Enticing Clowns into Anemone - Food?

[orbitdancer]

Hi everyone, I have a question about how I can encourage my clownfish to check out their anemone. My anemone is a green BTA of a pretty good size, and my clownfish are a pair of baby ocellaris clowns. They're tank-bred, and it shows - they haven't even looked at the anemone in the month that I've had them! But the friend who gave me my anemone had a pair of adult ocellarises living in the parent of my BTA, so I thought I'd give them a try.
She told me that she had to "train" her clownfish into accepting their anemone, and she that did it by feeding the fish near the anemone. I mostly feed my fish pellets to cut down on the mess, but I've been wondering if I might be able to get them interested in the anemone's food... I've been feeding my BTA a small chunk of peeled, frozen and thawed shrimp from the supermarket every couple of days, and he really loves it. My question is, could I start feeding the anemone the same cubes of brine shrimp, mysis and krill that I sometimes feed my fish? The anemone's mouth is certainly big enough to consume a cube, but would the cold temperature hurt my anemone? If I thaw the cube first, it'll get everywhere, and I don't have enough fish to eat it!
Has anyone tried this method for coaxing their clowns into their anemones?

 

[itom37]

Put a picture of an ocellaris in an anemone on the tank where they hang out so they can see it. Sounds stupid, but I heard about it on this site and it worked after one night with my tank-raised tomatoes.

 

[gkotlin]

+1
I did this and it took a few days, but the true clown finally got the idea. I've even gotten them to use those cheap condalactis type anemone's.

 

[orbitdancer]

I tried the picture thing, we even made a collage of them! It's been on the tank for a week without progress, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

 

[dawman]

Originally Posted by orbitdancer
I tried the picture thing, we even made a collage of them! It's been on the tank for a week without progress, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

Don`t get too exited if it`s only been a week . It can take weeks , months , and sometimes never .

 

[dawman]

Originally Posted by orbitdancer
I tried the picture thing, we even made a collage of them! It's been on the tank for a week without progress, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

Don`t get too exited if it`s only been a week . It can take hours , weeks , months , and sometimes never .

 

[orbitdancer]

Well, I've had the clowns for a month (I let my anemone settle in before I even got them), but they've only had their "visual aid" for a week. I'll be patient

 

[mikev]

my clowns finally figured out what the lta was for after 6 weeks.

 

[gkotlin]

Originally Posted by gkotlin
http:///forum/post/2280423
+1
I did this and it took a few days, but the true clown finally got the idea. I've even gotten them to use those cheap condalactis type anemone's.
I hate to admit it. But this worked for me as well.....