How to get anenome to host

Donald Gilliss · Feb 15, 2019

i recently bought a sebae anenome, I’ve had my two ocellaris clowns for about 6 months and they don’t seem to be interested in the nem at all... is there anything you can do to get them to go in it and the nem to host?

EmdeReef · Feb 15, 2019

Unfortunately, not really...

You can try feeding around the nem and hope the clowns will take it. Some even put pictures of clowns in anemones on the tank.

davocean · Feb 15, 2019

Either of the two types of sebae are not really natural hosts for occs, not that they can't take to it, it just usually takes much longer to happen.

The flashlight trick could help them discover it, place over anemone and turn on as lights ramp down, being the brightest object in tank may draw them towards it.

Donald Gilliss · Feb 15, 2019

Worth a shot to see what happens! Thanks! What’s the best type of nem for my clowns?

davocean · Feb 15, 2019

Donald Gilliss said:
Worth a shot to see what happens! Thanks! What’s the best type of nem for my clowns?

Well that's the thing about ocellaris, their natural hosts are not what most would consider novice anemone's, mertensi, gigantea, magnifica.

Of those 3 probably magnifica being easier, provided you have an island perch up high for light and get a healthy one, or able to do cipro treatment.

But they could take to what you have.

Post pics to see if you have a crispa or malu

Donald Gilliss · Feb 15, 2019

Awesome I’ll to look into those! And for sure, I love all the info I can get lol

davocean · Feb 15, 2019

You have a crispa, most common of the 2 sebaes.

They get big, 2 feet in diameter, like tons of light and fairly strong flow.

It's very bleached, mysis a couple times a week will help regain color and health.

Looks well set in, that is a good sign.

Donald Gilliss · Feb 15, 2019

The white you see is actually a pvc cap to help him get a good hold, I just did this today so I haven’t gotten more sand around him yet. But he is still bleached He was that color when I purchased him and didn’t know until someone told me on here. I usually feed the mysis so that’s no problem, how long until he starts to recover color?

Thanks for that info tho, I’m definitely gonna do some more resesrch on this guy!

davocean · Feb 15, 2019

Donald Gilliss said:
The white you see is actually a pvc cap to help him get a good hold, I just did this today so I haven’t gotten more sand around him yet. But he is still bleached He was that color when I purchased him and didn’t know until someone told me on here. I usually feed the mysis so that’s no problem, how long until he starts to recover color?

Thanks for that info tho, I’m definitely gonna do some more resesrch on this guy!

It's a very common issue, many LFS even are clueless when it comes to nems.

I see petcos have signs printed for "white sebae" and even liveaquaria sells sebaes labeled as white.

There is no white healthy host anemone, they will all have some color even if it's tan or beige.

Yours may turn a darker beige w/ purple tips, or if you are really lucky they can be mostly purple.

Given proper conditions and lighting, mysis, you should notice a difference in a week or two, and it could take a month or more for full color to really come in.

Donald Gilliss · Feb 15, 2019

So just a quick update, I put the nem and one of the clowns in a bowl together for about 15-30 mins to see if maybe the clown would go near him, I fed them both mysis shrimp and after the nem ate the clown was trying to eat the remaining shrimp off him. I added them back to the tank and BOTH clowns are swimming around it and actually getting close, I think it might've worked not that they’re actually hosting but they’re actually swimming right beside it. Super excited about this!