Clowns and corals

[FishWife]

I have a maroon clown that I've had for about six months now. She's all of a sudden taking to systematically nipping off the tips of a relatively new frogspawn. Anyone ever seen clowns nipping corals? I thought they were "reef safe"...?

[jamesbuf]

Never had any clowns nip my frogspawn or hammers. I've had them live inside them though.

[magnetic1]

I have an Oscellaris that will sometimes suck on my hammer, but it doesnt happen frequent enough that the hammer is really bothered by it.

[traveller7]

I have a maroon clown that I've had for about six months now. She's all of a sudden taking to systematically nipping off the tips of a relatively new frogspawn. Anyone ever seen clowns nipping corals? I thought they were "reef safe"...?

Maroons frequent eat the tentacles of hosting anemones, especially BTAs.

 

Not certain as to the reason.

[davelin315]

I have a fire clown that has decided to do the same thing to an anemone it's living in. Not sure why it started, but it was very recent. Kind of a funny looking anemone, short tentacles near the mouth, but around the edges they're longer. Will certainly entertain the kids once I get this moved.

[FishWife]

So.... she's really damaged this frogspawn today... what would you guys suggest? Take her out... permanently? Or... she'll quit after a time?

 

She had a BTA that's not been doing too well... it's not near the coral in question... Hmmm.

[traveller7]

So.... she's really damaged this frogspawn today... what would you guys suggest? Take her out... permanently? Or... she'll quit after a time?

 

She had a BTA that's not been doing too well... it's not near the coral in question... Hmmm.

Sounds like she has developed a taste for LPS and quite likely the BTA.

 

It will pass on ocassion, maybe dietary changes. Only sure thing I have found is to keep them in colonies of 3+ anemones which seems to spread the damage to a tolerable level.

 

Good thing about maroons though, they can play in a FOWLR tank just fine. Might be time for a new home.

[bk_market]

my old clownfish used to suck on the tip of the frogspawn that it host once in a while. When he does that not only that frogspawn head suffer, the clown's mouth also get sting and look like it is ripped. It happen couple time and for the next couple days the clown will look tired and wont eat.

[wreck]

maybe she's hungry

[FishWife]

I thought of that. Put in flakes (her favorite) and she barely looked at it. (Too full of coral? Nope. She spat out each bite!)

 

I think we're going to try to catch her (a trick in itself) and then put her into our frag tank for a time out (mom talk... ) while we figure our options. If I can't catch her, I might take out that one frogspawn for a bit and see if she'll leave the others alone.

 

I kind of wish I'd bought a pair of clownfish anyways, so maybe she'll be a good one to sell/trade to someone with a FOWLR tank. (In any case, we plan for one in the future, so if she lives in the frag tank for another 9 months, it won't be that much of an issue.)