Clowns and their Hosts

[user 26995]

Hey everyone. I've started this thread of just Clownfish and their hosts only.
So post up your pics of your clownfish and their host.

I know most everyone has clowns and a lot of them host different corals. I know we all would like to see them.

 

[user 26995]

Here area a few of mine

 

[ak_reefer]

My clowns love my Heliofungia, mainly as a sleeping spot though.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[dawguy]

 

[glweek]

can't wait for my tank to mature enough to get a nem! you all have great pictures and AK- your Helio is beautiful!

 

[nata]

Beautiful pics!

 

[BARRON]

here is my allardi clown hosting a purple long tentacle. when i was on vacation the anemone disappeared. the clown is now trying to host a hammer and occasionally tries to feed my frogspawn. i have a pair of designer perculas that wont host anything.

 

[BEAU_RN]

Yea... It gets frustrating trying to get clowns to host. I've had two different sets of ocellaris clowns and neither shows any interest in hosting. Gonna try and print a colored pic of a clown hosting a torch and see what happens. Fingers crossed :noidea:

 

[spieszak]

Yea... It gets frustrating trying to get clowns to host. I've had two different sets of ocellaris clowns and neither shows any interest in hosting. Gonna try and print a colored pic of a clown hosting a torch and see what happens. Fingers crossed :noidea:

Mine didn't care to until they matured a bit. My theory on it (there are many, and there is no reason mine should have any merit, its just based on my observations) I see lots of young clowns in nem's, so its definitely not against the "hosting rules" for them to do so, but in my opinion that is because they have the nem early and seek protection in it... that drives them to the nem. When they don't have one right away and are comfortable in a tank, they have no need for the nem until they reach a level of maturity where breeding comes into play... They then again seek the protection of the nem for breeding activities... I have no idea if it makes sense, but when I hear people noting to 'give them time', it also seems to be an indicator to me that they need to mature to a point where they feel they 'need' the protection a nem gives.
Its kind of the only reasoning I can come up with as to why they decide to be hosted... its the drive behind the behavior I'm trying to examine to kind of answer it. (sorry, I'm one of those people that likes puzzling over things they can't really understand)

 

[user 26995]

Mine didn't care to until they matured a bit. My theory on it (there are many, and there is no reason mine should have any merit, its just based on my observations) I see lots of young clowns in nem's, so its definitely not against the "hosting rules" for them to do so, but in my opinion that is because they have the nem early and seek protection in it... that drives them to the nem. When they don't have one right away and are comfortable in a tank, they have no need for the nem until they reach a level of maturity where breeding comes into play... They then again seek the protection of the nem for breeding activities... I have no idea if it makes sense, but when I hear people noting to 'give them time', it also seems to be an indicator to me that they need to mature to a point where they feel they 'need' the protection a nem gives.
Its kind of the only reasoning I can come up with as to why they decide to be hosted... its the drive behind the behavior I'm trying to examine to kind of answer it. (sorry, I'm one of those people that likes puzzling over things they can't really understand)

Wow, you know this sounds totally reasonable. Great thought!

 

[BARRON]

That makes a lot of sense. How old do clowns need to be "mature". I got my pair about 2 years ago and they where already mated so I don't know how old they are. They are captive bred and I heard sometimes they just won't host. They live in the corner of my tank and protect it as if it was an anemone.

 

[spieszak]

My female was in my tank about 2 1/2 years before she even looked at the nem. I really have no idea what "the age of consent" is with clowns though I SEE breeding behavior in the pair now though that I hadn't seen before, and it coincided roughly with when she choose to find the nem. They (including the previous mate) had always done a bit of dancing, but I now see the male cleaning off areas of the rock, presumably for a place to lay eggs, and there is much more of a daily routine with them as far as 'the dance'. It occurs almost every night now before lights out.
(she lost a mate about 1.5 years in who managed to jump through the cover.. I replaced the mate after replacing the cover as over time the mesh had stretched a bit, and it wasn't quite fitting well around the equipment (my 30 nem tank isn't drilled))