Clown fish

[Partsman41953]

Hi all,

I have a 28 gallon salt water aquarium with 2 clown fish, a yellow wrasse, live rock, sand base, pulsing Xenia, and a few orange corals. My question is that the clown fish love to host in the Xenia which is causing them to shrivel up and stop pulsing. What can I do to keep them out of my Xenia? I am not sure if I should go out and purchase an anemone or not as I have heard good and bad things about them.

I would appreciate any suggestions you could give me.

Thanks,

Glenn

 

[Samhain]

They may or may not decide to host a nem if you got one. There's no guarantee when it comes to clowns! You could try rearranging your rocks or putting a strawberry basket over the xenia for a while and see if that helps. Good luck!

 

[Bifferwine]

You cannot control what the clowns decide to host, unfortunately. You can try to protect the xenia with a plastic basket or some mesh. I think adding an anemone to the tank is a bad idea. Like Samhain said, they may ignore the anemone and stick with the xenia. And if the anemone dies, it will probably kill everything else in the tank with it. Losing a piece of xenia to your clowns is much easier to swallow than losing everything in your tank to an anemone.

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

here is my Q. what about a torch coral? it stings like an anemony and my clowns love it in my tank.

 

[Samhain]

Clowns are funny creatures. Even in a tank with three or four suitable nems, they may still choose a powerhead as a host. There's no rhyme or reason to what a clown chooses in captivity. Unless you buy a clown already paired up with a nem, there's no guarantee that the clown will have anything to do with the nem. And even then, the move may disrupt that bond. The best solution is to prevent access to the chosen host for a while, perhaps providing a suitable alternative host at the same time.

 

[little_fish]

xenia is tough stuff, i dont think the clowns are going to hurt it