Maroon Clown Nipping at Ubrella leather

[johnnjen]

hey guys,

I have a maroon clown that started nipping at the leather. is this normal? Has anyone else had this experience?

Thanks

JNJ

 

[FragMaster]

Never.
Are you sure he is nipping at it ( as in trying to eat it) OR is he trying to host in it?
Some times if the subject they are trying to host in isnt cooporative or it gets moved/unattaches they will get REALY miffed off and "tail whip it" or "nip", or roll it around the tank then move on.
But they wont harm it.
Think of it like a 3 year old throwing a tantrum.

 

[trido]

Heres a quote from someone regarding my frog spawn.

My understanding (from my Marine Biology days, it has been a few years) is that typically when clowns do this behavior, they are exposing their immune system to thier new host Nematocysts, which will cause their body to produce a slime coat that synthesizes a protein that matches the corals own, which keeps the coral's nematocysts from recognizing the clownfish, as a foreign body. In other words he should stop, but if he doesn't you might be fishing for a clownfish

 

[johnnjen]

ok I will keep an eye on it. But it really seems to be like he is trying to eat the "polyps" (what ever they are called ) from the leather. This is really upsetting the leather. It is withdrawn most of the time now.

Thanks


JNJ

 

[FragMaster]

Thats why he's miffed I would guess and thats Why he's nipping at it.
The polyps wont stay out and he wants to host in it. So I think he is nipping at it in anger, or to let it know "hey I'm here, I want to form a symbionic relationship" But, Leathers do not posess Nematocysts. So it wont recognize the clown as anything but a forieng body because thats all the clown fish's slime coat can replicate are Nematocysts.
Trido88 is 100 percent correct in that they do that when they host a new anemone. I just dont think this applies in this case.
This is all my own opinion though.
I could be wrong and it wouldnt be the 1st time.
"Anemonebuff" would be the person to ask about this one for sure.

 

[trido]

My clown now has a anenome host and still occasionally nips at the frog spawn. He litterally bites polyps off of it. I think he still has issues about the hosting thing with it. You may have to interveen if he doesnt find some other suitable host soon.