clown is killing my coral

I had just bought a skunk clown and it keeps rubbing in one of my corals like its an anenome, i think i might lose the coral eventually if this continues...any suggestions besides takeing the fish out? i was thinking maybe if i bought a sebae or another anenome (not sure what other kinds skunks are compatible with&gt it might go to that. thanks, clif

 

"The Orange Skunk Clownfishhas a non-aggressive nature. These fish like to be kept in groups and prefer mellow tankmates. The Orange Skunk Clown does not need an Anemone to survive, but will accept Long Tentacle and Carpet Anemones as its host, as well as corals." I don't think he will kill the coral, though i am not a coral expert, one of the MODs will be better at that than me, but it appears he has taken up with the coral, like he would an anemone. Does he stay in it all the time? My maroons, barely ever leave thier anemone. Chances are if u get an anemone he will take up with it, although it may take some time. However, this is just from my experience, i do not know for certian. Hope this helps you. I think he is just trying to make a home.

 

Just talking with my LFS about this yesterday..

Clowns notorious for wrecking havoc on corals such as torches, hammers and flowerpots. (was his explanation why some of his "corals" were looking so "nasty" in one of his display tanks where both kept)

Looking for a "home" I guess, - clown causes coral to constantly "retract" which it apparently does not like - so getting anenome best solution if you want to keep both.

Thankfully, mine are quite satisfied (so far) with one of my "powersweeps" - have never seen them go near my beautiful torch or other corals.

OmarD

 

If you are planning on an anemone and have the room and the light required I would get one. I'm not sure of what coral it has started hosting in but if the coral is showing signs of stress then odds are the Clown will kill it.
Anemones are not easy tank mates either as they are Mobile and will live were they want to. Special Ed's research says LTA or a Carpet. There are some beautiful Carpet Anemones, but they will live on the sand bed and require a lot of light.

J

 

There is a anemone/clown fish compatibility map posted on the fish board at the top.



Make sure you do a slew of water tests and have good bulbs etc.. A note on halides - I have read some halides put out UV that can actually damage and kill an anemone. I have recently found that to be true I think!

Before vacation I brought home a percula clown and a anemone. This was frankly pretty stupid in hindsight because my halide bulb was over 12-16  months old and needed replacing. I had already ordered a new one but it wasn't here yet (finally got here yesterday.)

Anyway, after a few days, I took the anemone back. It was starting to go south with the mouth extended. If you have ever killed an anemone, you know what I am talking about. I hope the lfs turned it around, but that's hard to do. I feel horrible actually because they are wild caught.  

ANYWAY,  : I did notice something rather interesting. When I had my newer PC lights on, the anemone 'woke up' and came to life, but when the halide was on it shriveled up big time. Odd, eh? As I said the bulbs were old and the spectrum had gone to the yellow side, ALSO my pendent does not have a UV shield on it. This wasn't a problem before with good bulbs on my old setup shown on the 'my reef' page, but now I wonder.  [smiley=vulcan.gif]

My water parameters are pretty damn good with nitrates around 5ppm, so I think that was ok, so I keep thinking about the reaction to different light.

Ironically, now I have this awesome new Iwasaki 50k (misnomer - more like 14k) bulb that is really impressive with IMO a perfect color with nice blue/white and I wonder how the anemone would have liked this bulb. I still am wondering about the UV shield too. I think I will look into that as well before I even think about an anemone again.

(Oh God, I went off topic again! : SORRY. )

 

Just food for thought getting an anemone is not always the answer either. Clowns have been known to kill the host anemone while trying to set up house. Also if the clown is hosting the coral it may not move to the new anemone. You may also have trouble finding an anemone that your clown will host it is a good sign its hosting a coral so it isn't seeming particular. Your coral may adjust and survuve I have to sebae clowns in an anemone they also host my Toadstools and they beat on the toadstools for a while but now they are all friends. Good luck!
btw I only buy anemones and clowns that are hosting together it is easier

 

thanks everyone. It's a hairy mushroom so i'm not sure if that changes anything?, but I think i'm going to get a carpet anemone, all i have is PC lighting though, but its a 29 gallon tank so pretty short, will this work you think?

 

Not sure on Carpet Anenomes, but if you have a high enough Kelvin rating on your PC bulbs you may be OK.

Matt, what kind of anenome did you have that didn't like your MHs? My Bubble Tip loved my lighting and would be here today if I hadn't dumped salt on it and killed it.

 

It was a Ritteri like my old one. Which of course is like the hardest one to keep. lol. My last one lasted years with no probs so I, of course rather impulsively, thought I'd try it on my hex. THe bulb was ancient, so I think that was part of it. But there maybe something other than nitrates going on here, I will do more tests. I'll start a new thread if I figure something out.

 

BTAs have the best success record in home aquaria. They are the most resilient as they have survived me.