Anemone for my Clownfish ?

[z28pwr]

What's a good and pretty anemone for my clownfish.

I wanted a carpet anemone but apparently they are dificult to keep.

Thanks.

[JimD]

A bubble tip or a long tenticle anemone would be a suitable host for your clown, Personaly, I would avoid a carpet for the simple reason that the clown or most any other fish may be a potential lunch.

[Chuck]

You may want to avoid the Seabea as they tend to be tough to keep also.

[RedDragon]

ya am with Jim I would go with a bubble tip they are mostly seen with clowns in aquariums, stay away from flower anemones :-D

[z28pwr]

[z28pwr]

Hrmm, they are either Percula or Ocellaris.

But I'm thinking Ocellaris.


I like this one.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=23&pCatId=604

[RedDragon]

yup :-D

[Tim Marvin]

Perculas naturally host in carpets.

[minimasterflash]

PETCO has anemone's in stock!! Might want to check them out... :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

[Tim Marvin]

I have one in a BTA, and another breeding pair hosting on a huge long polyp leather. From what I understand the only way for the clown to be eaten by the carpet is if it is in poor health and has lost it's protective slim coating. Natural selection.

[robertpower3]

Don't buy the anemone from hancock's petco or any other corals. I went up there and spoke with their new specialist and if i'm not mistaken they are putting their corals and inverts in an old hospital tank that was dosed regularly with copper. I can get quite a few different anemones if you tell me a week in advance. i work at the brodie petco. we have a zebra mat write now. but ican also get carpets, long tentacles, sebaes, and so on. ;)

[Tim Marvin]

Petco selling saltwater live stock? :shock: :( Now that is something to talk about.... :rotf:

[matt]

You should probably do some reading before buying an anemone. Aside from captive raised E. quadricolor (BTA) all anemones are taken from the ocean, and every one that's removed represents a loss of habitat for clownfish. Plus, anemones in general have a dismal survival rate in aquariums. There's a book, I can't remember the author, called "clownfish and host anemones" or aomething like that. It really explains the relationship, and will tell you what the natural hosts are for various clownfish species. For oscellaris clowns, I'm pretty sure the two are H. magnifica and S. gigantus, or something like that. The most common carpet anemone, S. haddoni, is not a natural oscellaris host.

The reason I know this stuff is that I really wanted to buy a host anemone for a pair of oscellaris clowns thatI've had for over a year. Finally I decided, after doing the research, that buying one of those species of anemones was something I did not want to do; and you need a pretty big, or dedicated (i.e. no lps corals) environment for them, and they're hard to find healthy, buying one is not good for the environment, IMO, and even among very experienced reefkeepers, way less than 50% survive a year. This is for an animal that lives many decades in the wild.

My suggestion, if you really want an anemone, is to buy a captive raised E. quad and try your luck. In aquariums, oscellaris clowns accept them pretty frequently.

Sorry to jump on a soabox, but this is one area where our hobby is having a negative impact.

Matt

[Charley]

Matt,

I believe this might be similar to the text you mentioned:

http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/ch1.html


Per this text:

A. PERCULA will host in:
HETERACTIS CRISPA
HETERACTIS MAGNIFICA
STICHODACTYLA GIGANTEA

A. OCELLARIS will host in:
HETERACTIS MAGNIFICA
STICHODACTYLA GIGANTEA
STICHODACTYLA MERTENSII


Charley

[Sherri]

Since we're on the subject...anyone know what anemone black/white clowns host???

Thank ya

Sherri

[Charley]

Sherri,

What is the scientific name? I still have the page up that I took the information from.

Charley

[Sherri]

Hey Charley...I looked it up on MarineDepotLive....says it is:

Ocellaris Clown - True Black Clown - Amphiprion ocellaris

Help any? :D

Thanks...Sherri

BTW...if you look in the pic gallery...you'll see them & the type of anemone I have now...they don't bother with it at all...

[Charley]

Yes ma'am. That appears to be the second clown I mentioned before:

"
A. OCELLARIS will host in:
HETERACTIS MAGNIFICA
STICHODACTYLA GIGANTEA
STICHODACTYLA MERTENSII
"

So I would assume (you know what that does chuckle), this would be accurate info. As usual though, YMMV.

Charley

[Sherri]

Thanks Charley...

Sherri

[z28pwr]

So you guys are telling me that My ocellaris wont host in a Bulb Anemone?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=23&pCatId=604

All the carpet anemones have a Dificult rating. The Bulb Anemone has a moderate :( .

Looks like I found a Chart.

http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/marinedepotlive/AnemoneSymbioticMap.htm

What do you guys think if I keep a BTA, a pair of Tomato Clowns and My Pair of Ocellaris if all 4 clowns are introduced at the same time would there be a problem ?

The tank is a 150 Gallon.

According to liveaquaria they are both peaceful when introduced together.

Thanks.

[matt]

Try reading this article:
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1997/aug/wb/default.asp

The book I was talking about, " A field guide to clownfish..." by Fautin, is listed in the references. The other thing I mentioned, about most anemones dying quickly in aquariums, was in a study that someone did once published on reefcentral, or some online source. Basically, it said that 80% of wild-caught anemones die quickly (i.e., less than a year) They have pretty specific habitat and dietary needs, and a typical reef aquarium does not provide for those needs. Also, buying delicate animals from companies that do not have a good record of keeping them alive only encourages the company (ex. petsmart/ petco) to keep taking these animals from the ocean.

Matt

[Tim Marvin]

Sherri, to put it in simple terms a pair of clowns will do just fine without an anemone at all. I have a full grow breeding pair that are perfectly happy in a large long polyp leather. I have kept anemones for years just fine with a refugium as the filter and feeding weekly, but they are not essential.

[Tim Marvin]

Oh, I also have a pair of Perculas that host in a hammer coral. That would be the Euphyllia parancora for those that need the scientific name. (branching hammer)

[Sherri]

Yeah Tim...I'm aware of that...was just curious which they would host...have no plans on getting one. I'm a diver...and I hear a lot about them disappearing in the wild...IF I were to get one...it would definitely be tank raised.

My two think I'm their host anyway! LOL They are all over me when my hands are in the tank. :-o Love 'em

BTW - Is branching hammer hard to keep?

Sherri

[Tim Marvin]

The branching hammer I have is growing fairly well. Most of my corals are tank raised also so that probably has a lot to do with it. I'll bring you a frag when it gets a bit bigger if you are interested.

[reefer]

hey Z28, a pair of cinnamon clownfishes [(or is it clownfeesh? (amphiprion melanopus)] would do great with a bubbletip (entacmaea quadricolor) sea anemone.
8)

[Sherri]

Tim...would love it...I don't want anything wild caught in my tank. I truly want to be able to enjoy the beauty in its' natural state also. Don't want to take anything from it. There's nothing like it... In fact...gonna enjoy some diving in Cozumel in June for about a week... ;)

If, when & where...just let me know on the hammer....Thanks for the offer.

Sherri :rotf:

[newtosa]

Hi everybody,

The Fautin/Allen book - Anemone Fishes and their Host Anemones - is really good. It's the source of reference for clowns and the anemones that host them in the wild. Any compatibility chart you see anywhere will be based on the content in that book. It's also not that expensive. The only downside is there is almost no content on how to keep anemones in aquariums

The Wilkerson book - Clownfishes - is a must-have for clownfish owners. It also has a good amount of content on keeping anemones.

Unfortunately, LFSs have decided that reading books and actually getting information on this hobby is somehow not a good idea. Evidence of this belief is displayed in their library section. You may be asking, "where is the library section at my LFS?". That's exactly my point: there probably isn't one. A good source for reefkeeping books is half.com, ebay (believe it or not), or the used book section on amazon.com. Half.com even has a feature that will send you an email when a used copy of the book you want comes available.

I have to agree with Matt here. The takeaway from all these books and online articles, surveys, etc. is that (in the vast majority of all cases) no host anemones except BTAs and LTAs survive. I don't mean for a month, or even 6 months - that doesn't count. I never had any luck with BTAs, although they're supposed to be the hardiest. Many people do well with them. I do have a LTA that I've managed to keep alive for a little over 2 years.

I definitely don't know it all, and I don't want to sound like one, but I have tried (once I became pretty good at this stuff) to keep every single other kind of host anemone there is, and I've killed every one of them.

OK... so I have a cool clownfish, and I can't live without seeing her rub her belly on something alive in my tank. What do I do? In the aquarium, most of the "rules" of host compatibility are out the window. Tim has mentioned several corals that will host Ocellaris and Percula clowns. Clarkii (and sometimes ocellaris/percula) will snuggle up in Condylactis anemones (Haitian / Atlantic anemones). BTAs (Entacmaea quadricolor) do well in many people's tanks, and they will host most clowns you can buy. LTAs (Macrodactyla doreensis) require more light but do ok too, and ocellaris/percula are more likely to take to them.

Allright, enough already. Two parting requests to everyone: please don't buy a Heteractis anemone (Sebae, Ritteri, Malu, Leathery). They are probably half a step away from death's door in the store when you see them (ever seen any 400w MH setups in a LFS?), and you will kill them. Second, before you buy an anemone, go to see the setup of someone who has kept one alive for a year or longer. If you can't provide a similar environment, resist the temptation.

Dean

[Tim Marvin]

A lot of stuff is being farm raised these days. Tight restrictions on a lot of the harvesting sites are coming down on these third world countries. I have heard that it is actually good to harvest as long as it is kept under control. From the diving I have done it doesn't appear that the reefs are in as bad a condition as being reported, but there is very little need to harvest wild caught corals anymore. Walt Smith has a huge "ocean farm" that he grows out corals in the wild specifically for the aquarium trade. I am with you though as far as "raping" the world reefs. A few of us dive together around here and would be happy to take you along if you'd like. The San Marcos river is shallow, but a pretty fun night dive.

[witecap4u]

I saw a clown kickin it in a large patch of hair algae once at Petco, maybe that would be the way to go....hehe

[Tim Marvin]

Clown are pretty adaptive, and interesting personality, if you keep the water quality good they stay pretty happy.

[Sherri]

Hey Tim...Troy Valentine had told me that ya'll dive in San Marcos...sounds nice & have been considering. Would keep myself in check for when we go to Cozumel. LOL The only freshwater I've dived in was Medina @ the dam for my license. Never again. Nasty Nasty.

Currently looking into getting my Advanced Diver...will prob do in Cozumel later. We know a divemaster down there that we dive with that has 20-25 yrs of living & diving in Cozumel...

Never done a night dive yet...!? May make contact with you sometime...thanks for the offer...

Sherri

[Sherri]

Hey Tim...Troy Valentine had told me that ya'll dive in San Marcos...sounds nice & have been considering. Would keep myself in check for when we go to Cozumel. LOL The only freshwater I've dived in was Medina @ the dam for my license. Never again. Nasty Nasty.

Currently looking into getting my Advanced Diver...will prob do in Cozumel later. We know a divemaster down there that we dive with that has 20-25 yrs of living & diving in Cozumel...

Never done a night dive yet...!? May make contact with you sometime...thanks for the offer...

Sherri

OOPS - Sorry....finger trigger happy.