Clown fish issues with coral

Kfactor · Mar 29, 2020

I have had my clown for over 2 years ish now and just noticed my Duncan coral not out so I was watching and wonder why and to find out that he’s distorting my Duncan coral . The coral has been in there and doing good for over months now and not a issue . I added a coral beauty about 2 weeks ago and was maybe thing it was him lol what do you guys think on why he’s doing that ?

Webslinger · Mar 30, 2020

because he's a clown fish!

Porpoise Hork · Mar 30, 2020

I have had a couple different clowns start hosting in duncans and it concerned me at first. What I observed is if they are not overly aggressive with their hosting behavior, the duncan will learn to tolerate the extra attention from the clown(s) and stay open when getting loved on. Just keep and eye on how your clown is treating the duncan and be prepared to remove him/or coral if it looks like he is being too aggressive. The good thing about the duncan is it doesn't have a large as large of a skeletal base with raised ridges that can cause injury like a hammer or torch when getting loved on. So they tend to survive it very well and in some cases grow faster as a result.

Kfactor · Mar 30, 2020

Porpoise Hork said:
I have had a couple different clowns start hosting in duncans and it concerned me at first. What I observed is if they are not overly aggressive with their hosting behavior, the duncan will learn to tolerate the extra attention from the clown(s) and stay open when getting loved on. Just keep and eye on how your clown is treating the duncan and be prepared to remove him/or coral if it looks like he is being too aggressive. The good thing about the duncan is it doesn't have a large as large of a skeletal base with raised ridges that can cause injury like a hammer or torch when getting loved on. So they tend to survive it very well and in some cases grow faster as a result.

That’s for the reply he is almost spitting out pieces lol I hope it doesn’t die on me here’s a pic since the video did not work for some reason

Dave Garrett · Mar 30, 2020

I have a pain in the butt clown that has killed a Duncan Colony, rubs and hosts on every LPS and Soft Coral in the tank but the hammers and frogspawn... The Sinularia and Duncans seem to be the only ones that close up long enough to start to damage them selves from this clown rubbing on them...The Zoa's, Yellow Fugi Leather, War Corals Favias, Acans.. all seem to tolarate it and open up in very short order after the clown moves on... I have future plans for an anemone cube for this clown... This clown is a bigger pain then a walking anemone with glued down coral through out the tank...

Porpoise Hork · Mar 30, 2020

Kfactor said:
That’s for the reply he is almost spitting out pieces lol I hope it doesn’t die on me here’s a pic since the video did not work for some reason

Clowns will often nip at anemones when they are acclimating to the sting of something they have decided to host in/on. That's what he's trying to do. They usually only do this for a few days give or take then will start doing normal clown house keeping behavior. As long as the duncan was healthy it should survive this with no issues. If your clown is being particularly aggressive, you can try taking a clear water bottle and cut the bottom off it and punch a bunch of holes in it and cover the coral for a few days. Your clown may or may not give up when he can no longer reach it.

I wish my clowns would host in something other than the water return in the back corner of the tank... Like the bubbletip, duncans, torches, hammers, frogspawn in the tank.. But noooooo they like the water return line... ;Sorry