Devils finger and clown fish.

[Anonymous]

I have a devils finger in my tank and two common clown fish. When i put the clown fish in the tank about a week later one of them stopprd eating. I took it back to my LFS and they put it in there hospital tank. It lasted for about 2 days and it died. They gave me a replacement which has been fine. They usually just swim up and down next to the glass, they did not go around the rocks. Yesterday afternoon, the newest of the two began to swim around the devils finger and rest in the centre, today they are both doing this, the newest of the two is there the most. Are they doing this because i do not yet have an anenome in the tank? Also when i do get one will they stay in the devils finger or go to the anenome?

 

[Len]

If all else is "normal," they are probably just displaying their natural habit of finding a host. If you get an anemone, chances are they will move to the anemone. However, there is a small chance they'll stick with the coral that they've grown accustomed to.

 

[Anonymous]

I am going to get an anenome in the next couple of months, just letting my tank mature more. The clown fish are wild caught, does this mean that there is a better chance that they go to the anenome when i add it to the tank?

 

[Len]

I don't think there's a difference between wild and c.b. clowns when it comes to their genetic inclination to host with an anemone. Hopefully your clowns will find anemones a better host then corals. Most of them time, they do. But sometimes clowns cling to what they're comfortable with or take a while to discover a new host.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help, they seem to have stopped do it. When i first got them they just swam at the front of the glass. They then started to got o the devil's finger, now they are back at the front of the tank again. The other inhabitants swim in the rock work, the clown's were the first to be introduced. How come they stay next to the glass and just swim up and down the glass? Thanks for the help.