Coral for clowns?

I'm not at the point of buying one yet, but I will eventually. Preface of question: I know that nems are hard to take care of, especially for beginners, but I heard that there are a few corals that clowns will host. So, my question is: What are some corals that clowns will sometimes host?

 

Clowns aren't host they are hosted by.

To answer

Xenyia sp.

Sacrophyton sp.

Euphyllia sp.

Some Rhodactis sp. (hairy mushroom~ may eat your fish)

to name a few that have been host to various clowns in my tanks.

It's really up to the fish though.

 

Depends on the type of clowns you are keeping I had a Tomato clown that would try and host anything. It settled on a huge Green hairy mushroom. Now, I have 2 Black Ocellaris Clownfish that don't show interest in anything. I don't have a nem right now but there was one in the tank with the fish when I bought them and they didn't show it any attention. I guess if you really want to try it get a lps like frogspawn or torch that will flow with the water to get its attention.

 

The host isn't the clown but the coral.
The host coral can be anything from zoas to a plate coral. Sometimes power heads or even a spot in the sand will play host to a clown lol. These are all the coral I have seen either in person or in videos playing host.
Long tenticle plate coral
Short tenticle plate coral
Frogspawn
Torch coral
Hammer coral
Zoanthids
Xenia
Star polyps
Hairy mushrooms
Anthelia

To have the best chance of getting a coral to host your clown choose something with wavy long polyps that resembles an anemone. Torch coral, frogspawn or long tenticle plates are good to choose for the best success rate to get the clown interested. I had no experience in getting a clown hosted and I chose a frogspawn to try and my clown began being hosted within a week! Personally I would try a torch coral. I see a great success rate with them

 

i dont think having clowns host corals is a good idea. they dont hos tthem in nature and there is a reason for that. clowns are only used to the sting of certain anemones in nature. other anemones and corals have more potent stings. when a clown hosts a condy or other sort of atlantic anemone often times the sting becomes too much for them eventually and they have long term damage and in some rare cases death. this is also the case for many corals that clowns will host such as frogspawn and hammer corals. the sweeper tentacles of these corals have an even more potent sting than atlantic anemones so think of the damage that this could do to your clown. i had a percula hosting a galaxia a few years back and he had the worst looking scars on his sides from the tentacles only after a couple days of hosting.

anemones are the most natural and healthy choice for your clowns host. they are not as hard as many people make them seem.

 

My frogspawn has been hosting my clown for about 6 months now. She did get a few marks on her at first but then after a while they healed and all is well. She is now hosted by 3 spawns and is slowly becoming more intrested in the hammer. IMO there is more of a risk of the LPS coral being damaged or killed from the clown being way too rough. Some coral do have a lot stronger stings than others, but torches, frogspawns and plates are no risk to a clown fish in my opinion. Sure there will be marks on the fish at first but they heal.

 

Honestly you can give a wn all of the above corals but doesn't mean the coral will host the clown.

Sometimes clownfish kill the coral while rubbing up on them. I've heard from a few people that their long tentacle plates have gotten pretty messed up because of the rubbing from the clownfish. IMO if you want something for your clown you should go with an anemone and find the right one for your clownfsh.

 

Chelsea please read these again you are killing me bro.
I think having Clowns in a reef tank is a big mistake. They can and will usually kill the coral host eventually.

 

Agreed! The best choice is obviously the natural one, being the anemone. But if you get lucky and the clown is very gentle then you can keep a host coral and clown fish together successfully. So far, I have lucked right out. The bigger the host coral you get the better chance you have of the clown not killing the host coral. That's why I places 3 spawns all side by side so it gives the clown a bigger area to be hosted and takes the stress off of just a single host coral.
But yes, if you can... The best option is an anemone, or no clown at all.