Anemone Alright?

[nanofowlrboy]

So I’ve had a Green BTA for a while and I just recently bought a 2” maroon clownfish. The BTA is about 3”-3 1/2” in diamter when fully expanded. The maroon for the first two days was very aggressively hosting the nem. He was also biting and tasting the nem a lot. Now is day three and the nem is colored up, mouth looks good not protruding, and 75% of the tentacles are bubbled up and the other 25% are deflated. But he is about half the size he was before the clownfish. I read that it just takes time for the nem to get used to the clown, but I just want to know if everything will be alright. The maroon has chilled out a bit of its aggressive hosting. I feed the nem once or twice a week (mysis shrimp). All of the corals in the tank are doing great. Including Chalice, Trachyphyllia (or however you spell it) Open Brain Coral, Xenia, Mushroom that a healing for fragging, Montipora Capricornus, and Green Star Polyps. I run chemi pure blue nano packets, its a 10 Gallon tank. I do 25%-30% water changes every 1-2 weeks. I have reef capable LEDs (30 WATTS).
Parameters:

Salinity 1.026
pH 8.3
Nitrate 2 ppm
Nitrite and Ammonia 0
Phosphates ~0.02
Temperature 79 Fahrenheit
Magnesium 1400
Calcium 410
Alkalinity 9 dKH
Lighting period 10 1/2 hours a day.
Medium flow throughout the tank.

Tank mates:
1 Neon Damselfish
2 Blue legged hermit crabs
2 Astra Snails
1 Nassarius Snail
1 Cerith Snail
1 Feather Duster Worm
And all of the corals I mentioned above
And Coraline Algae that is growing

These pictures are right now





BTW the algae you see in the pictures came on the rock from another tank, this tank is VERY clean. The algae is actually dying.
I just got a new phone so I lost the picture of what it looked like before.
Thank You!

 

[choupic]

Looks fine your Anemone will likely adjust to the abuse by the clown fish. My Perc clowns only leave my RBA only when its feeding time.

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Looks fine your Anemone will likely adjust to the abuse by the clown fish. My Perc clowns only leave my RBA only when its feeding time.

Thank you!

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Update, his mouth is protruding, just a little bit. Not that much though. You can’t really see the mouth in this picture, but throughout the day who opens and closes his mouth, but like I said before 75% of his tentacles are bubbled up and the other 25% are shrunken or deflated. You can see the mouth in picture #2

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Sorry for all of the updates, but I wanted to say that his mouth is completely closed up up again [emoji2]

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Update:
Mouth is open in the picture but has been closing and opening all day, 25% of the tips are bubbled up and 75% are shrunken.
Does it look like it will be ok?

 

[Sniperhank]

It is obvious that the clown is stressing out your anemone. The symbiotic relationship that these two creatures have together can be very hard on an anemone if it isn't large enough.
Simply put, your anemone isn't large enough for the clown. The solution is to either put some sort of cage over the anemone or remove the clown.

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Ok that makes sense thank you!

 

[nanofowlrboy]

So I decided I want to keep the clownfish until the nem gets a bit bigger, so what would be the best option for separation? And how long?

 

[Sniperhank]

Even one of those green plastic containers strawberries come in would do.
As for how long...until it’s bigger.

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Thank you!

 

[Autumnsky]

Also make sure you do regular water changes and keep the water parameters in tip top shape so it can recover better not having another thing to get stressed over.

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Ok he is set up in the strawberry container held to the wall with a mag-float, I made sure there was enough circulation in the container so I pointed a small pump at it and it works. Update on the nem, He is eating, is very receptive to touch, and is colored up. Only a few tips are bubbled up but some more are starting to bubble up.

 

[Fresh2o]

I think the “cage” was supposed to go over the nem, allowing the clown to be free swimming. Just wondering if this would cause undo stress on the clown.

 

[Brookster123]

Definitely want the cage protecting the nem. Keep a clown like that and it will develope a complex.

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Definitely want the cage protecting the nem. Keep a clown like that and it will develope a complex.

What do you mean develop a complex?

 

[Brookster123]

What do you mean develop a complex?

They're terrible to begin with. Give it a prison complex??? Forget it... my female draws blood any and every time my hand is in the tank for more than 5 seconds.

 

[Fresh2o]

You will want to punch more holes in that container before you place it over the anemone. The container (as is) may restrict adequate flow on the nem. It should be more like a cage.

 

[Sniperhank]

Yeah, the 'cage' needs to go over the anemone.
As for the container, it'll need more holes. It isn't exactly what I was referring too, but can be modified to meet the needs. This is more along what I was mentioning.
https://www.amazon.com/48-Pack-Plastic-Baskets-Open-Weave-Pattern/dp/B01FS34G1M

 

[nanofowlrboy]

I added my clown back into the display because I gave up on the strawberry bin because he kept escaping, so I have another question, I asked my LFS and a friend who has a maroon hosting a bta, and they said its normal for this to happen even if they are about the same size, as long as the mouth is closed and the anemone is expanded, my friend who has his pair of maroons hosting his bta said they started out the same size and had the same occurrences, and they are doing great today. So the only difference between without and with the clown in my tank is the tentacles are nubby, it just lost it bulbs and the outer rim and small tentacles are bubbled up always. My anemone expanded fully today and he looked about 1/2 inch bigger than the clown. I’ll post a picture tonight. The nem is still very bright, and very receptive to touch, he is eating very well, and I haven’t seen him open his mouth in days even with the clown hosting it. Also he hasn’t closed up at all, its as if he is ignoring the clownfish. He moved about mid way up the tank and is a lot happier. Thank you.