anemone hosting banggai cardinals??

[reef fanatic]

I got two banggai cardinals yesterday hoping to get a pair possibly and released them last night into my tank right as lights out. When I got up this morning I went to look into the tank and to my surprise my one banggai was right within reach of the anemone but not "in it" like my clown does. Clearly he had touched the anemone if he wasnt while I was looking. If I put feeder tongs or any other object in that vicinity the anemone "grabs" the item.
I quickly chased the cardinal away and noticed the other was right under the rock where the anemone is. What is even more unreal is the clarkii clown that hosts the anemone seemed to not care. NOrmally the clown will chase any fish away from his host.

Any ideas or experiences similar to this??

Thanks in advance Scott

[Finding Emo]

Wow, that's crazy! I've never heard anything like that before...I'm following along on this one.

[AQUA DAVE]

Its a defensive thing, although i havn't myself seen it in the hobby yet i have seen videos of banggai cardinals in anemones in the wild. Fish are smart when it comes to protecting themselves.

[reef fanatic]

well, I am attaching a pic if I can, it has been awhile since I posted a pic and a different camera. Bear in mind the MH is not on yet, so it is very blue as I forgot to use flash.
Dave, you are probably right as it is their first day but I am amazed the clarkii have not shown the banggai where they are "not allowed".


*******well I forgot my fotopic password, so I will have to add later******

[anemoneguy]

mine do the same thing in my h. crispa. the true pers seem to tolerate it.

[davocean]

My green chromis used to hang out in my nems until my maroon matured, then she fixed that!
I bet your clarks will do the same.

[kar93]

On here there is a dominoe damsel sleeping in a rose:

http://www.karensroseanemones.com/dominoelovesrose.htm

[tedr]

It is my understanding that damsels will use a nem as a host in the wild. After all, clowns are damsels, so it is common, but a banngai is a different family.

[Slakker]

Originally posted by tedr
It is my understanding that damsels will use a nem as a host in the wild. After all, clowns are damsels, so it is common, but a banngai is a different family.

It's most common for damsels to host anemones as juveniles, generally they "grow out of it," so to speak.

[mobert]

I had baby bangais that used to hang in the anemones.:

[davocean]

Wow, that is a killer shot Mobert!
I'm seriously impressed w/ your tank.

[mobert]

thanks davocean!
That picture was in my old 240 when a pair of Bangais were breeding. I had several clutches of babies growing in the tank with no extra care needed on my part. The clowns didn't seem to bother them and there were always large groups of them in or around the anemones. The older teenagers eventually would chase the new babies out of the anemones and the poor new babies had no protective home. I guess that is how it might work in the wild.

[Reefvette]

The cardinals i beleive are known to host anemones as juvis and sometimes adults.

I pretty sure of it but i could be wrong.

[blue carpet]

yeah ive actually been wondering thte same thing because i have the exact same situation with my group of cardinals. the clowns dont mind at all even though they are very defensive towards most of my other tank inhabitants

[Ebisan]

My bengaii does the same with my rbta.

[chrisstie]

I had a pair of banggais do a similar thing in my RBTA. My latz didn't care at all but she's just such a sweetie anyway.

I was a little concerned for them but as they are getting older they hang more by my SPS (heck as the sps grow they like it more. My frags are finally leaning toward what in a few months I could call colonies)

I was at the Denver Aquarium and they had a reef exhibit with that super fast growing micropthalma SPS and the banggais were going between its brances and a carpet at the bottom some clarkiis were in. Crazy stuff!