Clownfish hosting

[Donald Beckwith]

Hello,

I have a 30 gallon mixed reef with 2 black clownfish and a rainbow bta. I got both about 3 months ago. They are always in the upper portion of the aquarium in the flow and are always in the open space of the aquarium. They only host in the xenia once the light is out. The bta has been in for about 3 weeks. I was wondering if anyone has has experienced their clowns changing where they host? I dont wanna change or force anything just curious.

 

[Birdbrains?]

I find that clowns prefer powerflows, kinda where they can get the fastest speed. If there are strong flows in the open & upper part, but slower flow near your anemone, they would probably keep ignoring it but mostly because of the flow being dull. But it is possible to shift things around slow and alittle at a time and get them to shift location. They will also practice how to swim together at this stage. Given time, they will feel more confident and try out different aspects of the currents in your tank.

 

[Donald Beckwith]

Awesome thank you. This is my first reef and and have loved the relationship with the clowns and anemones. And it does sound exaclly like you described. Thank you for your knowledge.

 

[nick0206]

Many years ago I had a 20 gallon reef, mostly with soft corals. There were a couple of Nemo clowns (Ocellaris) who ignored the carpet sea anemone (Stychodactila Haddoni) and sat on a rock with xenia in the upper part of the tank.
One day, I pulled out an anemone and put it in a small plastic container, in which I made holes with a drill and attached foam on the sides with rubber bands so that it would not sink.
Then he caught the clowns (I don’t remember how I succeeded) and put them for several hours in a container with sea anemone.
The clown must touch the sea anemone and after that his body secretes mucus, which corresponds to the mucus of the sea anemone itself and thus, the sea anemone accepts the clown, considering it to be part of its body.
As soon as I saw the contact, i.e. both clowns were already rubbed about him, I transferred the whole company back to the tank.
Did the clowns already know the sea anemone and increasingly swam to it, until they became inseparable from her.