LTA's and true percs?

[Heavydc2]

Does anyone know if a true perc will hook up with an lta? Has anyone had success? Any failures? Thanks for the help. I do know some of the tricks to get the clown to go in, I am just curious if people have had it happen and if possible could you post some pics? Thanks

[cyclgrl]

You can find charts online about clowns and their capatibility with anemones in captivity and/or in the wild.

My experience has been that those charts are just observances, and don't necessarily hold true to form.

For instance, I have a tomato clown that isn't listed as capatible with an LTA, but he took to it in a little over a week.

I didn't do anything to encourage this, but I have heard of people putting pictures of clowns in an anemone against the tank to give the clown the idea to go in.

HTH.

[Marco]

Hey Heavy, I can chime in here as I have a Purple LTA and a mated pair of True Percs. It took about 2 or 3 months for my clowns to accept the LTA as their host. They wanted to go in the anemone much sooner but they were not immune to the sting of the LTA yet. The clowns would often brush against the tentacles very quickly and also put the ends of the tentacles in their mouths as if they were sucking on them. I am no expert but from what I have seen they had to build an immunity to the sting of the LTA. Eventually they went in, the male first and a couple of days later the female. The male spends 90% of his time in the anemone but the female tends to cruise around the tank more. Most clown-anemone pairings in captivity are not seen in the wild but clowns will take to anemones that aren't a natural host it may just take them a while. Be patient, I looked long and hard to find the LTA I have and when my clowns would not go in it I got very frustrated. I was so impatient that I almost took my LTA back to trade it for something else. When I least expected it they took to it. The three are now my favorite thing in the tank.
Here is an older pic of the male.