Clown Hosting

[loyalrogue]

Originally Posted by roka64

Hosting is more like where they feel comfortable and hang out during the day. Yours is just finding a nice spot to sleep.

Yep.

Jarred, what you stated in the beginning is true.

Clowns and anemones do have a type of symbiotic relationship that both benefit from.
The clown secretes a special mucus that protects it from the anemone's stinging cells which allows the clown to hide from predators within or under the anemone.
In return, the clown becomes territorial of the anemone, chasing away fish and critters that feed on anemones like butterflyfish.
Clowns will also "tend" their anemones like a gardener watching over his favorite plant.
Some will bring it back meaty foods and clear the area around it to help it grow bigger, and "groom" it of debris and parasites to keep it healthy.

When a clown hosts something else instead of an anemone it's just displaying a natural, but misguided, behavior.
And as someone else said, that behavior can sometimes damage or kill corals.

I have one tank-raised clown that's not interested in hosting anything and I have one Clarki that will instantly (and very aggressively) host any anemone I put in the tank.
It's like watching a dog with a chewtoy.
He was so rough with it that I thought at first he was gonna kill the anemone.
He would swim halfway across the tank then turn and launch himself as fast as he could right into the middle of the anemone and burrow in so hard that he would knock it loose and then bounce it around the tank like a beachball.