How to get anemone to host clownfish?

[Justin....#JAMAS]

I just did this 2 weeks ago with 3 pink skunk clowns and a large magnifica anemone. It took all of 20seconds and all 3 clowns went right in and are now hosting. This works!

Yeah I did this tonight and the clown touched the nem than swam away!

 

[Zack K]

I just did this 2 weeks ago with 3 pink skunk clowns and a large magnifica anemone. It took all of 20seconds and all 3 clowns went right in and are now hosting. This works!

I have 3 very large RBTA and dumped the 5 pink Skunks in the tank it it took them 30 seconds to swim right over to it.
Unfortunately for the OP his clowns are already established in the tank, so they know where they want to be. He also has a tank raised Occ. Which is a little different then Wild Skunks.
I have found that pink Skunks are an excellent clown if you want:
A harem fish
A quick Anemone host
Lots of cute little clowns

-Zack

 

[foxt]

Well I just got the female out of the tank and had an acrylic tube big enough to go down over the anemone and I put the clown in and she swam down and just would not go into the nem! She was, looked to be, scared to go into it!!! I started to slowly pour tank water in to encourage her to go, and she went down and touched the nem for a second and swam out away from the tube!! And she has been back to it to look at the rbt a couple times but that's it....so at this point its just going to have to be patience or its just not gonna happen! O well, thanks for any and all suggestions peeps!

Bummer, was hoping that would work.

 

[YellowFinsReef]

Honestly in my opinion, ocellaris are the hardest at trying to get them to host an anemone. I've had some that took two years to host a BTA, while others took several months to host. I've had better luck with clownfish that are members of the clarkii complex such as regular clarkii, bicinctus, and latifasciatus, which are all tank bred, who took to hosting in several days from long tentacle, BTA, and carpets. They even hosted hair algae (LOL), frogspawns, and other type of corals.

So point to this is, if you want them to host, give them time as this will allow them to host in their own time. Or if you don't have patience, get a less picky clownfish.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Bummer, was hoping that would work.

Honestly in my opinion, ocellaris are the hardest at trying to get them to host an anemone. I've had some that took two years to host a BTA, while others took several months to host. I've had better luck with clownfish that are members of the clarkii complex such as regular clarkii, bicinctus, and latifasciatus, which are all tank bred, who took to hosting in several days from long tentacle, BTA, and carpets. They even hosted hair algae (LOL), frogspawns, and other type of corals.

So point to this is, if you want them to host, give them time as this will allow them to host in their own time. Or if you don't have patience, get a less picky clownfish.

Thanks for the info!! I'm def going to wait and try my best to be patient and let them try to go host the nem or the nem host them, on their time BC I just hate having to catch them, as I haven't touched then for about a year when I started the tank! If it really came down to it, I think I would try the strainer and let them try to pair on their own just in a confined space with the RBT. Thanks again! Also, do the rose bubble tip keep their bubbles after they host a clown?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Also, I have a acouple pieces of live rock that seem bad with brown hair algae with air bubbles at the ends maybe Dino's? Because when I but my high output t5 on at midday, it seems the air bubbles start to form if I leave it on for a few hours! My question is would making a hydrogen peroxide dip help take off the rocks that I need to dip? I dipped some zoanthids a month ago on a small rock BC they were closed due to algae I believe and right after dipped in seachems reef dip than dip in tank water and the zoanthids have opened bigger than ever....would this be OK to dip just live rock in peroxide to get algae/ Dino's off it?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

The rocks aernt bad yet but I can tell that if I don't do something now, like catching it early, it can get out of control

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Good question. I usually just let them find it...but sometimes it takes months. I know the tricks that can be used, but never found any of them to be a magic bullet for it.

 

[azreeftank]

I just did this 2 weeks ago with 3 pink skunk clowns and a large magnifica anemone. It took all of 20seconds and all 3 clowns went right in and are now hosting. This works!

I have kept several types of clowns and these Pink skunks were the quickest to host. I have another set of skunks in a second tank and they started hosting my Rose anemone in less than a week. Here is a pic of the skunks I “force fed “ with the clear tube and it worked perfectly. The third clown moved on and found my LTA on the other side of the tank and now he’s hosting that one so I’m happy with all 5 clowns hosting.

 

[Christopher Davis]

Best 2 methods...
Noodle strainer + anemone
+ clowns + 24 hrs= host

5 gallon bucket + airstone + clowns + anemone + a couple of hrs= host. Watch temps

 

[GucciYoni]

Well I just got the female out of the tank and had an acrylic tube big enough to go down over the anemone and I put the clown in and she swam down and just would not go into the nem! She was, looked to be, scared to go into it!!! I started to slowly pour tank water in to encourage her to go, and she went down and touched the nem for a second and swam out away from the tube!! And she has been back to it to look at the rbt a couple times but that's it....so at this point its just going to have to be patience or its just not gonna happen! O well, thanks for any and all suggestions peeps!

Sorry, just adding my 2 cents here.

I've seen this video myself, and should tell you that this is as inhumane as it possible gets regarding the treatment and care of the Ocellaris. Ocellaris have a film which they develop in the wild as an adaptation and are therefore able to be hosted by an anemone and resist its sting. Whether you try this tube trick with a tank raised or wild caught Ocellaris is irrelevant. Say you have a wild caught Ocellaris which used to home in an anemone, their tolerance is limited or completely removed depending on how long they have been out of contact with the Anemone, and therefore often suffer from this method. A tank bred clownish has not developed this resistance as of yet, which is why many of them swim away erratically when trying to be forced into a painful "home".

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Best 2 methods...
Noodle strainer + anemone
+ clowns + 24 hrs= host

5 gallon bucket + airstone + clowns + anemone + a couple of hrs= host. Watch temps

Ok, so I took your advice on this as I have talked to every single person on YouTube that has had success with this, including farm boy reef, and I've got them with the RBT in a huge strainer. They keep doing this really fast wiggling motion in front of the nem.
They have touched the nem a few times so the last thing I tried and this one is no way not in anyway inhumane! I'm very sorry that you feel that way but I would never force them in anything that would kill them like that or make it a "painful home" lol! And its kind of like a water slide for fish, the last thing that I tried you said is inhumane! Lol come on bro, they have the mucus period. Whether tank raised or not, it started with a species from the wild, so they have it and are not getting stung nor is it a painful home bc they are touching the nem on their own! Anyways, going to keep these guys in here prob overnight and hope for the best, if not than its OK and if so than great!

So I was curious if this shaking thing they are doing is developing or making the mucus come out or what?

Also, I'm lowering the lights and I see the clown a little bigger the female, is in the nem. And the male goes in too. But every time the female tries to get close to the nem the male nips at her and chases her out....should I take him out of the strainer ?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Wellllll the one that I thought was just a hair bigger by just very little, I thought was the female, but the male keeps guarding the nem, so every time the one I thought was the female, gets just chased away for 1/2 a second....should I take one out??

 

[Christopher Davis]

Ok, so I took your advice on this as I have talked to every single person on YouTube that has had success with this, including farm boy reef, and I've got them with the RBT in a huge strainer. They keep doing this really fast wiggling motion in front of the nem.
They have touched the nem a few times so the last thing I tried and this one is no way not in anyway inhumane! I'm very sorry that you feel that way but I would never force them in anything that would kill them like that or make it a "painful home" lol! And its kind of like a water slide for fish, the last thing that I tried you said is inhumane! Lol come on bro, they have the mucus period. Whether tank raised or not, it started with a species from the wild, so they have it and are not getting stung nor is it a painful home bc they are touching the nem on their own! Anyways, going to keep these guys in here prob overnight and hope for the best, if not than its OK and if so than great!

So I was curious if this shaking thing they are doing is developing or making the mucus come out or what?

Also, I'm lowering the lights and I see the clown a little bigger the female, is in the nem. And the male goes in too. But every time the female tries to get close to the nem the male nips at her and chases her out....should I take him out of the strainer ?

I didn’t mention anything about being inhumane, as I believe that statement is completely false. There is absolutely no way getting a clownfish to host an anemone is inhumane period. Honestly that’s the most silly thing I’ve heard in a while, not to be rude, so many people have done this. It’s literalky coaxing your fish to do what they do naturally. And in no shape way or form hurts them goodness.

 

[Christopher Davis]

Ok, so I took your advice on this as I have talked to every single person on YouTube that has had success with this, including farm boy reef, and I've got them with the RBT in a huge strainer. They keep doing this really fast wiggling motion in front of the nem.
They have touched the nem a few times so the last thing I tried and this one is no way not in anyway inhumane! I'm very sorry that you feel that way but I would never force them in anything that would kill them like that or make it a "painful home" lol! And its kind of like a water slide for fish, the last thing that I tried you said is inhumane! Lol come on bro, they have the mucus period. Whether tank raised or not, it started with a species from the wild, so they have it and are not getting stung nor is it a painful home bc they are touching the nem on their own! Anyways, going to keep these guys in here prob overnight and hope for the best, if not than its OK and if so than great!

So I was curious if this shaking thing they are doing is developing or making the mucus come out or what?

Also, I'm lowering the lights and I see the clown a little bigger the female, is in the nem. And the male goes in too. But every time the female tries to get close to the nem the male nips at her and chases her out....should I take him out of the strainer ?

I would leave them in a little longer, it sounds that you don’t have a maited pair or clowns yet? The female should be making the male submit not the other way around.
The wiggling can be one of two things, trying to establish dominance, or the clown getting the anemone to sting it to build up slime coat.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

I was talking about.the tube thing, not the strainer.. In now way is putting them down a huge acrylic tube inhumane. T hats what I was referring to!
The pair is mated they are fine this morning and not nipping , but will leave them in longer. Leaving them together all night was better than separating...thanks for the help

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

And sorry I was talking about the gucciyoni

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Not you Christopher Davis, sorry

 

[GucciYoni]

I didn’t mention anything about being inhumane, as I believe that statement is completely false. There is absolutely no way getting a clownfish to host an anemone is inhumane period. Honestly that’s the most silly thing I’ve heard in a while, not to be rude, so many people have done this. It’s literalky coaxing your fish to do what they do naturally. And in no shape way or form hurts them goodness.

what evidence do you base that on? Ive already detailed the science behind it (simply) but my source of information was a couple of marine biologists who graduated from Macquarie University in Australia, who spent a good number of years on the great barrier reef collecting data and information of clownfish and other damsel species. It may be inhumane, period.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Are we still talking about the acrylic tube and you thinking its inhumane or whatever? My god I thought we were over and done with that! Lol
Anyways, thanks for the info everyone, really helped out alot! Cheers!