Clownfish leaving anemone

[what_isTHIS]

My clownfish and his anemone were just put into my tank. He was with it for an hour (the anemone) and he was getting attacked by my little striped damsels everytime he adventured out and so I thought for sure he would stay in it and be careful. But no. He adventured farther out and got attacked more and kept swimming by his anemone. It got so bad that I just put him in a big breeder box with his anemone and he snuggled up right into it and is just chilling as of now. Any help? The anemone is pretty dang small if that matters and it's a rainbow bta. And another question, if the rbta was bigger like 8 inches bigger would the clownfish see it or go to it? Is the anemone to small?

 

[Peace River]

Sometimes different species of clownfish have preferences for certain species of anemones. Sometimes clownfish don't know that they are supposed to be agreeable to anemones that want to host them. Unfortunately clownfish are weird and you'll probably need to just waiting for them to pair (or not). Good luck!

 

[bluemon]

What type of clownfish is it?

Chances are it's oscellaris and percula which aren't naturally hosted by bta, so the clownfish might not take to it.

Beyond this, It might be pretty bad for a non settled (new) anemone to be hosted by a clown so aggressively in a new tank. I would allow the anemone to get settled first.

Also sounds like the damsel needs a time out

 

[vetteguy53081]

Agree with PeaceRiver as I have similar. 9 clowns and 3 RBTA. For a bout 2 years they suddenly stop going in or near the anemones. Yet they will go into xenia, mushrooms and one of my hammers colonies occasionally. some damsels are resistant to stings especially domino damsels and will get territorial in protecting their claimed property - The anemone

 

[Timfish]

You don't mention how large your system is but I have the impression it's pretty small. It's a good sign your clown is snuggling up to it in the breeder box. Assuming your "striped damsels" are one of the Dascyllus species your best option is probably to rehome the damsels.

 

[what_isTHIS]

Agree with PeaceRiver as I have similar. 9 clowns and 3 RBTA. For a bout 2 years they suddenly stop going in or near the anemones. Yet they will go into xenia, mushrooms and one of my hammers colonies occasionally. some damsels are resistant to stings especially domino damsels and will get territorial in protecting their claimed property - The anemone

Yeah I have domino's, 2 decently sized but they couldn't care less. It's only those little striped damsels

 

[what_isTHIS]

You don't mention how large your system is but I have the impression it's pretty small. It's a good sign your clown is snuggling up to it in the breeder box. Assuming your "striped damsels" are one of the Dascyllus species your best option is probably to rehome the damsels.

Its a 100 gallon and not sure whats considered a small system but yes I was thinking about taking then to my lfs. And I didn't know their real name but it's whitetail dascyllus. My lfs just had them as "striped damsels" so I call them that.

 

[what_isTHIS]

As in pair do you mean like clownfish host the anemone? If so they already are hosting on another or however It goes. He just adventures to far into the others territory and when he gets attacked, instead of swimming into the anemone he just swims past it many times and ignores it. Until he is put right next to it he doesn't seem to get back with it. But thank you!

 

[Timfish]

Its a 100 gallon and not sure whats considered a small system but yes I was thinking about taking then to my lfs. And I didn't know their real name but it's whitetail dascyllus. My lfs just had them as "striped damsels" so I call them that.

Most would consider that a medium sized tank. Dascyllus can be very aggressive and it sounds like they were in there long enough to consider the whole tank their territory. CLownfish also do not spend all their time in an anemone. If you are seein it "snuggle up" to it's anemone periodicely they are hosting and it's just checking out the neighborhood. If your anemone is really small, one hypothetical scenario is it's looking for another anemone, and just FYI clowns will host multiple anemones and as mentioned above may not host any.