HELP!!! Why is my clown doing this?

[cookie]

I have a cute little true perc and he is just starting to go to the anemone. The female...yeah she is tank raised and will not go near it.

ANYWAY.... my little male true perc is putting the tentacle of my rose bubble anemoe in his mouth. He is sucking on the ends of the tentacles. He does not appear to be trying to eat the aneomne but why is he doing this??

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

Bottlefed? j/k. Not sure as i've never really had a clown and an anemone at the sametime. Maybe he just loves that nem and is trying to get used to it.

 

[seattle989]

LOL (bottle fed) ive scene photos of clowns doing this , im not sure why but i think as long as the clown isnt tearing the tenacle off you should be okay.

 

[cookie]

He is a sucker! I would think he is bottle fed! He sucks it down pretty deep (I am not trying to be inappropriate!) and then moves to a new tentacle.....weird! Maybe he thiks they are utters! I know I know, they dont drink from utters! He is really gentl and loving with the anemone though. He also "bites" the body of the anemone.........what a clown!

 

[reef18ster]

Perfectly normal. My clown did the same thing and then started hosting it. If you look very carefully it really isnt biting the body, its mouth remains open. It's sort of like a nuzzling act. Congrats on getting your clown to host the anemone. Besides the pic method, did you try anything else to get it to do this?

 

[cookie]

Perfectly normal. My clown did the same thing and then started hosting it. If you look very carefully it really isnt biting the body, its mouth remains open. It's sort of like a nuzzling act. Congrats on getting your clown to host the anemone. Besides the pic method, did you try anything else to get it to do this?

Did I try anthing elese? Yes I did! Here is what started the sucess though. I took a pitcher, plastic and drilled a ton, I mean a ton of decent sized holes. Obvisously not large enough for fish to get out of. I drilled holes in the bottom too. I then took my two clowns (they cooperated nicely) and put them in the pitcher with the anemone. I jimmy rigged a contraption and tied the pitcher up so that it floated upright but not allowing for any escapes. I kind of brought the anemone to the clowns and the little took interest to it and stayed with the anemoe in the pitcher. The big clown, she stayed clear of it....grrr! Anyway, I let that go on for about 20 hours and then during a stupid mistake I made, my little guy bolted and instead of trying to catch him I let him be and let the big one and the anemone in the tank once again. I moved the anemone down lower in the tank and moved it to my clowns favorite corner and ever since, the littl guy has kept an interst in the anemone. The big one, well, she wont touch it! It now seems that my little guy is becoming more and more attatched to the anemone and really does not give a hoot about her anymore (Typical male!). He just does his own thing and she does hers. I apologize if I offended anyone for trying to force hosting.

 

[cookie]

I am not sure how well you can tell in this photo, but he is sucking on a tentacle!

 

[returnofsid]

It is perfectly normal behavior. I've seen it with lots of Clownfish and anemones.

 

[brandyrb]

I think they like to control their anemones. I've seen my clowns do this to deflate the anemone before mainly when they have eggs. I don't know why though. I got my female clown to host in our anemone by placing a hand held mirror right next to it, so she had to feel the anemone to see herself in the mirror. Clowns can't resist their own reflection. Once she came in contact with the anemone she stayed in it.

 

[Skeptic9962]

ya my clarkii would allways do this with my green bubble at first it would get angry and close up but once it got used to it didnt care too much.