Anenome host size

[Doge]

What is the smallest size an anenome can be to host a clownfish. My clowns are bigger than the anenome and sometimes the female swims on top of it but only for a few seconds. She does a weird snake dance on top of it for those few seconds if that means anything. Is my anenome too small (is that why she never fully stays on it) and how can I get it to grow faster?

[pfan151]

is it a BTA? Just give it good light and feed it and it should grow fast. Make sure the clown isn't stressing it before it gets some size to it.

[tigersmith]

Clownfishes will care for the anemone. My clownfishes feed the anemone given that they get enough food for themselves. I have kept a clownfish and anemone at 1 to 1 ratio before. In a couple of months the anemone will be alot bigger.

[m0nkie]

what type of anemone and what type of clown? most clowns are ok in a smaller sized BTA. might **** off the BTA a little but ok.. maroon clowns are super aggressive and could kill smaller host anemones.

clowns tend to bring food back to anemone for future snacks, but those food get eaten by anemone. So any hosting anemone should get bigger faster than none hosting anemones.

you can manually feed the anemone 2-3 times a week to help it grow faster.

[nemguy]

Agreed you want the anemone to be at least 3-4 times bigger than the clown if it's a pair then double that clownfish can be aggressive hosts and when I find them hosting the small bubble that split in my tank I try to remove the small bubble because they usually kill it (love it to death) :(


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[ThRoewer]

...
clowns tend to bring food back to anemone for future snacks, but those food get eaten by anemone. So any hosting anemone should get bigger faster than none hosting anemones. ...

While that may be generally true, clownfish also steal food from their anemones.
My percula pairs like to steal food from their anemones, especially pair #4.
I have to chase them and the regal angel away when feeding the anemones.


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[Ebisan]

My rbta was about the size of a half dollar when I first got it. The percs took to it (think I have a pic somewhere) and the nem didn't seem to mind. That was over 11 years ago. It's still alive with about 49+ copies of itself.

[abus500]

I had a lot of trouble getting my clowns to host anemones. Most of the ones I tried when I purchased it from the stores were quite small, (about 1.5 ~ 2" opened) Even the medium ones were not successful. About 1 year ago, I came across someone selling a bunch of their Rose Bubble Tips, as well as Green Bubble Tips, and they were HUGE!!!

I placed them in the tank and after about a week, they were hosting. I split one because it got caught on the pump, and the rose went from green and reddish to BRIGHT red. It seems to be doing quite well.

I did notice after they learned to host, they are quick to host, even smaller anemones.