Yet another question for everyone

Melonbob

Reef enthusiast
So we will be getting our first fish this week sometime, a pair of clowns as soon as my skimmer shows up. My question is, should I be getting some type of coral for them to set up house? I mean it looks kind of desolate with just the rock.......any suggestions on what to get first?
 
Clownfish do not need anything to host with. They can be perfectly happy with or without an anemone. At lest that what I was told. Just do some research into the fish and just get all the info you can. I would probablly go with the fish first but thats just my :twocents::twocents:.
 
Definitely do not get an anemone. Aries is right, clowns don't need anything to host. And if you do get a coral for them, they probably won't host it anyways. Clowns are hit or miss, some host, some don't. Some have an anemone and ignore it and host the powerhead instead. Just stick with the fish for now, and then if the fish do well and are healthy, you can try some corals. But anemones should be off the table completely, they rarely survive in a tank that has been established for less than a year.
 
No, I had read that about anemones already, but I had heard that sometimes clowns take to a coral. I just didn't know if they would do ok without anything to host to. Looks like my skimmer isn't showing up today anyways, and I was really looking forward to picking up the clowns today seeing as I blew a shift at work and all.......
 
Like others have said,clowns don't need a host coral or anemone.When your tank matures provided you have the right lights then by all means try some corals.I've seen clowns host brains,xenias,mushroom,frogspawn,torch and many more corals.They may host,some may take time before they host and some clowns never will.
 
tank raised clown are less likely than wild caught ones to host anything. especially the percula's. It may take several months to a year before they ever do. I think maroons are a little more likely to pick something to host over other clowns.
 
Im gonna agree with the rest of the crowd.
Ocellaris clowns are fairly easy to get to host.But they still dont require the host to be happy.
 
also, keep in mind that if they do host a coral, the irritation from the clown rubbing on it can cause it to close up. If they stay closed too long, it can kill the coral. I had a tomato clown kill my fisrt flower pot due to the constant swimming in and out of the coral. It stayed closed all day and just died.

You will find that they will seek out an outcropping of rock to host in and live in their cave. If you do want to put in a BTA or something later, place it near where the clown hang out. But I agree with the masses, avoid it for now.

-Doc
 
good starting corals are mushrooms, leathers, Green or yellow star polyps and zoanthids. look to add them first when you are ready to put in corals.

-Doc
 
Yeah, I'm already getting some free Green Star polyps as soon as my tank is ready. My wife has a friend who says it grows like weed in her tank and she'd be happy to share. Apparantly has something else for us too, but my wife can never remember what its called
 
sorry i was late for this thread..clowns do well without anemones or corals to host...just give them hiding places..they like that..but ive notice that somtimes they feel kinda stress when tey donthave somting t host..from time to time
 
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