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- Sep 25, 2014
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I was in one of those kind of reflective moods today, and a client sent me a pic that reminded me of something. He sent me a pic of an Elegance Coral he received from us. He was stoked on how well it was doing, etc. In the pic, I noticed a Clownfish that appeared to be "nesting" in the tentacles of the Elegance.
Not really unusual, right? In fact, it was not even mentioned in the context of the email. It was just sort of taken for granted that this is more-or-less "normal" stuff.
Funny how times change, huh?
Do you remember- it wasn't all that long ago that the sight of Clownfish hosting in animals other than anemones was...well- newsworthy!
I mean, it was always considered "necessary" to have an anemone of some sort for the fishes to "host" in, right? Of course, the problem was that anemones were kind of hard to come by, and keeping them alive...well, that was a whole different challenge, too.
Nowadays, anemones are far more common in the hobby, and we're far, far more knowledgeable at keeping them. Of course, they still present a challenge, are definitely not for everyone, and have specific needs that must be satisfied for long-term success. Even though they are very "available" to the hobby, they are still considered prized by many. Some varieties still elude us, and fail to thrive under anything but the most expert care.
I recall many years ago (I'm dating myself here...) someone wrote in to Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine and sent on some pictures about his Feather Duster "establishing symbiotic relationship with a pair of clownfish..."
That was big news in 1978. Seems sort of "quaint" today. Although getting a Feather Duster to stay open for just about anything that comes within 2 inches of it is pretty cool, regardless.
However, it seems almost commonplace now to see Clownfish hosting in all sorts of corals- Goniopora, Catalaphyllia, Sarcophyton, Euphyllia, and even Heliofungia, just to name a few.
I wonder- is this behavior more a result of us simply keeping more varieties of coral than we used to in our aquaria, or some sort of throwback "genetically-programmed behavior" on the part of Clowns to "nest" in something- anything? The weird thing is that a big chunk of the Clownfish in the hobby today were captive bred (yay!) and have never even seen an anemone. I suppose it's hard to undo millions of years of "programming" in even a few generations of captive breeding, right?
There are probably dozens and dozens of things (hmm...like the fact that we make, sell and trade coral frags) that we do every day that we simply take for granted- which were just unimaginable a decade or two ago.
I wonder what things we dream of now will be simply accepted as the norm without question in coming years?
Fun to speculate about, isn't it?
My thought for a Tuesday. Maybe we'll see some of you at MACNA in DC. Joe, Dave and I will be at the Triton booth. Stop by and say hi!
Stay Wet,
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
Not really unusual, right? In fact, it was not even mentioned in the context of the email. It was just sort of taken for granted that this is more-or-less "normal" stuff.
Funny how times change, huh?
Do you remember- it wasn't all that long ago that the sight of Clownfish hosting in animals other than anemones was...well- newsworthy!
I mean, it was always considered "necessary" to have an anemone of some sort for the fishes to "host" in, right? Of course, the problem was that anemones were kind of hard to come by, and keeping them alive...well, that was a whole different challenge, too.
Nowadays, anemones are far more common in the hobby, and we're far, far more knowledgeable at keeping them. Of course, they still present a challenge, are definitely not for everyone, and have specific needs that must be satisfied for long-term success. Even though they are very "available" to the hobby, they are still considered prized by many. Some varieties still elude us, and fail to thrive under anything but the most expert care.
I recall many years ago (I'm dating myself here...) someone wrote in to Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine and sent on some pictures about his Feather Duster "establishing symbiotic relationship with a pair of clownfish..."
That was big news in 1978. Seems sort of "quaint" today. Although getting a Feather Duster to stay open for just about anything that comes within 2 inches of it is pretty cool, regardless.
However, it seems almost commonplace now to see Clownfish hosting in all sorts of corals- Goniopora, Catalaphyllia, Sarcophyton, Euphyllia, and even Heliofungia, just to name a few.
I wonder- is this behavior more a result of us simply keeping more varieties of coral than we used to in our aquaria, or some sort of throwback "genetically-programmed behavior" on the part of Clowns to "nest" in something- anything? The weird thing is that a big chunk of the Clownfish in the hobby today were captive bred (yay!) and have never even seen an anemone. I suppose it's hard to undo millions of years of "programming" in even a few generations of captive breeding, right?
There are probably dozens and dozens of things (hmm...like the fact that we make, sell and trade coral frags) that we do every day that we simply take for granted- which were just unimaginable a decade or two ago.
I wonder what things we dream of now will be simply accepted as the norm without question in coming years?
Fun to speculate about, isn't it?
My thought for a Tuesday. Maybe we'll see some of you at MACNA in DC. Joe, Dave and I will be at the Triton booth. Stop by and say hi!
Stay Wet,
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
