Dreaming of Marines - Bring in the Clowns
The Patel brothers having set up their 500 litre marine tank started slowly stocking it with live rock and a few blue damsels. Some months later, the Patel brothers finally decided to bring in a clown, which turned out to be Amphiprion sebae, the Sebae Clownfish. This was not fully grown, being under 7.5 cm TL, and was exhibiting some juvenile coloration with a dark brown patch on the yellow caudal fin. Looking to add colour to the tank, three types of anemones were purchased, consisting of a green mushroom anemone, some green polyp anemone and a dark green Heteractis crispa, the Leather anemone. Unfortunately, none of these anemones are naturally inhabited by the Sebae Clownfish, which has a very limited preference in the wild, tending to favour Stichodactyla haddoni, the Carpet Anemone. Aquarium conditions do however force strange relationships on its inhabitants and so it was that the Sebae Clownfish took up residence in the H. crispa. In the Patels’ aquarium this anemone was more or less a flat disc with fairly short tentacles. Occasionally, the Sebae Clownfish used the mushroom anemone as base but always returned to the H. crispa.
Some three months after first starting, the Patel brothers took the chance on a big addition of stock all in one go This consisted of a large amount of live rock and additional livestock from someone giving up the hobby. At that time all the aquarium systems from the filtration unit to the protein skimmer were working perfectly. Among these new additions were a pair of Amphiprion clarki, Clark’s Clownfish and a truly Magnificent anemone, Heteractis magnifica. The female Clark’s Clownfish was some 7.5 cm TL with the male being about just 5 cm TL. Luckily all the new additions settled in well and there were no losses. Water conditions were closely monitored and did not deteriorate, helped by weekly water changes to keep everything stable. The two Clark's Clownfish were already occupying the large Magnificent Sea Anemone in the previous aquarium. Hence, when they were moved with the anemone to their new aquarium, it was only natural for them to continue occupancy of the anemone. The Magnificent Sea Anemone, which had been placed midway up the tank, detached its self and moved to another rock near the bottom right hand corner of the tank, followed by the Clark’s clownfish.
Following the
new additions, the Sebae Clownfish made some feeble attempts to approach the
Magnificent Sea Anemone but was always driven off by the slightly larger female
Clark’s Clownfish. There was continuous
inter-play between the two species of clownfish, with the Clark’s Clownfish
often seeing off the Sebae Clownfish from the vicinity of the anemone. The
chases were usually very short with no actual contact being made, with the Sebae
usually taking refuge in its H. crispa anemone. On the other hand all the other fish including the
damselfish that swam past quite close to the anemone, were tolerated and not
chased, as none of them appear to be trying to enter the anemone. Even the goby, which took up residence under
the anemone, was tolerated. The Clark’s
Clownfish spent a lot of the time with their anemone, and seemed to be always
diving into its tentacles. The male
Clark’s Clownfish also spent quite a lot of time cleaning areas of rock around
the anemone or sometimes wagging his body vigorously to move some of the coral
sand, perhaps in preparation for spawning, but no eggs were ever noted.
Feeding time with a variety of frozen foods, such as chopped up mussels, cockles, shrimp, squid and on occasions brine shrimp was particularly interesting as most of the aquarium inhabitants made an appearance at this time. As soon as any food is placed in the tank, the female A. Clarki in particular tended to grab food to dump on the Magnificent Sea Anemone, making several forays to get food before feeding itself. Hence the Magnificent Sea Anemone was being well served by its resident clowns. However there did not seem to be much of a symbiotic relationship between the Sebae Clownfish and the H. crispa anemone as the Sebae Clownfish preferred to eat on the go, rather than take food back to share with the Malu anemone. Fortunately the H. crispa anemone was place half way up the tank on a rock and was evidently receiving enough light to do well.
The latest clown additions were a pair of aquarium-bred, young Amphiprion ocellaris, the False Clownfish. For the first few weeks, the A. ocellaris, were active in the upper portion of the tank, moving between the large leather finger coral formations at each end of the tank and a Toadstool coral in the middle of the tank. Here, they were not bothered by the resident clownfish or any of the other inhabitants.
Looking at Clownfish
There are 28 different species of clownfish in the wild, which spontaneously colonize only about 12 species of anemone of the 1000 or more anemone species that occur in the world. Clark's Clownfish, Amphiprion clarkii (Bennett, 1830), which has a widespread distribution and a large number of colour morphs with brown, black or orange coloured body select host anemones that include Stichodactyla mertensii, S. haddoni S. gigantean, Heteractis aurora, H. crispa, H. magnifica, and Entacmaea quadricolor. The Sebae Clownfish, Amphiprion sebae (Bleeker, 1853), with a smaller distribution and fewer colour variants is reported to mainly choose Stichodactyla haddoni as its anemone host. The False Clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris (Cuvier, 1830), also with a restricted distribution and three main colour variants is found in Heteractis magnifica, Stichodactyla gigantean and S. mertensii. Clownfish are usually found in shallow water, less than 150 feet deep, since their host anemones do depend on the photosynthetic products that are produced only in sunlight by the unicellular algae within their tentacles.
There are 28 different species of clownfish in the wild, which spontaneously colonize only about 12 species of anemone of the 1000 or more anemone species that occur in the world. Clark's Clownfish, Amphiprion clarkii (Bennett, 1830), which has a widespread distribution and a large number of colour morphs with brown, black or orange coloured body select host anemones that include Stichodactyla mertensii, S. haddoni S. gigantean, Heteractis aurora, H. crispa, H. magnifica, and Entacmaea quadricolor. The Sebae Clownfish, Amphiprion sebae (Bleeker, 1853), with a smaller distribution and fewer colour variants is reported to mainly choose Stichodactyla haddoni as its anemone host. The False Clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris (Cuvier, 1830), also with a restricted distribution and three main colour variants is found in Heteractis magnifica, Stichodactyla gigantean and S. mertensii. Clownfish are usually found in shallow water, less than 150 feet deep, since their host anemones do depend on the photosynthetic products that are produced only in sunlight by the unicellular algae within their tentacles.
In the wild, a pair of clownfish usually consisting of a large female and a smaller male take up residence in an anemone. The clownfish develop immunity to the stinging cells of its host anemone's tentacles by exchanging some of their own mucus coating for some of the mucus from the anemone’s tentacles. Clownfish are protandrous hermaphrodites, where the male can turn into a female, should the larger female die. A pair will lay their eggs near the base of their host anemone, which are then tended by the male. After the eggs hatch in 7 to 10 days, the male’s duties are complete as the larvae swim away towards the ocean surface. Here the larvae spend the next 7 to 10 days as floating plankton, eating and being eaten. The survivors undergo metamorphism changing into little clowns that eventually return to the reef to find a suitable host anemone. Many species of clownfish are endangered in the wild because of over collecting for the aquarium hobby or destruction of their habitat. Today, using marine rotifers (Brachionus sp.) raised on micro algae as a first food, which is supplemented a few days later by newly hatched brine shrimp to feed the clownfish fry, marine fish farms successfully breed some species of clownfish in 10 to 20 gallon tanks without the use of anemones.
Conclusions
Clownfish in the aquarium are hardy and relatively long-lived, provided that water conditions are good. Some species are known to succumb to high nitrates rather quickly. They are easy to maintain and accept any food that is offered. The clownfish in the Patels’ aquarium are always on the go, interacting with their host anemones and corals and sometimes skirmishing among themselves, but with little damage. Hence, having three different species of clownfish in this 500 litre tank has worked out well, so far. The clownfish are always a joy to watch and can be relied on for doing something interesting rather than just swimming around.
Clownfish in the aquarium are hardy and relatively long-lived, provided that water conditions are good. Some species are known to succumb to high nitrates rather quickly. They are easy to maintain and accept any food that is offered. The clownfish in the Patels’ aquarium are always on the go, interacting with their host anemones and corals and sometimes skirmishing among themselves, but with little damage. Hence, having three different species of clownfish in this 500 litre tank has worked out well, so far. The clownfish are always a joy to watch and can be relied on for doing something interesting rather than just swimming around.