Clowns Not Hosting
 

I have tried to get my clowns to host in gbta and now a saddle carpet nem.
I have torches and other things clowns do host in however mine do not.
They are a wild caught mated pair of true percs.
any ideas on how to get them to find the host?
tank is 45 gallon 4 feet long, 4 t4 54 watt, connected to a 200 gallon water system.

I used to have a pair that never hosted. It sucks because I think that's part of the reason alot of reefers buy them, is to see that interaction between clown and host.

Sorry I can't be of any help

I read a thread somewhere that said if you taped a photo of a clown hosting a nem to the side of the tank the clowns will see it and figure it out.

My perc never hosted at all until I introduced a yellow watchman to the tank. There wasn't a huge amount of agression, but definately some tension between the two. Since then, my perc started hosting in my frogspawn. My theory on that is the clowns use hosting as a defencive measure to keep safe from preditors. So if the clown is feeling non threatened and very safe in the tank, no need to host. Such as before the watchman/perc tiff. But let me repeat, that's my very unscientific and not well informed theory. ;)

I was told an interesting bit of info not long ago about clowns. If they're captive raised it can be very difficult to get them to host. This is due to the fact that they've probably never seen an anenome or anything similar. I have a pair of captive raised false percs and I have a large elegance & frogspawn but they haven't even given it a glance.

hosting is instinctive, i have seen many captive breed clown hosting almost instantly when added to a tank.

your biggest problem is your choice of hosts are not a natural choice for your species of clown. you don't want your clowns to be hosted by an LPS coral, the rubbing by the clowns will usually rip the coral apart on his skeleton.

natural hosts for A. percula are H. magnifica and S. gigantea, unfortunately two of the toughest to keep anemones. you may get lucky and they'll be hosted by another species but it could take some time or may not happen at all.

good luck

I've had a pair of clowns host in a clam of all things! They would nestle in the small opening and sleep in it over night, and I'd find them there in the morning.

I've never had a perc in a nem.

My clowns are hosting the side of my wavebox :rolleyes:

They love the thing. Clean the heck out the one side and back and rarely leave it unless its to get food.

They used to host some hairy mushrooms but after the tank move, they went straight to the wavebox and have never left.

What clowns host a Seabae anemone? I had one prior to my tank crash and had two false percs hosting an open brain coral instead of the Seabae.

it took my t.perks over 9 monthes to finally start hosting. they now host in my hairy mushies and torch , rather than my mag cleaner. i have heard putting apic up of clowns hosting will help.

Someone I know did that and it took two weeks but it worked.

wish me luck
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/files/8703_1046825745.jpg
will let everyone know if this works or not.

Make sure the clowns in the pic are smaller than the real guys or they will just get scared.

I agree with this, not sure about the "usually" ripping LPS apart but, wild Perc's may only want their native host. Maybe posting a pic will work, it's worth a shot.

this method worked for me very well when i was breeding true percs.
turn the lights out.... have a small dim light or even a flash light so thats all they can see.... shine the light on the bta ... and you need to scare them into the bta..... will take a few tries... as soon as u see them go in or even go close to it ... kill the lights... and they will stay near it or even run in it .... ... will take a few times... but works very well... done this with lots of clowns

my skunk clown hosted in my LTA after one day. The fact that i dropped food into the LTA probably helped. When i would feed it shrimp, the clown would try to steal the food away. After that he just stayed there and rarely went anywhere else.

well, i have put a moon light shining on the nem, seems they like the area so far, will scare them after if the photo and the light dont seem to get them to host, will use the scare tactic as a final resort.

Cool, I'll try this tonight.

Tomatoe clown does host seabae as far as I know. I used to have RBTA hosted by my true perculas clowns but after I sold it it went to host my Hammerhead. I also have two captive breed false perculas at my work and they are hosting well one of them is hosting my anthelia coral and the other one my heater haha(probably because its winter)

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/m...4022009568.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/m...7022009577.jpg

My two clowns host the front corner of my tank. Wake up in the morning and there they are cuddling in the corner....... weird fish.

my true perks were wild caught.

I am pretty sure mine destroyed my bubble rubbed it until it died. Started in the middle where they were always rubbing. My one maroon is about 3" so she is a big girl. Now she is constantly rubbing on my mushrooms but they seem to handle it better.

it will take a few tries to scare them in ... once they touch it ... it will zap them ... few times after that.. they body will become immune and they will be loving the bta and not leave just like mine :D