Quote:
Originally Posted by maxxII
There are times and situations where not having clownfish is better for the overall health of the anemone. I have had weak and recovering anemones get beaten up by clowns and had food stolen from them after they had expended the energy of "catching" the food I placed in the tentacles, drawn it to their mouth and had the clowns then drive in and steal the food from the anemones. I lost one weakened H.magnifica anemone that way, and while bringing another back from the brink, saw the clowns engaging in the same behavior.
I order to save the anemone, I seperated it from the clowns and over time it made a full recovery and now the clowns are being hosted by that H.magnifica.
Do NOT get into the mindset that clowns/damsels are ALWAYS a good thing for the anemone. There are times when the anemone is not able to handle the stress induced by hosting a fish symbiont.
Nick
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ThatFishPlace out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania has a Web site which has a page describing what species of clownfish host in what species of anemone in the ocean.
I think this is a good place to start finding an appropriate host for you anemone.
My Tomato clowns totally ignore my True Carpet anemone.
I fortunately have a six year old pair of Tomato clowns who have always taken care of their bubble tip anemones. They will even take floating food and put it into their anemones. The female is so protective of the five bubble tips she will bite through two sugical gloves and draw blood.
I suppose if you have an anemone which is very, very small AND sick and it is kept it with a larger clownfish, you might have a circumstance like you state. Then the answer might be would the anemone have died anyway without the clownfish trying to host?
It is obvious that nothing is 100% although in my experience I have always had my Tomato clownfish take care of a green bubble tip I move from the right side to the left because it 1) was not doing well on the right side and 2) I wanted to put a True Carpet anemone on the right side by itself. This anemone was gently carressed by the Tomato clowns and it is now doing spendidly!
So do not get in the mind set that a weakened anemone will not get help from a caring and protective clownfish.
I wondering whether the clownfish stealing from the anemones were tank raised?
I think my pair might have been from the ocean although I do not know as I got them from a lfs 20 miles north six years ago.
I cannot stress how caring they are with their anemones to help them acclimate and grow.
I would always try to get an anemone a good host if at all possible since that is what they do in the ocean, the real world!