Are clowns fussy?

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penhryn

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 30, 2004
Messages
18
Location
Sydney, Australia
Hello! I bought 10 clownfish(Ocelaris) 2 weeks ago which were tankraised. We have a huge tank and at the moment we have 8 anenomes which I don't know the names of. My question is will these clownfish go to these anenomes or will they not bother because they were tank raised. We lost 15 of our beautiful fish a month ago and we had 6 brown clowns and they went to every single anenome. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
There are no guarantees that even a wild clownfish will take to an anemone. Most do. Once in awhile there's one or two that don't. No biggie. Doesn't seem to bother either the fish or the anemone. Occelaris clowns are natural to carpet and ritteri anemones, but take to bulbs and long tentacles as well.

As of tank raised, I guess it would depend if they were raised with an anemone. The clownfish/anemone relationship is one that is learned. Like a mom cat teaching her kittens how to hunt. If they are not taught, then they haven't a clue.

Did you find out why you lost so many fish before?
 
Hello! Thanks for the advice. I hope they will find the anenomes. They just look lost without them because our other clowns just loved them. The reason why we lost so many fish is because we had filter problems. We went away for 3 days and everything was rosy and we came back and they died except for 2 gobies, catfish, 2 cardinals and a chromis. We were so upset when this happened. I know that you learn by your mistakes but this was a beauty. Thanks once again.
 
We have a 160 gallon (750litres) tank and we've had that 1 year this November. We were told to take our time in filling it up but we could not help ourselves and now it is full of all sorts of goodies.
 
Now that I have 10 clowns that might not go to the anenomes, what happens to the anenomes? Do they just survive on their own? They are very healthy at the moment but I am a bit worried because I thought that clowns looked after them.
 
its not nessary for anenomes to have clownfish around. they can benefit from it cause the clown fish can bring bits of food to it that it doesnt eat or drops. and in the wild the clown fish hides in the anenome for protection. it would be best to find out what type of anenmones in my opion to know what care they exactly prefer. did you rely on your clownfish to feed it ? or do you feed it ? but if you feed them and give them proper food and trace elements and the lighting they need. i would find out what type you have and go from there, and as far as i am concerd you dont need a clown fish for anenmones to survive they just need the right care given. heres a link to some anemones with name, pic and care general care taking.

http://liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId

hope that helps and good luck, anenomes are one of the coolest things next to clams
 
I like the idea of the clowns in an anenome. Like I said earlier, we had 6 brown clowns and they went to every single one. The anenomes I have ( I think ) are a mixture of Bubble Tips, Sebae and Heteractis magnifica and/or Ritteri. I can't be 100% sure. They all look the same to me. I rang the aquarium where I bought the clowns from and he said that they need a special type of anenome that will host ocelaris because they won't go to any anenome just a few. He had one in his tank that would host my clowns and it would cost me $400AU because the ones I have in my tank are cheap ones and they won't go to them. I think he just wants my money in his wallet. I suggested I bring my clowns to his shop and put them into the tank with the anenome and see what happens because if I bought the anenome and put it in my tank and the clowns didn't like it, I would have shot myself. I'll see what happens. To me it seems ridiculous to pay that much money but if it works why not. I know clowns don't need them but I love the way they brush up against them. You sit there for ages watching them. I feed the anenomes prawns every now and then but there is four at the back of the tank that we cannot get to so they just get leftovers from the fish food. They are doing extremely well. We must be doing something right. Hoping to hear from you and any comment you may have
 
well i am glad to hear their doing well, and yes that guy just wants your money i have a false percual clown and he is laying in my toadstool coral right now as i type. my clown play's in my two large toadstools all the time. it took him about two weeks to go to them once they were introduce to my tank. and now he stays in them alot along with other fish and inverts that like to swim through its tentalces
so i hope you have good luck with the new fish taking to the anenomes and dont rely on that guy for info, seems to me that he just trying to help his pocket book and not the great hobby of marine aquiariums.
have fun watching the new addition !! :D
 
Thanks very much for replying and I do hope it all works out. Now I can spend $400 on myself instead of giving that guy my money. By the way, we have a sailfish and he has been swimming through the anenomes. Strange!! Thanks heaps.
 
I thought i would let you know that five of my 10 clowns went into one of our anenomes today. I am totally rapt. I couldn't stop watching them just swimming in and out of it. I had been dangling a prawn over the anenome over the past 2 weeks and I think that did the trick. It made my day. Now the other five have to follow suit or I will have to coax them into another one. Unreal. I am so happy that it worked. Have a good one.
 
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