Condylactis vs Ocellaris??

I went to pick up some freshly made salt water from my reef shop yesterday and I was telling him what I had in my BioCube.... I have a Ocellaris Clown and a Condylactis Anemone both of which I purchased from his shop. After hearing this he told me I need to remove the Condylactis because it's going to and will sting and kill my Ocellaris. Any comments?

How can I remove this anemone without ripping off its foot, and would another reef shop possibly give me credit for this if my normal reef shop refuses? Will this thing really kill my Clown or is he just being over cautious?

 

I think he may be erring on the side of caution- there's never any guarantee with animals. I did, however, have a white condy that hosted a clarkii clown for years and never harmed it; in another tank, a pink-tip condy hosted a domino damsel with no issues, although my ocellaris wouldn't go anywhere near it.

 

My Condy has purple tips and is very pretty as it's my first real piece of the ocean I've ever owned.... I have read several articles that say most captive bred Ocellaris may never host any anemone, let alone something their slime coat will never fully acclimate to, ie: condylactis gigantea

 

My gf wanted this condy at the LFS so, without doing much research I picked it up (as the guy said it would potentially host the perculas)... after getting home and doing some research and it expanding to literally 3x the size it was in the store... it went back the next morning. I didn't sleep all night for fear that I would wake up to see half digested clownfish on the sand bed. I checked it at least every hour and it just wasn't worth it to me. I've seen the clowns brush against the RBTA and it doesn't stick in the least so I'm more at ease with that decision. The condy stung the crap out of whatever touched it.

 

Yes, condys are beautiful nems.

I do believe that being tank-bred may have a bearing on the clown's immunity to nems, although they can still acquire an immunity to less aggressive species, such as a BTA. At the end of the day, it comes down to one question: Is your clownfish smart enough to stay away from the condy if he feels it may harm him? I'd say most likely. I've had roughly a dozen nems, most of them condys, over the past 30+ years and have never lost a fish to any of them.

 

I think they are pretty amazing creatures but of course my GF wants to remove it so since it's a mutual investment I've got to figure a way to get this thing free floating without hurting him, I've heard aiming the PH at him will work. Also Bill it seems if you've never lost a fish you're one of the lucky ones. It's funny but I've read many posts with people screaming that their Condy ate a $30+ fish expensive lunch!

 

My condy stuck itself to the rock super well as well. I had to hold the rock just above the water and in a matter of a couple minutes the condy was mad enough it let go, I then caught it as it fell.

 

OUCH! Yes, expensive, indeed! Guess I'm just good at choosing smart fish.

Changing the flow around it should get it to move, although it may take a while. Hopefully it will move onto the sand bed so you can just scoop him out with a net.

 

I know several people that breed Clownfish on a fairly large scale and those fish seem to take to a hosting nem just a quickly/easily as wild caught fish...I really think the whole captive bred vs. wild thing is a myth.

With regards to your Condy...the problem here is they are not a natural hosting species nem...Condy's come from the Caribbean and Clowns come from the Indo/Pacific...that's the reason why they are a bit more likely to eat your Clownfish.

 

I'll try the rock out of water trick since my tank is only 29g and I can manage the LR easily, I wouldn't know what I'd do if I owned anything larger than 55g; would imagine it's a real pain to treat trouble spots without using a snorkel