Clownfish Dilemna

[home office reef]

I have a black and white occellaris and an orange occelaris as well as a rose bubble tip anemone. All three have been in my tank for six months. However, the clownfish did not pair up and they are both hosting in separate trumpet coral instead of the RBTA.

I think a big thing about having clowns is when they pair up and host in an anemone. What should I do? My sexy anemone shrimp are hosting in the RBTA.

 

[budsreef]

Ocellaris do not host in bubble-tip anemones in the wild so it is hit and miss if they will do so in a tank. Usually over time one or the other may find it but depending on the size of tank and the relative size and age of the clowns they may have both already become females.

If you want to switch to Maroons which do host in BTAs, then remove the current clowns and get a known pair or two juvenals that are significantly different in size.

If you stay with the Ocellaris but want a pair, then get a juvenal from a tank with several but don't get the largest one. They may eventually find the RBTA.

 

[bobz]

It mostly depends on what you want to end up with, a pair of B&W, pair of normal O. or a pair of maroon clowns. Any way you choose, one of the two has to go. If it were me and I wanted a pair of B&W, I would take out the O. and remove the trumpet corals. Then I would find a small b&w and add him to the tank. I'm sure that they will eventually hos the rose bta but may take a few weeks. It took my pair a month and now they will not leave it

bob

 

[home office reef]

My b&w has been in there for over six months with the rbta and is scared of it. I am leaning towards getting a pair of maroons.

Is there any truth that GSMs are less aggressive than their white strip counterparts? Could a GSM be paired with a maroon with a white stripe?

 

[gnashty]

Home Office Reef;556159 wrote: My b&w has been in there for over six months with the rbta and is scared of it. I am leaning towards getting a pair of maroons.

Is there any truth that GSMs are less aggressive than their white strip counterparts? Could a GSM be paired with a maroon with a white stripe?

Im not the clown expert like bob or bud but my 2 GSM's are about as aggressive as it gets for clowns. be careful what you wish for, they are also great tank "re-arrangers" and regularly flash the sandbed and knock frags and snails out of their "zone" daily

 

[rbredding]

I've spoken with people whos clowns took a year to host their RBTA..

if you like the way the fish look and their actions inside the tank, then keep them..

one day the switch in their heads could flip and everything work out as you want it..

 

[merkywater]

I have a pair of B/W's and I just removed the zoas they were hosting and put my BT in that same spot....they were afraid of it at first and didn't knw what to think but by the middle of the night I went over the tank with a flash light and they were sleeping it. The BT decided to move in the tank, and the B/W's moved with it, and been hosting ever since!

Nate

 

[stroid]

I would recommend trying the basket trick...if u can get your nem in a basket then put the fish in the basket with it for a few days. Worked well on my Orange oscelarris back in the day...GSM's in my experience are way way more aggressive then the orange/white probably some of the most aggressive if you ask me. My GSM drew blood from my hand on more then one occasion.

 

[claudiasmom]

Everybody likes Barry White!
I have a b&w and an onyx clown and the onyx hosts my RBTA. There has been no pairing which I think is because they are both about the same size. Mine are very well behaved and have not bitten me... yet!