Ocellaris, False Percula clown not hosting RBTA

moneylaw · #1 12/09/2007, 08:45 PM

A medium size RBTA has been in my tank for about 6 weeks now (doing pretty well, i might add) and two false percula clowns are still not hosting it. Is there anything I can do to help them host the anemone? Is it common that ocellaris clown not hosting RBTA? Thanks.

Newlin · #2 12/09/2007, 08:48 PM

Yes, it is common. It took mine over 9 months to get into the GBTA that I got. It did help that it split twice so there was one on the right, middle, and left of the tank

. Give them time, they will go in. Just remember, they are tank raised, they don't know that they can go in there.

delsol650 · #3 12/09/2007, 10:59 PM

Not the typical practice, but I have done these too ALL my clowns. Used a acrylic rod to scare them to it, one near or in it.. I pull away the rod.. It lets them know that the anemone is a safe area... its work for all my clowns before. Again, not the typical practice.

fingerwrinkles · #4 12/09/2007, 11:34 PM

If I may, I'd like to jump in with a quick reply to one of sooner handyman's comments. Even though it is commonly thought that tank raised clowns do not "know" to go into an anemone, I have found that my ocellaris babies will go into BTAs quite readily if placed together in the tank. Carpets and condys seem to be a different issue - some babies take to them while others don't. BTAs though tend to be their favorites.

A couple thoughts on why it takes some clowns so long ... ocellaris seem to have a more difficult time than true percs in taking a host, and it's possible that juveniles that are without a host for the first 9-12 months of their lives may not find it necessary to host. Mine typically go in with a host from their 3rd to 4th month, and they all are hosting withind a matter of minutes to hours.

If you have a "problem" clown that wont' host, Charles' suggestion is a good one. Also some folks have had success with printing out a picture of a lionfish or someother predator and occasionally holding the picture against the side of the tank to scare the clowns into a host. Kinda mean, maybe, but this has worked for many.

moneylaw · #5 12/10/2007, 12:11 AM

Thanks guys. My clowns seem to stay in one corner of the tank, I will try sticking a pic at that end to see whether they will move to RBTA.

I have another question about my RBTA. My cleaner shrimp pick on RBTA sometimes ( I guess trying to find food). Will it bother RBTA much? During the feeding time, i guard the RBTA so that it can eat the food, but other times, i see the shrimp attacking it (not all the time, but a couple of times a day) and not sure whether it will stress the anemone. I tried to remove the shrimp, but that little guy is very clever and never go for the trap.

TikiDan · #6 12/10/2007, 12:17 AM

I just added 2 black false percs and within 30 minutes they were both hanging out in mt LTA.... I guess I got lucky

clownfish2020 · #7 12/10/2007, 01:12 AM

I got my rbta from delsol650 and it took about 5 months before my 2 false percs were hosting in the rbta. I treied steering them into the anemone but they never took to the anemone and then one day they were inside the anemone many months later

Coralgrabber · #8 12/10/2007, 01:13 AM

I have cleaner shrimp too. It attacks the nem for food from time to time, but it doesn't really stress the anemone.

Hey Tikidan, beautiful clowns, but i think they look like black saddlebacks(A. polymnous sp.) or maybe it's just the pic.

Cozen89 · #9 12/10/2007, 03:04 AM

It took my clown about 3-4 months I'd say to host my BTA. I didn't try to force the issue, it just kind of happened one day. If you have a lot of patience, you can let nature take it's course or try the picture or stick thing.

clayspst · #10 12/10/2007, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TikiDan
I just added 2 black false percs and within 30 minutes they were both hanging out in mt LTA.... I guess I got lucky

i hate you dan. mine dont even think about hosting anything and i have a GBTA, RBTA, seabe and a carpet still no luck

fingerwrinkles · #11 12/10/2007, 02:17 PM

Hey Dan, those are A. polymnus, which frequently are sold by Indo exporters as "False Black Percs". The real "false black percs" are the melanistic variant of A. ocellaris, also known as Darwin Ocellaris since they are found in the the wild only along the northern coastline of Australia.

Your's are a very, very nice pair since they are all black and many polymnus come in with a tan or grey nose. Polymnus tend to host quite readily, which is probably why they took to your anemone so quickly.

TikiDan · #12 12/10/2007, 02:43 PM

good info to know

thanks for giving me the right breed

Vincerama2 · #13 12/10/2007, 02:52 PM

I bought 6 baby ocellaris from fingerwrinkles, they were in an anemone within hours. However, I had an older ocellaris in there that was already hosting. Maybe they can learn it from an older, wiser clownfish?

My clownfish horde are all over the rbtas (I think I have 8 of them now)

V

TikiDan · #14 12/10/2007, 02:55 PM

Hey fingerwrinkles, if I ever get them to breed I will be sure to let you raise the fry

stevepai · #15 12/10/2007, 03:00 PM

Another method I used was to starve the clowns for a while. Then I lured them with a piece of shrimp to the anenome. I tossed the food into the anenome and the clowns followed and hosted.

delsol650 · #16 12/10/2007, 11:35 PM

so that your shrimps don't bother the NEMs while eating, I used to feed the shrimps a large piece of krill to keep them busy, then drop a large krill righ on the nems mouth so that it dosn't take long for it to consume while the shrimps are busy.

fingerwrinkles · #17 12/11/2007, 12:23 AM

Dan, do keep me in mind if they start to put down nests. I haven't yet done any polymnus but it might be interesting to raise a clutch or two to see how they compare with the other breeds.