Clown commiting death by zoas?

Seafan · #1 09-18-2010, 12:04 AM

In the last couple of days, my clown has decided to try to take up residence in my zoas. A couple of days ago I first noticed fairly big black marks all over his body. First thought, OMG what horrible disease is gonna wipe out the tank, looked at other fish, nobody else affected. Quickly googled to find photos of other clowns with same marks, zoa stings! I mean REALLY! I just got rid of 3 anemone's a couple of weeks ago as no interest was shown what so ever. Still have one gbta, but no interest. Have many other things clowns use as alternative torch, frogspawn (2 varieties), but no he is in love with the pretty little flower patch.
Has anyone else's clowns ever done this? Anybody know if it actually can kill him? Will the sudden infatuation wear off? I mean he is starting to look seriously bad.
If this keeps up I will have to change his name to Jacques, as he now looks like a waiter sporting a sexy little black mustache.

Lampshade · #2 09-18-2010, 01:23 AM

My clowns do the same thing. I have a 12" GBTA and the clowns still live in the zoa's. They've been there for 6 months or more now, seem to be doing well, other than the black spots. They even look like they may be breeding, the male used to stay close with the female roaming, but recently the females been laying right in the zoa's with the male getting food. My zoa's have grown used to it too, they no longer close when the clowns touch them. I'd say not to worry about it. I think I have pics posted of my clowns on an old thread here, I'll take a look.

Seafan · #3 09-18-2010, 01:33 AM

Thank you, good to know he'll be alright. Have been concerned for him (or her, him out of habit). I had just presumed he wasn't going to host, thought he was tank bred and have had him over a year and this is the first he has thought about hosting anything besides a rock, lol. Also good to know my zoas may get used to their new found friend, so far they are not amused.
Thanks again.

intarsiabox · #4 09-18-2010, 04:06 AM

My 2 perc clowns have been doing the same thing for over 2 years and both are doing fine. For awhile one was almost completely black and a fellow reefer asked what kind of clown I had as he had never seen one that color. The other clown is a little smarter than the other and only has a few blemishes.

Seafan · #5 09-18-2010, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

My 2 perc clowns have been doing the same thing for over 2 years and both are doing fine. For awhile one was almost completely black and a fellow reefer asked what kind of clown I had as he had never seen one that color. The other clown is a little smarter than the other and only has a few blemishes.

Wow, more common then than I would have guessed, kinda thought they had a little more smarts than that, you'd think it's gotta hurt to leave that kind of a mark.
Thanks good to know.

.

fishytime · #6 09-18-2010, 02:32 PM

the best thing really for them is to host in a nem.....generally speaking clown/coral relationships dont usually work out so well.....either for the clowns (in your case) or sometimes its the coral that suffers....

what kind of clowns and what kind of nem do you have?...hosting is a learned behavior....try putting a mirror by your remaining nem to encourage the clown over to the nems spot...or, and this is gonna sound silly but, print off a picture of a clown hosting in a nem and tape that to the side of your tank.....Ive read that this can sometimes work....

paddyob · #7 09-18-2010, 02:40 PM

My frogspawn has been host to clowns for years. And my friend had the same thing with some palys.

The black spots are burns from the coral and should disappear after a while.

They did on mine anyhow.

reefwars · #8 09-18-2010, 03:32 PM

the other problem with clowns hosting things that arent anemones are they get scratched from sharp sides like rocks or coral skeletons.ive never used the pic trick but have used a mirror for a stubborn clown once and after a while it must have worked because now he hosts. and its always best to provide your clown with a new at least twice its size, the bigger it is the easier youll find for to host.clowns are attracted to many things from a nem but protection is a big one and a clown that cant fully be hidden by its nem may wander.IMO a clown that wanders isnt really hosting just shows interest my cinn clowns wander although you can find them in the nem most of the day, but my skunk never leaves ...ever more than a few inches.he will starve if he cant get food close enough he will protect his nem to the death, he will feed his nem and in my case he will travel across town in a bag with the nem only to be found when i get home lol.i have only ever had 2 clowns from about 20 and several diff kinds truely host and ive had every nem in the book lol.i find carpets are an easy host because of their size but some clowns like some nems and some dont.

Seafan · #9 09-18-2010, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishytime

the best thing really for them is to host in a nem.....generally speaking clown/coral relationships dont usually work out so well.....either for the clowns (in your case) or sometimes its the coral that suffers....

what kind of clowns and what kind of nem do you have?...hosting is a learned behavior....try putting a mirror by your remaining nem to encourage the clown over to the nems spot...or, and this is gonna sound silly but, print off a picture of a clown hosting in a nem and tape that to the side of your tank.....Ive read that this can sometimes work....

I have a perc clown and a gbta. I don't really think I'd be able to get the clown to the nem as it has perched up at the top of the tank and the clown never goes up to that corner, can't move the nem as it's foot is deeply inbedded in the rock, and I like it where it is as it doesn't desturb anything there. I have a frogspawn and a torch at the same level as the zoas, yet it chose the zoas. Thanks for the tips and tricks, will have to try and see if he can be coaxed up with a photo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paddyob

My frogspawn has been host to clowns for years. And my friend had the same thing with some palys.

The black spots are burns from the coral and should disappear after a while.

They did on mine anyhow.

Does yours get burns from the frogspawn too, didn't think a frogspawn could do that to a clown? Really concerned with it being zoas and all that I have read paly toxin can do, he sometimes swims a little off sided for a few minutes after doing his happy dance in them. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefwars

the other problem with clowns hosting things that arent anemones are they get scratched from sharp sides like rocks or coral skeletons.ive never used the pic trick but have used a mirror for a stubborn clown once and after a while it must have worked because now he hosts. and its always best to provide your clown with a new at least twice its size, the bigger it is the easier youll find for to host.clowns are attracted to many things from a nem but protection is a big one and a clown that cant fully be hidden by its nem may wander.IMO a clown that wanders isnt really hosting just shows interest my cinn clowns wander although you can find them in the nem most of the day, but my skunk never leaves ...ever more than a few inches.he will starve if he cant get food close enough he will protect his nem to the death, he will feed his nem and in my case he will travel across town in a bag with the nem only to be found when i get home lol.i have only ever had 2 clowns from about 20 and several diff kinds truely host and ive had every nem in the book lol.i find carpets are an easy host because of their size but some clowns like some nems and some dont.

I was thinking about getting it a larger carpet nem or something, but I don't really have the real estate until my new build is done, and all extra $ is going into the build. I've also heard this is really hit and miss anyhows. He's not really protecting his zoas, he does protect his other rock though, but this doesn't stop him from eating out of my hand at night, so I don't think he is going to starve. He has protected his rock for a year now. Really hoping I can try a carpet nem soon though, Thanks.

reefwars · #10 09-18-2010, 04:37 PM

carpets arent easy to care for and thats the kicker and then theres the size they grow to be and the damage they can do plus they can foul a tank nasty if it dies.they are best left untill after having anemones for a long time once experienced and in an established tank they are quite nice