What is my clownfish doing to my corals?

Pom · Oct 10, 2017

Woke up and my smaller clownfish was doing this to two of my corals. Neither the clownfish nor the corals are new to the tank and I have never seen him do this. Sorry for the dirty glass. Thanks for any help.

sbash · Oct 10, 2017

Looks like they are looking for a host!

DSC reef · Oct 10, 2017

+1 looking for a host. It's nice to see them both doing this. Might time to buy a nice sized bubble tip for them. Nice trachyphillia.

Amoo · Oct 10, 2017

makes me wonder if mama is preggo

Amps Reef Life · Oct 10, 2017

Making sweet love to them! LOL JK!

Like stated above they are looking for something to host! I'm sure they would take to an anemone, frogspawn, or ducans and the list goes on.

Crabs McJones · Oct 10, 2017

Looks like they are looking for a home

Fr4nkthet4nk · Oct 10, 2017

They need an anemone!!!!!!!!

Pom · Oct 10, 2017

Kman237 said:
Making sweet love to them! LOL JK!

Like stated above they are looking for something to host! I'm sure they would take to an anemone, frogspawn, or ducans and the list goes on.

I have a torch and a duncan and it doesn't seem like they care much for either of them. I'm skeptical to get an anemone, do you think it's worth it? Thanks.

Amoo · Oct 10, 2017

Pom said:
I have a torch and a duncan and it doesn't seem like they care much for either of them. I'm skeptical to get an anemone, do you think it's worth it? Thanks.

NO!

Unless you can come to terms with one reality. The MOST IMPORTANT thing in your tank is your clowns and your anemone. If you don't feel that way, IMHO you shouldn't get one in a reef tank.

Pom · Oct 10, 2017

Amoo said:
NO!

Unless you can come to terms with one reality. The MOST IMPORTANT thing in your tank is your clowns and your anemone. If you don't feel that way, IMHO you shouldn't get one in a reef tank.

Can you please elaborate?

DSC reef · Oct 10, 2017

A nem can move and take out everything in its path. Putting a nem in a reef tank is risky and most people prefer there corals over the anemone. If you want to add an anemone then you should know the risks.

dbl · Oct 10, 2017

Also, you may get lucky and the nem stays put for a while. Then one day it decides to split, especially a (R)BTA, and then you're dealing with two or more of them. Had to tear down a 120 to remove three of them due to splits, only after they killed a bunch of beautiful colonies.

But as @DSC reef said above, just providing some information on the risks. Doesn't mean you shouldn't get one, just understand what you're getting in to. I personally enjoy the symbiotic relationship with the clowns, so I actually left the original RBTA after the tear down! Probably left a future chore for myself, but oh well.

DSC reef · Oct 10, 2017

Not much beats watching a clown in its host anemone. The symbiotic relationship is amazing to witness.

Amoo · Oct 11, 2017

DSC reef said:
Not much beats watching a clown in its host anemone. The symbiotic relationship is amazing to witness.

I wish I could enjoy watching the symbiotic relationship of my smooth skinned acros and their zoos, but I haven't quite mastered that one yet

Amps Reef Life · Oct 11, 2017

Pom said:
I have a torch and a duncan and it doesn't seem like they care much for either of them. I'm skeptical to get an anemone, do you think it's worth it? Thanks.

As stated above its only worth if you value the anemone and clowns the most. I have an anemone tank, for this reason, I only keep sand corals with my BTA's. I have few scolys and mushrooms that I keep off my rocks so that my anemones won't reach out to sting them. I also keep one large elegance coral in this tank as he fits in well. Having a tank full of anemones is really FUN to watch and extremely easy to take care. LOTS and LOTS of movement and most of my friends that come over enjoy the anemone tank the most. BTA's have a weak/slow sting if you do find one near a coral you can always move the coral somewhere else but note that the anemone can move at any time it wants and you may be moving corals around often it can get annoying especially if you end up with more then one. As you always should in this hobby do some research before you buy one and make it's something you want pros/cons. You don't need an anemone clowns can host multiple things and are often kept in tanks that don't have anemones.