Suitable Anemones for Clown Fish?

adamf83 · May 15, 2020

I have 2 Picasso Clown Fish (Amphiprion Percula I think). If I want to get an anemone for them, should I be looking for anything in particula? Are there any that are easier to keep that others?

James M · May 15, 2020

Bubble tips are the easiest anemones to keep alive but the nem won’t always host clowns.

cesar6261 · May 15, 2020

GREEN BUBBLE TIP if on a budget and want a cool looking anemone

El_Guapo13 · May 15, 2020

Hosting anemones.

Most popular and common would be Bubble Tips.

Other options, Carpet, Sebae, Long Tentacle.

El_Guapo13 · May 15, 2020

Also, clownfish in aquariums are weird. They will literally host with anything, or even nothing at all.

Plenty of users on here have clowns that host torch corals, frogspawn coral, elegance corals, powerheads. Bunch of randomness.

cesar6261 · May 15, 2020

El_Guapo13 said:
Also, clownfish in aquariums are weird. They will literally host with anything, or even nothing at all.

Plenty of users on here have clowns that host torch corals, frogspawn coral, elegance corals, powerheads. Bunch of randomness.

Yup, clowns host anything mine host in the fogspawn, palys and btas. Clowns are fun to watch as they feed all their hosting spots/coral and help some of them grow faster.

El_Guapo13 · May 15, 2020

cesar6261 said:
Yup, clowns host anything mine host in the fogspawn, palys and btas. Clowns are fun to watch as they feed all their hosting spots/coral and help some of them grow faster.

Thry host in your palys?? Considering that palys carry palytoxin and can kill pretty much anything by releasing it, those are some pretty hardcore clowns.

Mine host nothing. They have a perfectly good, 25 head duncan they can host, but no... >.<

Wolf89 · May 15, 2020

I recommend against using LTAs as host anemones, they don't handle it well and often die after a few months of hosting.

ThRoewer · May 15, 2020

James M said:
Bubble tips are the easiest anemones to keep alive but the nem won’t always host clowns.

The anemone has not much say in this. It is entirely up to the fish to decide if they settle for less or insist on their preferred host.
Though, in my experience, sooner or later they will break down and accept a BTA if there is nothing else. It may take weeks, months, even years. Patience is key.
I have a pair of percula that rather went for Briareum (branching green star polyps) than settling for a "lesser" anemone. Then one day, after 5 years, they decided that a BTA is better than no anemone at all...

ca1ore · May 15, 2020

The natural host anemones for percs are, unfortunately, the hardest to keep .... carpets and heteractis species. BTA is the safer route.

Blknovass · May 15, 2020

I had my clown host to Harry mushroom colony and a long tip torch.

James M · May 15, 2020

ThRoewer said:
The anemone has not much say in this. It is entirely up to the fish to decide if they settle for less or insist on their preferred host.
Though, in my experience, sooner or later they will break down and accept a BTA if there is nothing else. It may take weeks, months, even years. Patience is key.
I have a pair of percula that rather went for Briareum (branching green star polyps) than settling for a "lesser" anemone. Then one day, after 5 years, they decided that a BTA is better than no anemone at all...

Clownfish don’t host nems..... The anemone host the clownfish.

davescj · May 15, 2020

I have 2 (smallish but growing) clowns. They were the first fish (or critter period) I put in my 125 gal. one is clearly growing faster and is slightly bigger, each sleeps on its own side of the tank near the overflow. I got a blue tang, so the tang and clown now sleep together (clown head down, tang head up). I have a hammer coral (small frag). They don't seem interested in it, or any of the live rock yet. I'm wondering if one or the other will adopt a coral as they all get bigger.

ThRoewer · May 15, 2020

James M said:
Clownfish don’t host nems..... The anemone host the clownfish.

Where did I say otherwise?
But while the anemone is the host, the anemonefish is the one making the choice. The anemone can do little for or against it.

radiata · May 15, 2020

THE book with all of the natural clownfish~anemone combinations is "Anemone Fishes and their Host Sea Anemones" by Fautin and Allen. If you're either a clownfish or anenome freak, this book belongs in your library.

DS204 · May 15, 2020

Our pair of clownfish were being hosted by our green hair algae. Sad but true. Hoping they find our long tentacle anemone now that I removed most of the GHA. It was so weird to see them laying in the hair algae and fluttering around in it. It's like, get out of there guys!!

ThRoewer · May 15, 2020

radiata said:
THE book with all of the natural clownfish~anemone combinations is "Anemone Fishes and their Host Sea Anemones" by Fautin and Allen. If you're either a clownfish or anenome freak, this book belongs in your library.

I got all the versions, but they are a little outdated by now and contain a number of errors.
Especially the grouping of anemonefish families has been in part disproven by genetic research. And the status of Premnas as a monophyletic genus is nowhere supported in the genetics. In fact, they form the most basal clade with percula and ocellaris.

Mitochondrial (6 genes) versus nuclear (7 genes) phylogenies, Litsios & Salamin 2014
Hybridisation and diversification in the adaptive radiation of clownfishes

Combined mitochondrial (6 genes) & nuclear (3 genes) phylogeny, Litsios et al 2012
Mutualism with sea anemones triggered the adaptive radiation of clownfishes

radiata · May 15, 2020

ThRoewer said:
I got all the versions, but they are a little outdated by now and contain a number of errors.
Especially the grouping of anemonefish families has been in part disproven by genetic research. And the status of Premnas as a monophyletic genus is nowhere supported in the genetics. In fact, they form the most basal clade with percula and ocellaris.

<SNIP><SNIP>,,.

Thank you for the corrections!