Clownfish too small for RBTA?

indiana812 · Apr 21, 2021

Please ignore the sand, this is an old picture with my previous light before my AI prime 16HD. I cut the hours to 6-7 a day along with only feeding a 7/8 pellets a few times a week in attempt to keep the dinos/cyno off my sand.

I am 99% sure these are smaller ocellaris I bought of a buddy. My question is if the clowns are too small to be interested in the anemone? I just got the RBTA anemone 2 weeks ago, from a LFS however I accidently put him near the crevice in my rock that I didn't realize was there. He still comes out a decent amount in the right conditions and i have yet to see him "roam" the tank, ive ever tried to stay up late and catch him out, but I'm convinced he is content with staying there lol.

Is it possible for the clowns to be "too small" to not have any interest in an anemone?

I

NatureHold · Apr 21, 2021

I have some 3/4" Frostbite clowns that hosted a 6" RBTA within 2 days of being introduced into a tank. Each clown is different. From the pics, it looks like there is hardly any bit of your Nem sticking out. Probably not enough for them to both host anyways.

On a side note, you could always try the video learning method. Place a tablet or tv screen in front of the tank with a video playing of clowns hosting a nem. From what I've gathered and have been told, clownfish hosting anemones is a socially learned behavior and is not instinctual.

2Sunny · Apr 22, 2021

Can you rent a PAR meter and check the PAR? Also what spectrum do you have set on your light. In my experience Bubble Tips are not light hounds like other anemones and your tank appears likely to have somewhat high PAR all around.

indiana812 · Apr 22, 2021

2Sunny said:
Can you rent a PAR meter and check the PAR? Also what spectrum do you have set on your light. In my experience Bubble Tips are not light hounds like other anemones and your tank appears likely to have somewhat high PAR all around.

Yeah, there is one available to rent at the LFS.
With the 16HD I cant see my schedule unless I am on my home WIFI unfortunately. As soon as I get home after work today, I will screen shot it and send it to see what you think. I was using David Saxby schedule and it was creating the dino/cyno so I modified and went with my own schedule. I will post it around 5 CST.

Is that your tank?!?1 Absolutely beautiful!!

indiana812 · Apr 22, 2021

2Sunny said:
Can you rent a PAR meter and check the PAR? Also what spectrum do you have set on your light. In my experience Bubble Tips are not light hounds like other anemones and your tank appears likely to have somewhat high PAR all around.

+ pictures a few pictures of my RBTA & my lighting schedule.
Do you have any recommendations on my schedule? Anything else you recommend?

2Sunny · Apr 23, 2021

The spectrum looks great and assuming you have the light at least 10 inches above the tank, I'd say lighting is perfect especially now that you have seen it come out and expand. So then that leaves either 1) just be patient and let the anemone adjust to it's new surroundings and/or 2) increase your maintenance to improve the water quality so you don't have any algae growing on the sand. The anemone is small and Ocellaris do not naturally use Bubble Tips as a host so it might take them a while to move into their new home. I might lightly feed the anemone something like Hikari Mega Marine to encourage growth. Also I would put a guard on the power head because Bubble Tips love to wander and eventually it will find the powerhead and get sucked in.

What is your maintenance routine? Can you tell us more about your system? How big? Sump? Skimmer? Refugium? Do you have any other biological media? I ask because the rock you have appears to be not so porous, granted it's really hard to tell from a photo, but if thats all the live rock type media you have, then the system might benefit from some added Marinepure Media.

shartpants007 · Apr 23, 2021

indiana812 said:
Please ignore the sand, this is an old picture with my previous light before my AI prime 16HD. I cut the hours to 6-7 a day along with only feeding a 7/8 pellets a few times a week in attempt to keep the dinos/cyno off my sand.

I am 99% sure these are smaller ocellaris I bought of a buddy. My question is if the clowns are too small to be interested in the anemone? I just got the RBTA anemone 2 weeks ago, from a LFS however I accidently put him near the crevice in my rock that I didn't realize was there. He still comes out a decent amount in the right conditions and i have yet to see him "roam" the tank, ive ever tried to stay up late and catch him out, but I'm convinced he is content with staying there lol.

Is it possible for the clowns to be "too small" to not have any interest in an anemone?

I

If the clowns feel safe in the tank, it might be harder to get them to host. Also, like someone else said, not much of the BTA is sticking out, so that could make it harder. Also make sure your heater is somewhere protected in case your BTA ever does decide to go for a walk.

shartpants007 · Apr 23, 2021

If the clowns feel safe in the tank, it might be harder to get them to host. Also, like someone else said, not much of the BTA is sticking out, so that could make it harder. Also make sure your heater is somewhere protected in case your BTA ever does decide to go for a walk.

2Sunny · Apr 23, 2021

Just a minor grammatical point:

Host (biology)

In biology, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism;[1] whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist guest (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter.

Anemone's host clownsfish. Clownfish do not host anemones; they are symbionts.

As to the primary issue - how to get the clowns to move into the host anemone - there are many discussions online, but most point to what was said above in that the clowns need to feel "scared" because anemones are their natural protectors. So people have tried cages, larger fish, and even mirrors.

Tips to Get Clownfish to Use a Host Anemone