Fish Won't Host

[sciknen]

Well i got my two clowns almost a yr ago and i thought they were true percs


ive added a couple of bubble anemones and to no aval they left them completely alone

because That i figure they are false percs and they wanted a carpet anemone

well spent like 150 on a big beautiful blue one and now they want to host my torch coral thats been in there the entire time and wont even go near my carpet


well the male hosts the torch..

any ideas...

 

[dz6t]

get a new pair of clowns

 

[Miller]

Just because they are clown fish doesn't mean they are going to host anemone. I don't think there is much you can do to get them to host.

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

Time is the only answer. There is no way to force a clown to host in an anemone. You can narrow the choices down and remove the torch, that's really the only option.

FWIW, I had several different clowns over various times. Some hosted after only a day or two and some never.

 

[jprince]

My female False Perc never had an anemone. I put a BTA in and she was in it overnight. Maybe yours have too many choices of hosts????

 

[JohnK]

Yea, just hang in there.

Neither ocellaris or "true" percs naturaly host in BTA/RBTA's, but it's still possible/common for both to do so in captivity.

I think it's pretty random. I forget how long it took for mine to take to the BTA's, but once they did they never looked back.

I think this is one of those annoying things like watching water boil, but much slower. The day you totally give up on hope that they will take to the nem, that'll probably the day they prove you wrong


Have you ever tried limiting feeding to ONLY mysis target fed to the nem, but overfed? (so that the clowns chase the food into the nem, find it, feel it, and suddenly realize they are home). Might be worth a try or three assuming you don't have any fish that would be tempted to nip at the nem.

 

[JayM]

move the torch, or get new clowns. My 72 false percs live in an RBTA, my clowns live in a long tentacle leather in my 92. It happens when it happens.....

 

[sciknen]

Have you ever tried limiting feeding to ONLY mysis target fed to the nem, but overfed? (so that the clowns chase the food into the nem, find it, feel it, and suddenly realize they are home). Might be worth a try or three assuming you don't have any fish that would be tempted to nip at the nem.

i thought about doing this..but then what about the rest of the fish?

 

[JohnK]

i thought about doing this..but then what about the rest of the fish?

Depends on what fish they are? If none of them are potential nem/invert/coral predators, then you'd probably be fine.

I'm not saying a tiny feeding so that fish end up trying to pick food out of the nem's tentacles. I'm saying take a turkey baster and blast a bunch of thawed mysis into the nem, so that the food is floating away from it all over the place. Not to the point of total excess, but something like all the food you would feed to the whole tank normally, directed into the nem all at once so the fish would be drawn there.

Could be a bit risky if you have any angels, butterflys, or other fish that eat things like nems.... An idea to consider critically if you don't have any fish to worry about.

 

[RayD]

I go with the idea of time. My true percs didn't host for two years, then one day in they went. Haven't left it since. When I removed the GBTA for an RBTA they took right to it.

Patience is the key here.

 

[JohnK]

My experience was similar to Ray's.

Mine ignored a tiny green BTA for a long time, then one day took to it. From the first time I saw them in it, I never saw them far from it.

Several months later I swiched my tanks around and moved the same true perc pair into a different tank with several RBTA's. The instantly went to the RBTA's and have haven't left for over 4 yrs.

 

[NateHanson]

If you do decide that you're sick of waiting, there are types of clowns that are much better at hosting than the typical "finding nemo" percs/ocellaris. Skunk clowns, for example, are a sure bet for hosting a BTA. Cute too.

 

[addictedreefer]

Alot of it has to do with whether the clowns are wild caught or tank raised. IMO tank raised clowns tend to have a "missing chip" when it comes to hosting and are much harder to get to do so (although some do with time).
On the other hand, wild clowns host much more readily. That's why I always buy wild when it comes to clowns

 

[dcforester1]

I tried the food thing it didnt work. A member gave me a pair of maroon w/yellow, my wfe wanted to keeps "ours", so I gave them to my brother, instantly right into his BTA. Like white on rice, I was pissed. Beautiful fish, thats what I get for listening.
Derek

 

[Paro6k]

Try the picture method, it works!