is this dangerous?

[jak424]

This may be a dumb question, but different people keep giving me different answers. Will an ordinary rock anemone kill other fish in the tank? There is a clownfish, which obviously is not in danger, but we also house a pipefish, and a small green goby. Are these fish in danger from an anemone?

 

[robchuck]

The Pipefish may be at risk. They are usually fairly difficult to keep outside of species tanks. How long have you had it, and how long has it been with the other fish in your tank?

 

[jak424]

The pipefish has been in the tank for a couple of weeks. Everyone gets along. Everyone eats well as far as we can tell. The pipefish ssems to prefer eating copeopods off the glass to live brine, but he's the only pod-eater, so that's ok. The problem is that fish store owners tell us he'll be ok, the anemone won't go after fish, but then I read that they sting, paralyze and eat fish, and I see anemones attacking horseshoe crabs in the store. I have no idea what an anemone will and won't attack...

 

[pstanley]

An anemone will attack anything that touches it. Normally fish have a natural instinct to avoid anemones so unless the tank is overgrown with them the fish should be fine. Surprisingly the clown fish is not always immune either. I have had clownfish stung and eaten by anemones that "chose" not to accept them.

 

[joerdie]

now i realize you are talking about rock anemones but jak424 is right. Haitian (sp) anemones will not take clowns and i have a few small rock anemones that came with some live rock. they have split and split again and seem to attack each other moreso than go after fish.

 

[shadow678]

Most experts have adopted the theory that anemones do not "accept" or "reject" a clownfish. An a nemone acctually has now way of knowing the clownfish is present. When a clownfish finds an anemone that it has the ability to host in, it will perform an eloborate acclimating "dance", where it very slowly rubs itself in the anemone, starting with just the pectoral fins and slowly working itself entirely into the anemone. What this does is coat the clownfish in the protective slime the anemone uses to keep from stinging itself, thus causing the clown to be protected by a sort of chemical camoflage. It has been shown that a clown that has hosted with a specific anemone, then removed for a period of time, must go through it's acclimation to the anemone again before it can host in the anemone. An anemone that has been proven to be a natural host for a specific clownfish species can easily kill a clownfish that is forced to come into contact with the anemone repeatedly before it is properly acclimated.