Clowns show no interest in being hosted - Dilemma

[jselzler1]

Hi,

One of my goals of reef aquarium was to enjoy symbiotic relationships between different creatures. My first two fishie purchases were young Ocellaris clowns. Have had them in tank since Sept. One is bigger now and assume it is the female. Maybe they will breed someday. However this pair has never shown any interest in being hosted by my rbta, frogspawn, toadstool, or any other critter while in the same tank 5-6 months. They dig hole in same spot of sandbed every evening on lie on each other until daybreak. I haven't tried anything yet to force the situation, thought it would happen naturally.

Well, I lost my patience. Picked up one small maroon clown. Put it into the tank and within 5 minutes it was buried deep in the rbta. The ocellaris pair were bullying to point that this couldn't last, so the maroon soon went back into qt tank.

The dilemma. These were my first fish. Not looking forward to let them go. But want the hosting. Will they ever bond with something? Thinking of selling/trading the ocellaris pair but wanted to hear some opinions first.

 

[Trevor]

It will just take time, yes some options of force "sometimes" work, but it could take up to a year or a few years for them to naturally host if they do ever..

 

[RiverRat]

My clowns decided to host one of the powerheads in my tank.........
I like clowns as a fish, I find them entertaining. Its sounds like you would appreciate the symbiotic relationship more so than the actual fish. Sell them off or trade them, but your next clown may do the same thing.
If you enjoy symbiotic relationships, you may also want to check out a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp pairing...good stuff.

 

[afrankiewicz12]

I ended up with two tomato clowns that wouldnt host anything in my tank after i tried everything from RBTA, Sebaes, and toadstools... eventually i gave up and forgot about them hosting anything, eventually i remembered about the hosting issue and checked, sure enough they were each hosting their own small green BTA's that were each about an inch from each other... moral of the story is that patience is key...

 

[gtafanatic]

i got lucky i guess my red clown host the toadstool but i bought them as a set so i knew he would. now my first fish Clown just hosted to the anemone i got 3 days ago. just now lol well like 30 mins ago

 

[mchartier]

The relationship is great, but if you want to be guaranteed that you would need to have a natural pairing of clowns and anemone. A BTA is not a natural host for an occellaris, but it is for a maroon, tomato, clarkii (natural pairing for all available hosting anemones) and many more. Not saying it can't happen it does but is not guaranteed. Also tomatos and maroons are two of the most aggressive clowns

 

[gtafanatic]

here he is just snapped this

 

[Flame Angel]

The pair of clowns that I have had for about 3.5+years have been hosting in an old nautilus shell. About three months ago they started breeding.

The only thing I can think of is the phrase in Jurassic Park. "Life will find a way"

 

[CoralJunkie]

I used a laser pointer on my new clownfish they chased it right into the anemone, you can check out my thread on it

 

[stingythingy45]

I heard one time that somebody taped a picture of clowns in an anemone up on the side glass of the tank.
And a week later the clowns in the tank were hosting their anemone.
Guess they needed an example.

 

[this is me]

Occelaris are hard to get hosted. Tank-bred occ. are even harder. Some may never go in anything.
Learn how to let go in this hobby if you don't have the patient.

 

[this is me]

Occelaris are hard to get hosted. Tank-bred occ. are even harder. Some may never go in anything.
Learn how to let go in this hobby if you don't have the patient.