Tank raised vs. live caught clowns

[Mrspit66]

LFS is telling me I don't want tank-raised clowns because they won't take an anenome. Is this true? I have a new tank (only 12 weeks old) and want a couple of false-percs because I've heard they are much hardier than true percs. Is that also true??

Thanks!

Cathy

[zight]

Yes, the tank raised clowns are hardier, disease resistant, and don't worry about the anem. they will take it. and At least in my LFS the tank raised clowns are more expensive than cap.
I think the people who raise the percs should have at least a little anem in the clown's tank

[micagreenmachine]

I got a pair of tank-raised maroon clowns and they took to an anemone in about 5 minutes even though they had never seen one.

They look happy.

~Todd

[reef fanatic]

Anemones are good to have for a clown but they are more than just putting them in the tank and you are done. Water conditions must be pristine and stay that way for an anemone, you need high intensity lighting and understand that an anemone may move around the tank. I say this because i bought one a few years ago (at LFS ) and it was under only mild VHO lighting and it moved around the tank alot, i assume looking for more light or better water. My clown has since found other things like frilly mushrooms or now i have one in a heliofungia(long-tentacled plate coral). Hope this doesnt stop you, just make sure it is what you want , not NEED.


Scott

P.S. Mine is a GS maroon and he is wild caught. I dont see much of a difference, but some can be tamer than others, mine is fine so far and there is 3 fish in my 55g.

[Mrspit66]

Thanks, Scott. Yes, I know my tank is not ready for an anenome. I would love to have one, but my tank is only 3 months old, so it's not mature enough, nor do we have proper lighting at this time. All we currently have is a 50/50 actinic and a full-spectrum daylight, both just the 40-watt. But I understand you don't HAVE to have an anenome for the clowns. We've got a 75 gallon tank with about 85# of LR/base rock, so they'll have plenty of hiding spots.

Again, thanks for the input!!

Cathy

[fatso31]

I wouldn't buy any thing but tank raised they are so much hardier it's not even a question in my book and they will take to there anemone but I think the key here is not just them but us we have to get the right kind and I know even then thing's may not work out but I think for the most part the people that have trouble are the people that have not done there research on getting the right one.

[fingerwrinkles]

Cathy:

I have a clutch of ~125 true percs that are about 3.5 months old, and can tell you for certain that they dive right into an anemone when placed in the same tank. As a test I tried their reaction at less than two months (when they were about 1/2") and they very quickly acclimated themselves to the anemone (rose quadricolor). Purportedly in the wild the newly metamorphosed juveniles sink out of the water column to find a host anemone; perhaps in a future clutch I'll experiment with putting a few in with an anemone once they're eating processed food.

Also, on the true / false perc debate there appears to be some experiential basis that favors false percs over true. However, I would surmise that this goes out the window with captive cultured as both species are brought up in controlled, relatively disease free environments. As always, it really comes back to selecting healthy, vibrant specimens from a well maintained environment and then quarantining them before introduction into your setup.

[Looper121]

Hmmm, my tankraised Saddleback took a BTA. Although he is never in it in the daytime. He only sleeps in there, I have to turn room lights on at night to see him in their. But nonetheless, he was tnakraised and has accepted the anenome. I think some LFS's tell some tales sometimes. Not all, just some.

[reefsinker]

I'm not an expert here, but my tank raised maroon took about 30 seconds to find my BTA. They've been together now for about 30 days. Both seem to be quite happy, as they eat well and are growing!