Genral question about clowns.

[kribensis]

Ok so here i go, my question is should i get a pair of pink skunk clown fish. Thats the main question, here is the next question would they live well with my long tentical anenome (which is all ready in the aquarium).
Ok so i know you guys/gals, will want to know whats in the aquarium. I have a bicolor blenny, a coral beatuy angle fish, a royal grama, and a six line wrasse, and i dont know what happened to my exquisite wrasse or were he went. But he might be in there as well.
Thanks for the help :|

 

[tike]

What size is the tank?

 

[kribensis]

Sorry about that its a 55 gallon.

 

[Maxx]

How long has the tank been up and running? What are the water parameters? How long have you had the anemone? How big is it? When you identify the anemone as an LTA, do you mean H.crispa or M.doreensis?
When was the last time you added a fish to the tank? What kind of lighting do you have for the tank?

Pink skunks arent normally hosted by M.doreensis, but in captivity, clowns will often hang out in in whatever anemone is available.

Nick

 

[kribensis]

Hey ok so here i go, aquarium has been running for about at least two years. Last stock i add was about two weeks ago. stock that went in was the anenome a clam and three fish (none made it becuse of a little bastered (six line wrasse)). I have now id the anenome as a M.doreensis (problem). Lighting on the aquarium is a pendent system 560 watt system containing 2-150 watt HQI Metal halide, 2-130 watt compact flurescent lights and 6 lunar light (outer orbit).
The next question is what clowns get hosted by this type of anenome if the ones i have listed dont?
Thanks for the advice.

 

[Maxx]

I would wait abit and ensure the anemone has acclimated to your aquarium first, about 6 weeks total. Then consider clowns. As far as clowns that are hosted in the wild by M.doreensis, I believe the only one that does is A.clarkii, but I'm not 100% on that. When I get home I'll look it up, or you can look it up in the RF Resource Library. Click the link in my signature to get there. Go to the invertebrate section and look up anemones. There will be an article titled Clownfish and their Host Anemones. It is a pdf file and will take a bit to load up, but has lots of useful info in it.

I have purple M.doreensis that is currently hosting a white cap clown , (A. leucokranos). It has hosted in the past a captive bred Ocellaris clown, and later a Maroon clown. None of these clowns is hosted by M.doreensis in the wild. My advice is to ensure the anemone is healthy, and then get the clowns you want.

Nick

 

[kribensis]

Ok on the site that you just gave me (thanks) it says that Pink skunks (a.perideraion) is hosted by this anenome in the wild at times.

 

[Maxx]

Looks like you're set then.


Nick

 

[kribensis]

Thanks for the help maxx (and every one else). I now will order the fish after i get home from my 1.5 week vacation down to seattle. When i get back i will oder them throw my LFS so that i can get them.
Thanks

 

[Maxx]

Glad to help. anemones are very beautiful, and I enjoy watching my clowns and anemones....its actually a sight that gets alot of people into the reef keeping hobby. But what many people dont know is that anemones are among the most difficult things to keep. Good luck with yours, and please keep us updated on your anemone and future clowns.

Nick