Getting Clownfish to Host Anemones.

[Enderturtle]

Symbiotic relationships in a reef tank are interesting. One of the coolest relationships is that of the anemone and the clownfish. Unfortunately not all clownfish will host. Some need a specific anemone, some will host anything, and some clownfish wont host a thing. My two oscellaris clownfish have been exposed to a rose bubble tipped anemone for about 1 month now and have never hosted. I spray food into the anemone to entice them to host but they wont host. They will nip at the anemone for food. At night my clownfish sleep against the tank corner.

There have been a number of methods proposed for encouraging this behavior. They include:

Placing an anemone and clownfish together in a small tank.
Spraying clownfish food into the anemone.
Posting pictures of clownfish hosting corals/anemones against the aquarium.

What do you think works and what methods do you think wont work? Lets get a lil edumacated discussion going.

 

[monkeybiz]

I think you pretty much have it nailed. Some will host anything and some won't host at all. You just have to give it time.

That being said, you can buy or make a small breeding cage and out the clownfish and anemone in it. I've done this twice in the past and within the hour my clownfish were playing and lying in the anemone. However, as soon as I removed the anemone and clownfish they never went back to it.

I just bought a Picasso clown last week for my 7 gallon and I checked up on in in the middle of the night and it was already sleeping in the rbta I have. After that night in sleeps in the corner of the tank with my other coownfish and doesn't show any interest in the rbta.

I have also tried bringing up a photo of a barracuda on my phone and holding it up to the tank, both clownfish will swim right to the anemone and stay right above it, but not in it.

I'm sure the anemone will host my clownfish when they are both ready

Good luck

 

[monkeybiz]

Here's one of the videos

This fish and anemone were in the same 20 gallon tank for over a year and the clownfish never went back to it.

 

[euod]

@Enderturtle - what else is in the tank? How many rbta you got in the tank?
So a tank with less inhabitants and more rbta, clowns will host in second flat. Otherwise, clowns will host within time.

 

[gimmito]

I've never had a problem with clowns hosting in nems. I've done the feeding live brine shrimp w/garlic near the nem in the past with 100% success rate.

 

[monkeybiz]

I've never had a problem with clowns hosting in nems. I've done the feeding live brine shrimp w/garlic near the nem in the past with 100% success rate.

what clown wouldn't want to hole up in one of those awesome carpet nems?