Clownfish trying to nest in Hammer...

[saahilrtrivedi]

So I have two juvenile Occ. clowns in a 6 gal Fluval edge. Larger one is 1.5 inches. Smaller one is 1.25 inches.

A couple days ago I noticed one of the clownfish trying to nest in one of my two hammer corals. Both hammer corals are 3 inches fully extended but are usually 1.5 inches in diameter.

The hammer doesn't seem to like the clownfish sitting on top of it and has retracted to about 1 inch in diameter.
No visible damage to the hammer coral. The clownfish doesn't spend a lot of time on/in the coral simply because it tries to sit on top and just does not fit.

Today I noticed the other clownfish show interest in the hammer coral and now both clowns were trying to nestle into both hammers.

The larger clown was taking the tentacles of the slightly smaller hammer (the first one the clown showed interest in) into its mouth and then spitting them back out.
It is not biting on the tentacles. I noticed that clown is not closing its mouth all the way while swimming around.

Anything to be worried about?

I'm getting a Mr. Aqua 12 long or a Nuvo 16 soon. I want to hold off on getting a BTA until then. I don't want to get a BTA now and then have to remove it when I mix up my aquascape in the new tank.

I also have a Condy anemone in the tank. Been there almost as long as the clowns. They've never shown interest.

One of the clowns usually rests on the sand at the side of my GSP which is on the sand.

 

[bertyboy69]

Being that u have occ clowns , a bubble tip may not even work for you they prefer the carpet nems to host , you can try of course some will accept bta but some dont , mine personally dont like bubble tips

But as for tge behacior with the hammer, thats normal thats how they begin to host, if you notice the hammer is not doing well after a few days then move it to discourage the clowns but it should be fine my frogspawn is hosted by a true perc and it opens fully now

Oh and the condy will never get hosted its not a natural hosting nem so they never show intrest in it

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Reefs

 

[saahilrtrivedi]

Yeah I don't expect them to touch a condy.

The way they're acting it seems they REALLY want to nest in the hammer.
If the hammer starts looking worse I'll move it and then buy a BTA and see how they like it. Now that they are showing interest in having a host they may go into the BTA.

I had a BTA before for about five days but then it died...but everything else in the tank was fine.
The clowns showed no interest in it but that was before they showed any interest in the hammers either.

 

[jdino]

Problem is there is no guarantee they will host in the bubble tip. Also the bubble tip may not stay where you put it. I don't have one but I understand they like to find their "own" location sometimes stinging other corals. My clowns host in my hammer and they all seem to get alone fine.

 

[fishdeals]

I have seen this behavior before, except it was in a different coral ( don't remember which one off hand). The clown fish would act as if the coral was its anemone host, and only swim away from it when fed.