Why on earth won't they pair?

[neogenix]

So, any ideas on how I can get my 2 false percs to pair with any of the 3 anemone's in my tank? (3 different ones, 1 conti, 1 gbta, 1 rbta)... or am I just missing something?

[Gseclipse02]

ive been trying the same thing for a little while ... at work i hear some crazy things and i decided to try one of them ... catch them in a net and force them into the nem. but this didnt work for me.........


the next thing i will try is to tape a pic of clowns hosting a nem. on to the tank

[StevenSeas]

i tried forcing them on it but to no avail as well. I am assuming that your clowns are wild caught, and in that assumption that they came from an anem in the wild. the anems that they are used to in the wild are carpets, and sometimes seabaes, and hadonni's. each species of anem releases its own pheramone (special chemical, humans put it out in our sweat, other animals do similarly) The clowns are attracted to these, if you could get the pheramones on an old boot they would try to host that boot. The problem that you are facing I beleive is that the clowns are still fairly new (again another assumption) and that they havent reacted to the scents that the anems in your tank are putting off. In time they might realize that they are able to host in these or other items but in the meantime they are just looking for safe haven.

On a side note, the condi you dont want them hosting in due to its an atlantic speices and isnt used to fish hosting in it and they (the fish) usually end up eaten.

the gbta and rbta are both e. quadricolor anems so the same species, and not one that false percs readily go to but in time its fairly possible that they may.

patience is key here as it takes time for them to settle in and get into the hosting habit, probably when they start becoming sexually mature, about 6-12 months after being added.

[Europhyllia]

Yeah, don't force them into the condi. That would be mean. I really wouldn't want to keep any clownfish eating anemones in my tank with my clownfish.

[ramsey]

I don't think they'll ever pair with a condi nem. They might with the BTA's though. Watch what you wish for though. Mine never comes out of his RBTA. Well, unless I'm feeding or another fish gets too close to his home.

[StevenSeas]

I have seen cases of them pairing with condis but its rare and even rarer is it that the clowns live long term like that. and i think in due time they will probably pair up with the bta

[CoryDude]

Took my ocellaris almost 4 months to host in a bta. Just takes time.

[ErikH]

Seriously it must have taken 3 years for my black clown to host consistently in it's RBTA.

[Pennies2Cents]

It took our Black & White Percs to finally host in the Large Green Carpet we have about 5 months.. Prior to that they wanted nothing with it. And always took to the RBTA's instead....I would say, give them some time and eventually they will host...

[neogenix]

Thanks for all the updates guys, I'll see if i can pick up a carpet, or get some onyx clowns that'll maybe like my others a bit more ;) (except for the conti...)

[loans_n_fishes]

The clownfish I had LOVED my toadstool! It apparently loved them, too. The thing got huge and happy in no time.

[snfkotara]

Are ur clowns little? and if they aren't wild caught then they may be scare of it. I got my ora clown to host by chasing them with the net until they ran to the anemone for safety

[neogenix]

Nope, they're adults from what I can tell, and wild caught from what I understand. I'd be more worried that they tried to get into the conti for safety :P

[tonyydeee]

My clown wont go in the RBTA i bought him either ]:
lol

[SoLiD]

Print out this picture and tape it where the Clownfish can see it. I did this using similar picture four years ago with my previous Ocellaris Clowns and it worked. I have no idea why it worked but it did. Worth a shot:)

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd285/SoLiDST33L/file-4.jpg

[tonyydeee]

OMG im doing it! :D
ahahah

[tonyydeee]

10429 daylights out already, iphone doesn't capture the colors, but.. you get the idea.. :p

[SoLiD]

10429 daylights out already, iphone doesn't capture the colors, but.. you get the idea.. :p

LOL :wub:

[SoLiD]

It took almost 2 weeks after I put the picture up for them to host in the RBTA, but when they did it was magical. They had ignored it for almost 3 months before trying the "picture trick". BTW it was not my idea; I read it somewhere but I can't remember where. :)

[apedroza]

Are your clowns currently swimming around a specific area or coral?? If so they may be attached to that area so you may want to move the BTAs if possible. When I had my clowns they were hosting in piece of frogspawn and never went near my RBTA.

[tonyydeee]

Mine swims in the VERY front of the tank.

[Zack]

Get one of those three dollar clownfish algae clips and put the clown clip next to the base of the anemone (usually do this before the lights on) as the anemone opens up, the clowns will notice another "clown" next to it and swim towards it. It took my tank raised clowns about an hour to notice the other clown (which was bigger then them) and now both of them host the anemone. I tried the photo method, but honestly no mattered how much I sized it down, the clowns were always scared of it. Also, I don't think clownfish have the ability to relate a flat two dimensional object to a three dimensional one. Few animals can.

[allan]

You can use the samd method. He has a contraption that he built to keep the clown next to the anemone for a few hours which did the job.

[neogenix]

Update: So the first set of clowns went to gabes and found themselves a new home. The second set (My now few month old BISS clowns) have decided to host with nearly EVERYTHING, which includes some fairy dust paly's that they're pretty fond of (by EVERYTHING i mean, torch, zoa, paly, anemone, etc...). The fairy dust paly's seem to have taken to stinging them, thus causing black spots on them... they seem pretty unfazed, but they're just odd looking now :P Stupid clowns!!

[Big_Pun]

that bites i ended with the remaining picasso from gabes, it started hosting the RBTA with in 2 days and has stayed there. But has developed hatred for the mag float, as soon as i move the float it attacks it, no matter where in the tank the float is. stupid clown lol!!

[neogenix]

Lol, die mag float die!!

[Zack]

Haha, I decided to give up my anemone after 8 months (it was getting HUGE) and now my clowns are trying to host everything in the tank! Its funny to watch them try to smother themselves in the GSP.

[Zack]

Just an update, I added a new thermometer to the tank and the clowns decided to host it.. silly clowns haha :)