Big clownfish (2) stressing my Flower Pot coral (goniopora sp.?)

[harryarne]

I have two clownfish that has resently started giving my one month old Flower Pot coral a lot of attention, this leads the coral to retract the "flowers" into its base.

The fish do this several times a day, and have started hanging around inside the coral (it's about trice the size of the biggest clownfish) more and more lately.

My question is: can the coral die from the, as I see it, unwanted attention of the clownfish, or is this what happends naturally in the sea?

[xian]

Yes the coral can die. Goniporas are delicate corals and they don't hold up to the stress. In the wild the clownd would find their suitable host anemone. In captivity they make do.

You might try the out of site out of mind technique I moved my gonipora away from the territory of my clarkii to get him to leave it alone. So far so good.

[mark97r6]

i had this problem. I moved the Gonipora to the other end of an 8' tank where they couldnt see it and Guess what!

The clowns followed. I have now put in a BTA so hopefully this will solve the problem.
So far they have still been harrassing the goni, but sleeping in the BTA.

I am hoping they will take up permanant residence in the nem, after all they are 7.5' apart!

But to answer your question yes this will in quite a short time kill the gonipora, as it will be stressed and unable to feed.

Mark

[Wolverine]

Clownfish have been known to leave anemones they've been in for years in favor of gonioporas.

If it makes you feel any better, the corals likely to die anyway, since most of them don't do well in captivity.

Dave

[GovtCheese]

Originally posted by Wolverine
If it makes you feel any better, the corals likely to die anyway, since most of them don't do well in captivity.

Dave

that's a rough pill to swallow

[JENnKerry]

Even if you get an anenome, there's still a very high chance that they will stay in the goniopora. Eventually, they will end up killing it. It is this one reason why I will never own any type of clown in the presence of my gonis.

[Wolverine]

Originally posted by GovtCheese
that's a rough pill to swallow

In retrospect, I worded that a little more harshly than I meant to (though I don't think it's fair for me to go back and edit it now).
However, I do stand by the sentiment; goniopora has a horrid survival record. Some people feel they shouldn't be collected at all, but most feel they are best left to the experts until they figure out exactly what it takes to keep them alive consistently.

Dave

[harryarne]

Well, I've returned the clowns so now I'll just cross my fingers and hope the coral will survive despite predictions to the opposite.