# Coral Question - UPDATE! Hosting clown aggression!?



## microfiche. (Jan 19, 2011)

Hey guys, I started a 14 gal biocube to host a pair of clowns. Not new to the hobby but i am newish to SW. Its been about 4 months now and my tank imo has cycled nicely, (daily tests). I bought my clowns and now i want to add a couple coral that ive been reading have some success with hosting. I have tank raised false percs btw. Im thinking of adding a small toadstool, a small colt and a frag of frogspawn. I have it all laid out so they have space between each other. I know its never 100% guaranteed theyll host any, but maybe with some selection they will. Is this too much for the cube? Is my lighting insufficient for any of them, and how are the growth rates? I know colts and frogs can get pretty big, thanks for ur input guys


----------



## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

Kudos to you for not trying to shove an anemone in there  

Your lighting should be fine for those, and colts and frogspawn can be fragged when they get too big. I have personally seen a toadstool with a 3 foot "cap" so that might need to be traded out eventually when it gets too big, but that's easy enough to do if you grow it on an easy-to-remove piece of LR. 
One thing I would suggest is trying to find slightly bigger pieces if you want your clowns to host in them. Very small pieces can suffer from the "abuse" of the clowns constant attentions  Maybe try for 2x the size of the clown? 

Cheers


----------



## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

few choice but with a nano tank like urs, I would suggest hiary mushroom, they are hardy even in small tank like yours and they could look very good. However, nothing is a 100% in hosting here, clown fish can host pretty much anything that looks "hairy" such as toad, flower pot, all types of mushroom or even waving hand xenia. Sometime they don't even host anemone


----------



## fkshiu (Apr 22, 2010)

Zoas are the most popular corals for nano-tanks: huge variety, generally easy to keep, non-invasive and non-stinging.

Softies and leathers can get quite big and out of control. Further, there's a lot of alleopathy happening with them will can stunt the growth of other corals in a small tank.

Less aggressive LPS like duncans and acans can be a good choice, but most LPS extend their stinging tentacles far too much for comfort in a nano tank. 

SPS generally require more light and stability than a nano-tank can provide.

The clown will can host anything but will probably gravitate towards your frogspawn.


----------



## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

microfiche. said:


> Hey guys, I started a 14 gal biocube to host a pair of clowns. Not new to the hobby but i am newish to SW. Its been about 4 months now and my tank imo has cycled nicely, (daily tests). I bought my clowns and now i want to add a couple coral that ive been reading have some success with hosting. I have tank raised false percs btw. Im thinking of adding a small toadstool, a small colt and a frag of frogspawn. I have it all laid out so they have space between each other. I know its never 100% guaranteed theyll host any, but maybe with some selection they will. Is this too much for the cube? Is my lighting insufficient for any of them, and how are the growth rates? I know colts and frogs can get pretty big, thanks for ur input guys


As Keri has mentioned, leathers may not be such a great idea in there due to the aquarium size. LPS (large polyped stonies) are ideal such as Bubbles, Frogspawn, hammers etc. Mushrooms would do fine as well as also mentioned, Hairy mushrooms are generally found in shallower conditions in the wild versus more smooth Discosoma sp. so that may be a better option.


----------



## microfiche. (Jan 19, 2011)

Cool, thx guys.. I read about hairy mushrooms and I think I'll start off with those .. Time to hunt!


----------



## beaux (Jan 18, 2011)

I posted a question or two about my clown he had chosen a candycane and a big purple mushroom both of which are not hairy. I have a 55 g tank and a huge anemone he has not spent a single second in lol. Some pictures of him in both of those posted in that post if ya wanna see and i might can get ya one o these purple shrooms for the price o shipping if ya want. They reproduce pretty good and i have some singles in there i think.


----------



## microfiche. (Jan 19, 2011)

Cool, how long did it take for it to choose?... Pm'd


----------



## whatigot (Apr 30, 2010)

I just sold off a BC14 with 2 clowns that were hostin in a pretty large toadstool...

I had colts in there as well.

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/mari...ds-28/fs-biocube-14-mated-clowns-coral-11935/

IMO, the BC14 is an ideal tank for a pair of clowns to have to themselves and IME, your best bet for coral IS a toadstool, one that is fairly large though, big enough so that both fish can host in it at once.

LPS, especially smaller ones do not fare well with the action they get from the clowns antics.


----------



## microfiche. (Jan 19, 2011)

Update! so the larger of my clowns actually is swimming in and out of a large hairy mushroom I picked up!=).. now poses another problem. He's turned aggressive towards the smaller one who he used to swim right beside=( chasing him away until he is out of sight. I feed them twice a day and they are both eating well, water parameters are fine but i just feel sorry for the little guy who's now hiding behind the heater all day. Is this behavior normal? Already setting up another 10 gal, any suggestions? Thanks


----------



## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

move the beat up clown to his own tank....

the reason why their fighting is because the mushroom is not big enough for both to host, Ive had that happen before where 2 clowns were fighting for one Pink bubble tip and they ended bashing the anemone to death!


----------



## microfiche. (Jan 19, 2011)

It's definitely gotten better over the last few days, it's just weird because the two will swim beside each other for periods of time, but once they face each other, then the chasing begins. It doesn't last for long either, only a moment then it stops it's not a constant battle but I can tell the other one is stressin.. the mushroom is a decent enough to fit them both.. I have a cycled 10 gallon that i'll be transferring him into though ultimately keeping him there. PM'd ya tang_daddy about lighting


----------

