[roscoedog]

I put a green bubble tip in my tank on Thurs. afternoon (~3pm). By the time I got home Fri. morning (~8am) two of my juvenille O Clowns were hosting in it an chasing off any Chromis that got within 4" of it. My tank is 90g and there are 4 juvi O Clowns total(tank bred). Here is my dilemma; The two that are hosting are the bigger of the four, and look as though they are pairing up, and nipping at the 2 smaller ones. Do I get another Anemone for the other two to see if they host? 90g should be more than enough room for 2 pairs. BTW the other occupants of the tank are: (1)Lawnmower Blenny, (1)Green Clown Goby, (1)Yellow Clown Goby, (1)Black Clown Goby, (1)Firefish Goby, (4)Blue/Green Chromis, Snails, Hermit Crabs, about 115lbs of Live Rock, Colony Polyps, and Button Polyps. Thank you in advance for any advice.

[pyromaniac398]

the other two wont host in an anemone. Tank raised clown wont host because they dont know what an anemone is. So i have been told

[Taras1]

Originally Posted by pyromaniac398

the other two wont host in an anemone. Tank raised clown wont host because they dont know what an anemone is. So i have been told

I hate to disagree with this, but if you're patient and purchase captivity bred juvenile clowns all about the same size, and put them in with your anemone at the same time, they will adopt their anemone.

I've done it once with a BTA and 2 tomato clowns and now with 3 maroon clowns and a BTA. My BTA was about 6" and the maroons were about 1 - 1 1/2". It took them a day or two, but now they're inseperable. One of the maroons is now bigger than the other 2 (probably will grow up to be the dominant female). Maroons are quite aggressive when it comes to their anemone. They feed it and will attack me when I do tank maintanance. Just be patient.

[pyromaniac398]

I was talking about True percs. i have no idea about other species. Thanks for lettin me know that it can be accomplished with other species. I have a tank raised live perc and a wild one and the wild on hosts but the tank raised one will not, and i have done everything possible to get him to host. The LFS told me that tank raised true percs will not host in an anemone.

[pyromaniac398]

and by all means disagree with me if you know im wrong i would much rather be corrected than give someone the wrong info

[roscoedog]

from what I've learned, it mostly depends on how many generations the breeders have been out of the wild, but there are no hard fast rules.... if the instinct is there, they will! Getting back to the question: if 90g should be more than enough room for 2 Anemone and 2 pairs of Ocellaris Clowns?

[Taras1]

Pyromaniac398 -- Interesting about the Percula - you're right about each animal is an individual. I noticed you have a Florida Condy - do they host any species of clown?

I'm very interested in Roscoedog's question about multiple anemone and clowns in one system. What's the minimum size that could host more than one w/o bloodshed?

[pogodzib]

My 125 gal tank isn't big enough for my pair of tomato clowns (which is hosted by an anemone on one end of the tank) to have them leave any other type of clowns alone. They never move further than a few inches from their host, unless I put other clown in the tank. When that happens, they will swim to the other end of the tank and kill any other clown that I try adding.

Regarding tank bred clowns hosting, I have a pair of false percs that each host in their own anemone (in a different tank than the tomato clowns listed above). I got them to host by (don't laugh) taping a picture of clowns being hosted by a BTA onto the tank's glass by the anemone and within a week the one started hsoting and a week or two later, the other one found it's BTA.

BTW - I though that taping a picture of a percula clown being hosted by an anemone would never work when I first heard about it, but after having the clowns for 6+ months and they still weren't hosting, I thought that I'd give it a try and somehow it worked great.

[anmacara103]

From my reading, when a clown hosts an anemone, they typically stay very near the anemone, and only stray very far from it in order to pick up food. I would try getting another anemone, and then if you can get it to set up shop on the other end of the tand, AND if the other false percs host it, you would remove the need for territorial disputes. Since they can see a pair hosting already, I would think they are more likely try it themselves. This way you may end up with two mated pairs! If they are all relatively close to the same size agression should not be too much of a problem, as long as each fish is able to fend for itself.

Like I said before thoug, getting them to host a seperate anemone will decrease their amount of percieved territory, so they may behave better

Just my take. I have two false percs also, but have not decided about an amenone yet. One is tank raised and the other is wild caught. It is interesting to see the tank raised one "teach" the wild caught one how to act in a tank!