Does the foot grow back or bounce back?

Newjack

Member
I don't know how you would say it but yesterday at the LFS I was looking around and they had some nems come in. They had a few $20 nems witch to me seemed a little too cheap. one of them looked like there foot was damaged. One of the dudes at LFS said they will grow back to normal. Is this true? Will a nems foot heal it self back to normal? I read somewhere not to get nems with a bad foot!
 

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
I wouldn't even buy a damaged Anemone. They are hard to keep even if in good shape let alone already damaged. It's not worth the risk to the rest of your tank (when they go south they go quick).

With that being said I've seen them recover from some insane amounts of damage in as little as a year and you couldn't tell they had been hurt at all.
 

Newjack

Member
I think it was a Long tentacle. I wasn't really planning to buy it, I was just wondering if the LFS is trying to make a quick buck on dmg live stock or if he was right. There BTAs and Long tentacle were like $100-$150 and they had one that was $400 but it was bigger than a basket ball. I still want a nem for my clowns, the ocellaris clown (witch someone suggested it might actually be a true perc.) seems to be checking out the chaeto (kae-toe) quite a bit lately. I was advised from the beginning that its too early for a nem until the one year mark but I see so many people getting them from the start after cycle. I need to find something for them to host instead of sleeping at the top and behind the heater. Makes me feel like there homeless like that's there cardboard box on the side walk. Ive seen people also suggest that the 6 month mark is ok to get a BTA so right now im at 4 months. I am thinking about getting one in June. If yall really suggest I don't then maybe a frogspawn. I think they will host them.

Good Morning BTW :)
 

jsgarrido

Member
clowns can be fairly agressive to corals and mite kill your frogspawn i have two ocellaris clowns that hosted my open brain coral and almost killed it i had to put a cover for it to recover , but they never hosted my anemone?? thats when i bought a maroon clown he host right alway. if you were around my area i would sale you a rose bubble tip for $50 LOL they split every 3 month in my tank i got 3 already
 

ziggy

Active Member
you really should consider laying a clay 3" pot on it's side for the clown. Diana's pic's look great with her clown's in it. At least it will reduce their stress till you do get a nem in June
 

Newjack

Member
I don't really like the looks of a clay pot in my tank. Plus there really isn't any room for it right now, its a small tank. I still don't think there stressed. Even if I had just live rock in my tank and nothing else the clay pot would have to be like glued down and on top of a rock.
 

Kongor

Member
Do you have can caves they can hang out in? Because honestly they might never even host the BTA. I had a BTA over a year and my clowns never went near it so I removed it from my tank since they always hang out in their cave.

BTA are kinda a pain if your tank is small and/or you have alot of corals since it will always settle to close to your frags lol.
 

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Clownfish aren't sad/stressed or anything when they don't have an anemone to hang out in. That's a human emotion and the fish just "react" and that's it.

The 6-month mark is pushing it but let's back up just a moment... it's not the Anniversay Date that you're looking for. That's just a random number literally pulled out of thin air. The only real connection to 1-year and a tank being ready is the fact that many times if someone stays in the hobby a full year they've already made most of the beginner mistakes and usually have a stable system. With that being said some people can have a very stable tank in just a month or so if they used existing live rock, live sand and know what they are doing. Then some people who have been in the hobby 2 years literally are still at the starting gate because they haven't found their own way and have done nothing but try this and try that and never really learned why they are doing anything.

When I help someone set up a new tank I tell them this (and most want a Clownfish and an Anemone just like the movie).... when your tank is STABLE and HEALTHY for 9+ months then you can start looking for an anemone or at least start researching and making sure you have the proper equipment to support one long-term (lights, pumps covered, etc). Just because the tank has been "wet" for 12 months means absolutely nothing. If the tank is 11months and 29 days wet but the owner has had on-going problems over the last few months at all... the tank is not ready for an anemone.

We all love the idea of the symbiotic relationship between the fish and anemone but unfortunately many of us aren't ready for that and some of us never get to that point.

Also as Kongor pointed out sometimes they aren't a good idea especially if you have other coral in the tank. The anemone will ALWAYS go where it gets the right light, flow, and everything else and that's usually behind a rock or right in the middle of your expensive coral garden. Sometimes they can wander throughout the tank wiping out coral after coral for no apparent reason. I've seen them start moving after being stationary for months LOL!

Re:FrogSpawn as a host - I have indeed lost several very nice colonies of FrogSpawn and hammer because my clown "loved them to death". Fact of the matter is these coral have very fragile flesh which is in close proximity to hard and sharp skeleton. This can be harmful with too much current but is often the detriment to the coral when a clownfish is "rough loving" on them. Once their flesh is damaged you have a high probability to get Brown Jelly Disease which can wipe out an entire tank of Euphyllia in a matter of just a couple of days. One head/colony is damaged and the BJD spreads like wild fire seemingly over night. Something to consider.
 

Newjack

Member
ok big al Im getting what your saying. Do you have any suggestions? Something coral wise that's safe and not an eye sore for clown to host?
 

Akshay

Member
BigAl nailed it.
Just wanted to add... not all clowns accept all nems as hosts. Some nems will gladly gobble up clowns if they get a chance. So pls read up

Also nems do recover from injuries, its not hard. I have cut a few myself and made gifts for friends.
Its just a question of how stable your system is to host them.

And as a rule just remember the bigger the nem, the more difficult it is to keep.
Most nems will move to find their favourite spots. Once there, they will stay steady.
So when you find your nems constantly moving over big distances, its a good sign that something might be off in ur system.
 

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
ok big al Im getting what your saying. Do you have any suggestions? Something coral wise that's safe and not an eye sore for clown to host?

Newjack there are tons of things that a clown "could" call home. As mentioned above it's iffy at best. There's no rhyme or reason why one will pick "this" to call home and a seemingly identical clown won't even give it a 2nd glance.

With that being said I've had my clowns take to my Toadstool Leather coral, finger leather coral, GSP, and mushrooms. All of these suffered absolutely zero from the clown's "rough love". Right now as I'm sitting here typing this at work my clown is "loving on" my Neon Green Toadstool Leather. I tried to take a picture but every time I move my hands from the keyboard she comes forward thinking it just might be feeding time LOL.
 

gbose

Member
Newjack:

If you have corals, I'd advise against most anemones; any of them that move will wipe out your coral. I had a maxi-mini -- supposedly easy to keep -- and it settled down on my cabbage leather and more or less destroyed it. There's little bits of it left. To add to that, the maxi-mini eventually died, too... You could keep maybe a tube anemone, but your clownfish won't host it.

On the upside, clownfish don't really need an anemone; mine have been with me a couple of years and seem quite happy without one.

GBose
 

Newjack

Member
I understand they will host anything they want or wont host anything you want but I was just wanting some suggestions of coral they can host without hurting. As you listed some, so thanks for that.
 

ReefApprentice

Well-Known Member
ok big al Im getting what your saying. Do you have any suggestions? Something coral wise that's safe and not an eye sore for clown to host?

Kenya tree coral. My clowns host it like its a real nem and they sleep in it too. They swim in and out of it all the time and its had no ill effects on the coral in the past 2 years. Although Kenya tree corals have been considered "xenia`s cousin".
 

jsgarrido

Member
i wish my clowns hosted my kenya tree :mad: they dont host anything but my brain coral and damaged it i dont trust clowns with LPS corals as they have very soft tissues and sharp skeleton and when they puch down in the tissues it gets cut by its own skeleton :down:
 

Akshay

Member
IME, once clowns settle down in your tank and start maturing and pairing up ,they will settle for a spot in the tank which they find safe and will live there for most of their lives. Any coral or nem you place near it, the clowns will host in it (as long as it isnt dangerous to the clowns). They are then less attached to the nem or host coral, as they are to that safe spot then.

Talking of clowns hosting in a xenia, mine are presently hosting in a blue xenia (Blue Cespitularia)...
P1120117_zpsb2b4f3a6.jpg
 

Mrsalt

Active Member
PREMIUM
My clowns live in the Xenia, and as I want rid of the stuff I thought I'd buy them a nem. Well they took no interest in that nem and still live in the Xenia.
 

Akshay

Member
If they are settled there...you can try moving the xenia elsewhere (jst keep it out of their range for a couple of days) and putting the nem in its place.
 
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