Do Anemones Dream of Clown Fish?

[Big Mistake]

Well, do they? Do they crave their company?

I thought I would have a copepod tank.

But I have an Anemone tank.

Am I denying my Anemone a ménage à trois?

I think adding two clown fish to a 10-gallon tank would be a ...

-Big Mistake

 

[gbroadbridge]

More the stuff of nightmares I think for any anemone.
They dream of being left in peace.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Not really. Both clownfish and anemones only use one another for protection in the wild. Clowns hide in the nem to get away from predatory fish, and the anemone is protected from butterflyfish/angelfish which are chased away by the clowns. Both are usually fine without the other, and for small anemones that could be beaten up by clownfish, they actually do better by themselves. I do like to see them together, but it certainly isn't needed. A pair of ocellaris or percula would be fine in a 10 gallon with no other fish. Not ideal, but they'd be able to live and grow. Most large-scale fish breeders keep their broodstock in 10 gallons, after all.

 

[Big Mistake]

I dream of a dwarf variety of clownfish bred for smaller tanks.

All the extra nutrition from feeding a couple of full-size clownfish could lead to a ...

-Big Mistake