Placement?

[dragonet123]

Hello. I was wondering if it matters if you place corals or anemones, like sun corals, on sand or on the live rock. Plus, what types of anemones that are hosts to clown fish?

~Thanks

 

[kbuser92]

Depends on what you have. Some anemones and clams have to be in the sand, some have to be on rock. Anemones will also move about until they're happy. Sun corals need low light and low to slow-moderate flow and can be placed wherever suits those requirements the best. Zoas, palys and star polyps can be on rock or plugs in the sand, in the rockwork or glued to your glass, even. A lot of LPS like acans, brains, favias, chalice, etc...do best in sand, while Euphyllia can be put about anywhere with slow flow and high light. SPS tend to do best high in the rockwork where they can get tons of light and high flow, but if there's a spot that can provide both of those and a solid mounting spot in the sand, then they can be placed there. Usually SPS and fleshy LPS (Euphyllia, Platygyra, Plerogyra, etc...) are best mounted on rocks to give them a solid place to spread out. Most polyps (Zoas, Palys, etc...) also do best on rocks because they have a solid surface (as opposed to sand) to grow new matting on, bit they can usually be persuaded to grow on glass and use up that tank space, also.

 

[kbuser92]

As far as clowns hosting an anemone, they will host whatever they want. Some carpet nems have been known to eat their hosting clowns if the nem is big enough in comparison to the fish. But clowns will host whatever and wherever they feel, such as powerheads, leathers, SPS, a piece of rock or a snail shell. Some won't really host anything in the common sense of the word, either, but rather swim freely about and find a spot to sleep each night. There are, however, anemones that a certain species of clown is more likely to host as it would in the wild, such as Sebae clowns with certain Heteractis sp. anemones. I don't know many off hand, but there's info all over.

 

[Old Tom]

Depending on the corals their placement in the tank is highly varible, sun corals not so much. sun Corals just need to be fed so you need to be able to get to them to fee them after the lights are out. As for clown fish and anemones, while clowns will adjust to most anemones there are differnt speices of clowns that enjoy different speices of anemones. Maroon Clowns and Clarks generallly will adapt faster to a bubble tip, Cinnamon's as well like bubble tips, Ocellaris like the Magnificent and Giant anemone's whereas the Skunks like the Merten's and Saddlebacks like the leathery Sabae. /nature has a way of letting differnt fish adapt to diffeernt enviroments.