Case of the missing percula
 

Ok so I bought a pair of baby percula (maybe 1/2 to 3/4 inch at most) both found my sebae and were happy for a few weeks, then 2 days ago one of my percula went missing.

I said nah he's hideing he will come out well 2 days of feeding and no show of the second.

Then my wife noticed a fish like shadow shape in the trunk (belly) of my long tentacle anemone.

At first I was like no way that anemone wouldn't eat a fish like that, and a percula can't get stung easily by it.

Then I looked closer, I could see a very familiar "white" patch in a dark shadow about the right size. The patch is what would be the white middle stripe on the percula, perfect shape and everything and I can sorta see it through the semi clear walls of the long tentacle.

Has anyone heard of a Long Tentacle taking out fish before?

I know it's possible but I just didn't think probably, this is the first fish casualty to any of my anemone's. I've heard stories with the more sticky anemone's but not the Long tentacle.

There are no rules or anything written in stone as you have witnessed firsthand. Sorry for the loss of you fish. At least the anemone got to benefit from it though. How much light are you giving it? Maybe it isn't photosynthesizing enough and decided it needed a snack.

Oh it's moved itself mid center under the 250W Halide which is on about 6 hours a day and then attenics on 12+ hours depending on when I goto bed.

It's fat and happy looking very nice brown coloration and its aways open and wavey, I actually think the Percula is to blame, he started to get more and more curious as the days went on, and he would move further out from his happy sebae home each day and started to like, swim around the long tentacle off and on as if to figure it out.

Then well, missing 2 days and a big dark fish lump in the center of the anemone.

I thought that clowns were imune to the sting of anemones? Maybe he died first and then the anemone ate him? Just a thought.

Sounds like is getting enough light. Maybe just the small size of the fish, could have just been an unlucky thing.

Thats actually a misunderstanding.

I read a lot about these little guys as I looked around to see how to save my sebae when I first bought them, and how to get a fish to come live in it to create the symbiotic relationship we all crave.

The truth is we don't really know how these guys can live in anemones. But theres 2 theories that are almost impossible to prove without a huge ton of money to DNA splicing and testing. Which well goes to stem cell research, not "how does my fish live in my anemone research".

Basically scientist theory one is: That the Anemone finds something to "live in" and injests a small piece of it, once ingested it then somehow has the ability to absorb the DNA code and replicate it imediately into it's "skins protective slime". This way the anemone actually thinks the fish is a part of it and doesn't discharge any stinging cells when its touched by the fish.

Theory two: A little bit more unclear, is that the fish shares it's protective "skin slime" with the anemone and coats it so that it is healthier and at the same time looses the ability to tell where the fish is, which is why it tends to rub the anemone constantly.

I'm sure theres a few 100 more ideas, but these two seem to be the ones that most scientist believe at this time.

Lastly, because an anemone needs to take time to introduce itself to an anemone, either by "DNA" ingestion, or "secretion messaging the anemone".

Young or maybe some of the clowns that are a bit more curious have been known to go from one anemone to another and simply not give the second anemone the "attention" it needs to get aquainted with the fish and then a few stings to many and the anemone becomes, food.

I guess when you read an anemone is aggressive, along with other corals, you never think your cute little fish would be one of the possible targets.

However this wont stop me from continueing to keep anemones with fish (yet).

If I do start to have a "fish loss" from my long tentacle though he may be looking for a new home, beautiful and all, I have to many plans with fish involved to let him reign as my tank assassin!