concerned

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saltwatermom

New Member
hello there, i am very concerned but glad I found this website...we just bought a carpet anemone today because we have a clown fish and the clown fish at the store were popping in and out of it, well we placed it in our tank and about an hour later we checked on it and noticed a fish that looked like a clown fish covered in slime and half eaten, did it come from that anemone?
 
GrendelPrime

GrendelPrime

Well-Known Member
carpet anemones will eat fish and anything else they can catch,and yes the partialy digested fish is from the carpets gut that he spit out from the stress of being in ur tank, what size tank do u have cause they get damn big and what type of lights do u have on the tank?
 
S

saltwatermom

New Member
oh man! well my tank is 90 gallons, the lighting is set up for saltwater by our friend whos had his 300 gallon tank for years, he knows quite a bit about that stuff. we just got the anemone today and they didnt tell us that would happen. so what do u suggest?
 
Octoman

Octoman

Well-Known Member
Was it your clownfish that came out of the anemone? Or one from the store?

I've found that clownfish in weakened states - fresh from shipping around the world, sick, etc... seem to be much more susceptible to being eaten by anemones. Typically, a healthy clownfish will test the water with a new anemone first, you'll see them nipping at it for a while before they dive in, and it seems to take a little bit of time before they adapt to that anemone's stinging cells. However, carpets are incredibly sticky, so there is always the risk for a clown to go a little too far too soon.
 
Eric

Eric

Google Warrior
PREMIUM
It is not uncommon for a carpet anemone to eat a clown fish and if it is stresses it would spit it back out half eaten, what species was the clown.

Anyways welcome to Rs we would love to see pics and hear the details of your setup.
 
GrendelPrime

GrendelPrime

Well-Known Member
if it was my carpet ide take him back, anything else u put in the tank will be free game for the carpet and marine fish arent cheap and that goes for any invert as well as fish
 
S

saltwatermom

New Member
thank u all for being so informative, i appreciate it...It wasnt my clownfish ,but i'm going to take it back and ask them why they didnt tell me that could happen...
 
GrendelPrime

GrendelPrime

Well-Known Member
cause its a business and sometimes they need to sell sell sell and its easy to sell something to people who arent informed about what there buying so they see it as an exspencive easy sale but now that your here people will be able to stear u in the right direction :)
 
Eric

Eric

Google Warrior
PREMIUM
The other thing is the seller may not have known, it's a petshop and they often hire however to catch fish.
 
bbe22

bbe22

Member
Clownfish will typically only take to bubble and long anemones. They also won't always take to anemones. It's hit or miss. Clowns secrete an enzyme that makes them immune to the poisons that kill other fish, however, while acclimating they still get stung. Sometimes, unfortunately, the clown doesn't win. I've found percula clowns will take to bubble anemones very well, and I'm afraid to keep long anemones as they will sting other reef inhabitants. Depending on the breed or species of your clowns, anemones may not be a wonderful idea. Anemones also require a large amount of lighting and will typically grow very large over time. Here's a picture of mine :)
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Octoman

Octoman

Well-Known Member
I'm glad to hear it wasn't your clownfish. If you can take it back, that seems like a good choice. If you must have an anemone, I'll second bbe's recommendation of a Bubble Tip and they are much easier to keep alive than a carpet.

To be honest, I've seen clowns in aquariums take to euphyllia corals (torch, hammer, frogspawn) more than anything else, even when there's an anemone present.
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
saltwatermom said:
hello there, i am very concerned but glad I found this website...we just bought a carpet anemone today because we have a clown fish and the clown fish at the store were popping in and out of it, well we placed it in our tank and about an hour later we checked on it and noticed a fish that looked like a clown fish covered in slime and half eaten, did it come from that anemone?
Click to expand...

The store had a large anemone with a lot of clownfish hosting in it. Most likely when they removed the anemone to bag it for you, one of the clowns wasn't chased out. So you ended up with finding a dead one.

As pointed out by others, sometimes the anemone gets a clown.
 
BarbMazz

BarbMazz

Well-Known Member
Do you know what species of carpet anemone you have? Atlantic/caribbean species are notorious fish eaters and don't host many fish.

If it's a s. haddoni the clowns that naturally host are Saddleback Clowns. They will go in and out of a haddoni's mouth and be a-okay.

I had an s. haddoni paired with saddlebacks and observed that first hand. That same anemone ate two percula clowns as an expensive and tasty snack shortly after I put the haddoni in the tank.
 
Octoman

Octoman

Well-Known Member
Hi Barb! I'm doing well! I found my way back over to the computer and decided to post a comment or two.

And how are you?
 
Octoman

Octoman

Well-Known Member
Only two tanks? Wow! There is something to be said for simplification...

They're doing well. Not much has changed, Shrek passed on to the other side, now I have a midas blenny. We let the snapping turtle go a few weeks ago. That's about it.
 
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