hosting a clownfish

[kerriann]

I'm still very new to saltwater aquariums - me and my boyfriend have only had our tank for 2 months. we have quite a collection and from what i've read it seems we shotgunned a lot of it but everything seems to be doing quite well. anyways, we have a bubble tipped anemone and a tru perc clownfish. i was curious about hosting a clownfish in the BTA. how is this done and what are the advantages??

 

[dawman]

Well , your tank is way too new for an anemone . Tank needs to be at least 6-8 months old . I hope it does not die on you but odds are high . Perculas are not well known for hosting in BTAs , but sometimes it happens in rare occasions . It can take time for a clown to host especially a species the fish are not known to host as much . It can take days , months , or might not host at all . Advantages - they have a nice relationship which is pretty cool to sit and watch . The clowns feed the nem and the nem provides a bed and safety area for them . I would buy "Clownfishes" by Joyce Wilkerson as it has a lot of helpful info with clownfish and anemones .

 

[rod buehle]

BTA is not a natural host for percs, but I can think of hundreds of BTAs that host percula clownfish. When baby clowns (percs) leave my place, they often leave here with BTAs. Before the bucket (with 2 clowns and anemone) even leaves the front door, the clowns have found their host and are snuggled in safely.
The advantages are to be able to see the symbiotic relation between clowns and their host.

 

[kerriann]

Thanks for the help guys. And yes, we did realize after we got the BTA that it was probably too soon. our fish guy said we'd be fine and suprisingly it's doing well! I think we've been getting a lot of dumb luck with our tank considering everything I've been reading.
If I was to get a tank with just a host anemone and two clownfish (I wanted a little tank for my bedroom) what size tank would I need and would I need live rock??

 

[petjunkie]

Do you have proper lighting for an anemone? Problem with nems is they can be dying for months and still look great.

 

[kerriann]

What is proper lighting for an anemone? My boyfriend took care of that part, I just take care of the cute part Our fish guy keeps telling us the anem is/will be fine but from everything I've been reading lately I'm just more and more skeptical and thinking he's after money and not the benefit of our tank

 

[petjunkie]

Generally you need metal halides or high output T5s, power compacts and regular flourescents won't do it. If there's any writing on the light fixture at all that would help, metal halides will have a large ballast on the end of the cord. Most people on here don't trust the fish guys as many are inexperienced and out to make money, not all are but I would highly suggest researching anything before you bring it home just to be safe, there are many commonly available fish and corals that are very hard to keep or grow huge.

 

[dawman]

Petjunkie , you can keep BTAs under power compacts . BTAs don`t like really intense light and tends to drive them hiding in caves and under rocks .

 

[kerriann]

well maybe we should start from the beginning because i'm thinkin we're all screwed up now. we bought a 24g jbj nano cube. we have 20lbs of live rock and sand as well and a UV sterilizer. we have 3 astrea snails, 6 hermit crabs, 2 green emerald crabs, 2 nassarius snails, a pink and green cucumber, 2 green chromis, a six lined wrasse, cleaner wrasse, a yellow headed goby (whom we know shouldn't be in here, that was sold to us by a foolish foolish man), a true perc, a green BTA and a Haitian LTA. I have some pics but unfortunately they're too large and I have no clue how to downsize that stuf. Everything looks pretty good to us and we've had them all living together for, well, the last time we added anything was two weeks ago. The anemones went toward each other once and appeared as tho they were going to fight and the BTA just backed off and went to a different corner of the tank. I'm very scared tho from everything I've been reading lately!

 

[dawman]

I`m thinking you have too many fish in that little tank. Also , having two anemones in one tank is a recipe for disaster . Don`t mean to sound rude but , have you ever thought about reading and finding info before jamming everything in that tank ?
Pick one anemone and return the other along with at least one fish .
I'm very scared tho from everything I've been reading lately
Seems like you jumped in with both feet and know realizing your sinking .

 

[skipperdz]

thats alot of fish for a 24g. it may seem ok now, but from feeding and waste you will get bio overload. id take some back including one of the anenomies unless your getting a 2nd tank.
from what ive read wrasses dont normally do to well together. may want to take one of those back as well.
as far as lighting for tanks most cube's like jbjs or bios usually have good lighting for an anenome since its a small tank. now if you get a larger tank you may have to get vhos.