Clown in Goniopora (flowerpot)

[HappySkittles]

so our big female clown decided to try and live in our goniopora. shes kicked out the poor little clown goby which didnt seem to do much of anything to the coral

will the coral be ok? we dont want the clown to keep it all shut up. it doesnt seem to be too angry. opening up still just a bit more slow
i think shes coating herself in its slime and its getting used to her
its a big coral....closed up the base is fist sized

should we put in an anemone? we'd do a bubble tip. the clowns are tank raised and i've heard they will host in almost anything

the tank is 34 gallons

[spw4949]

How old is the tank? You shouldn't add an anemone to a tank that is less than 6 moths old. Regardless of lighting they don't do too well in newer systems

[HappySkittles]

it isnt 6 months yet
its 4
i know you should have an older tank


BUT that info does not answer my question ^^;; or maybe i should just rephrase it...

should an anemone be added at an appropriate time (in 2 months) to help the goniopora if it will even help?

and the main question will the goniopora be ok with this clown in it?

[HappySkittles]

?

[greggnyce]

Goniopora's have to be fed and often do not do well in reef systems unless they are. Clowns host in frogspawns without ill effects so it might be ok, but I am not positive. I would be more concerned about the feeding requirements of the goniopora.

[WrinkleFreeZone]

I agree. Your greatest concern is going to be whether or not the coral is feeding. Goniopora are notorious for going "bald" in our systems with time. With the clown hosting it, it's not going to extend very well and I doubt it will feed as much as it needs to. This will ultimately lead to the demise of the coral.
-B

[beachbumva]

IMO I would try and find another oral that the clowns may enjoy more, use the flashlight trick after lights out focused on the coral in order to attempt to get the clowns to host there instead,, the problem Ive come across with goniopora isnt feeding them 3 times a day which anyone can do IMO,,problem is they do not fair well with any damage done to there tissue whether it be from a shrimp crab snail or in your case a clown fish, often times they wont recover at all from even the slightest damage done to them on very large specimens. Some do but most will not. Also IMO which may be rediculed if your system is 4 months in and doing well with good lighting there are a number of anenome that can and will be fine if you so chose to add one. Lots of factors depending on system size, amount of rock,,was it fresh or contruction rubble, true live sand or playground sand and so on,, all of these things matter when it comes to aging a system and its ability to maintain some species of both fish and inverts and have absolutely nothing to do with how long its been running. Again just my opinion but if you want to save the flowerpot then I would do something quick

[HappySkittles]

HOLY COW

THANK YOU beach
most helpful comment i have ever gotten here D: you answered my questions
people can be so negative sometimes
i dont wanna hear a flowerpot is hard to care for
we know that
we are giving it a go..it was on a plug so it must have been grown in a tank
we have so much food its insane and we have to clean the skimmer out at least once every two days with the extra food we give (and all parameters are perfect even still)

and i agree with you beach on the mature tank thing
it isnt time as much as the life in the tank
we used live rock from an already established tank (cycled the tank in a week i kid you not) and we got some rubble that was so ALIVE it started heavy duty coralline growth in less than a week
and we had some random good snails pop up

[reefworm]

My Euphylia ancora made a fine host for the occelaris, so I would expect a frogspawn will do fine.

[reefworm]

As to the negativity, we had no way of knowing your familiarity with the flowerpot - and this is the new to the hobby forum. Here, more often than not we get questions from those who bought an animal purely for looks or on misinformation from the lfs. I think folks were just trying to help out. That's the problem with online communication - we miss the nuances, voice inflection and body language that would set each other at ease.

[HappySkittles]

i guess i can understand that reef
but i just get frustrated
in every nook of communication when my questions get over looked and i get ring around the rosy instead of just an answer

i dont think i should have to explain my whole lifes story to get an answer to some questions :(
i am new to the behavior of clowns in corals
i know how to care for corals as far as parameters but i dont know what to do with a clown acting up

[Whisperer]

Hate to say this but your goniopora is in trouble if the clown does not choose another coral to host. I experience it first hand. I lost my beautiful goniopora when my clown decided it's hers. My goniopora no longer opened because the clown relentlessly irritated it until it just disintegrated. Keep us posted with how yours is doing.

[HappySkittles]

well
we sent the clown back and got a new one AND got a frogspawn
the goniopora looks so much better now

[HappySkittles]

ok this new clown leaves the goniopora alone
so now both the clowns are behaving
and this one is much smaller than the last...the other was pretty big

so all looks well
and the goniopora opens up like it did before the clown bashed it up

[beachbumva]

Life is good m8 :)

[reefworm]

glad things are working out. and thanks for your understanding. ;)