aggressive anemone

LonersBlaze said:

I have a Long tentacled anemone (not sure on the exact species) that is very aggressive with all my fish and killed 2 other anemones(this was before i knew the chemical warfare thing)and 1 percula clown. i was wondering if there is a species of clownfish u all recommend that would be more capable of having a symbiotic relationship with my anemone.

i'll get a pic of the anoemone soon

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I hate ltas but a false or true should fair fine.

corriewf said:

I hate ltas but a false or true should fair fine.

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What exactly do you mean by that for our other readers out there?

He means either ocellaris or percula. I disagree, though, because both of those species can be picky about hosts. The natural residents of LTAs are clarkii, chrysogaster (not generally available), and perioderaion (pink clownfish). Clarkii are farily easy to find, and are probably the easiest to get to take a host.

One other thing. Clowns aren't inherently immune to anemone stings, they need to have a chance to interact with the anemone without getting eaten. One strategy is to put a net over the anemone, so the fish can nestle a bit with the tentacles without getting stung to death.

Dave , I have to disagree with you just a little on this one at least in regards to captive raised clowns. Most clowns are captive reared these days and have no clue what an anemone is. They are as apt to decide that they want to live in algae as they are in an anemone IME. They do have some natural instinct and again IME about 50% of them figure out what an anemone is on introduction. Of the remaider some figure it out some don't they'll really be just as likely to host in something else.
The only reason I'm adding this is if you do add a clown and it pays no attention to the anemone you may have to leave the netting on it forever. If it doesn't host in the anem it will never get enough slime on it for the anemone not to see it as an invader. If you take off then net it and it hasn't become adjusted to the anemone it will eat it if it gets the chance.
This is just my experience .
Chris

Hmmm. Which species have you tried? Although it's true that CB clowns often take a lot longer to take a host, and there is some loss of specificity, I also know that the people around here find ocellaris and percs (which are the pickiest in the wild) much more difficult to take to a BTA or LTA than species like clarkii.