green bta. Maybe 4" across at full swallow..... Just one day after 5 months (I put the bta in the area where clowns called there's) all clowns hover and sleep daily in the SAME 8" diameter area.... I placed the BTA THERE on purpose.. NEVER THOUGHT they'd just never host.. one day I see the Larger(F) with her head in the bta tentacles not moving AT ALL I thought oh crap my $100 gush l fish just got eaten by the most peaceful of the anemone species. So I blew the turkey baster at it and she Swam away.. a week or two I see her sucking on a tentacle then leaving it happens little more then I see her letting underneath next to its foot long kissing it. 5 weeks of this BAM they both start pounding this thing like they airways have been doing it since birth m they are tank raised ocell. Black ice. They both lay in this small nem together without fighting
They are a bonded MF pair... Sometimes now the male will flop around in my gold torch... It can take a while. Some never do I even went as far as ordering sebae nem which no one in my area carried I had to have it special ordered but it came white bone white and never got it's symbiotic algae back and died regardless of the good oyster and or pe mysis or selcon. It eventually stopped taking food and died.....

Just be patient I know it sucks.

The whole reason I started a SW tank years ago was the clown nem relationship... But it took almost 2 years total 4 nems and 5 months with this hosted nem to finally get it... I used to shine a flashlight on the nem at night and make them look at it lol....

Jami · Oct 5, 2016

My Osci fell madly in love with my BTA, only after I had purchased a second smaller Osci to pair with the first. The new smaller Osci went directly to the BTA, and my original larger Osci, seeing this, then began loving the BTA as well, even though he'd ignored it for months! Unfortunately, the smaller Osci didn't make it beyond a few days for some reason, but my original Osci, over-loved the BTA from then on. My intuition over time, told me that the BTA was needing some space, but no matter what I did to try and give it to him, the Osci persisted. Long story short, the BTA became more and more distressed, and finally I had to pull him out and let him go before he crashed my entire tank, just last week. The Osci is now beginning to host my hammer since the loss of his beloved BTA, lol. And, I am thinking I may just leave it at that, as it is kind of a relief not having to target feed and shelter a nem anymore. At least for this week... Probably next week, I will forget the practicality, and long for another nem... And buy one.

Joshky · Oct 5, 2016

Bought a beautiful magnifica anemone and didn't have any clownfish yet, so to treat myself for finding a beautiful specimen and putting it through the QT procedure I went ahead and purchased natural hostees for it, A. bicinctus var. spotcinctus from ORA. I had the clowns in the display tank a few days before the anemone made it in and guess what, the same day I put the anemone in they went straight to it because it was a natural host for them. Unfortunately these along with "carpet anemones" which are found in the Stichodactyla genus are pretty hard to keep, haddoni and mertensii (excluding tapetum as it's not a natural host for any clownfish) are by far the easiest but still not recommended for beginners.

In your case I would urge patience, whether they go into your BTA or choose a faux coral host is only a matter of time I'm sure.

Kyle Stolz · Oct 5, 2016

Well on the subject what is my best choice for hosting maroon clowns

LandenB · Oct 5, 2016

can always sell the clowns to a new home and try again :/

Scurvy · Oct 5, 2016

Time is all you can really give them. i tried everything you did to get clowns into my nem but they never even saw the thing. I came home from a brief hospital stay last week to find my nem had moved. Next day I watched from the couch all day as the clowns began their dance with the nem. When i went to bed both my clowns (Davinci and Darwin BTW) were sleeping in the nem. I was pumped to say the least and needed the spirit lift. Woke up and the dang Nem moved again and I'm back at square 1 where it's like they arent even in the same tank.

1Clown · Oct 5, 2016

LandenB said:
can always sell the clowns to a new home and try again :/

I'm having trouble selling my healthy and great looking flame angel, coral beauty, yellow tang and six line wrasse let alone a pair of clowns.

Brew12 · Oct 5, 2016

1Clown said:
I'm having trouble selling my healthy and great looking flame angel, coral beauty, yellow tang and six line wrasse let alone a pair of clowns.

I would buy a healthy flame angel and coral beauty in a heart beat! Just not sure they would enjoy the flight!

themcnertney · Oct 5, 2016

May have missed it, but it depends on if the clowns were born in captivity or not, correct?

LandenB · Oct 5, 2016

Dan McNertney said:
May have missed it, but it depends on if the clowns were born in captivity or not, correct?

captive raised clowns still host, probably less likely too than a wild one but instincts kick in none the less

DeniseAndy · Oct 5, 2016

I have only ever had captive raised and the only ones currently not being hosted by a nem are the ones I have not got a nem for. One pair was hosting, but I lost the nem. However, being Clarkiis, they will take anything and fast. My perc not too sure. They did not find one with them for 3 months, but moved it.

Steve Tobias · Oct 6, 2016

I had attempted to get my two clowns to host with a BTA, a Condi and then another BTA... and no matter what I read and thought to try nothing worked at all... I kinda just felt OK some clowns will and some clowns just wont. You cant force it... after about 6 months I got a Goni and it was like fly paper for them,. They never leave it alone!!!! Even at night when it is all closed up they just lean up against the base... You just never know...

Scurvy · Oct 6, 2016

Both of my clowns were captove bread ORA. I assumed the same, that maybe they just didn't know to the Nem was for them but instincts DO eventually come into play. After my Nem moved neither went back to him for a couple of days. Now one of them has found the Nem and back home. Still waiting on the 2nd... He looked awefully lonely sleeping alone for the first time ever last night.