clowns afraid of a bta ?

[clowntrigger]

i just bought two perky clowns and i thought they enjoy a nice little bubble tip. but they will not go near it. it almost seem they are afraid of it. any clue why ? or should i have got them a lta

[Jack]

It takes awhile for them to choose a host. But I'm no expert with anemones. Maybe someone else can chime in?

[ed99]

No direct experience on this myself, but there is lots on this subject on some of the forums on reefcentral.com. Percs tend to be slow and sometimes never take to an anemone in the tank (BTAs and LTAs are not hosts to percs in the wild). It definitely can happen- one of the most often quoted tricks is to hold a picture of a perc near the anemone and the real ones will go investigate- apparently it has worked for some!

[Delphinus]

It took my percs 6 weeks to discover a BTA the first time I tried that pairing. I once bought another perc who literally dived into the first anemone it saw after being released from the bag he was being acclimated in. So in my own experience it can take anywhere from 10 seconds to 6 weeks. My advice is thus patience ... if it happens then great ... and if not ... then ... um ... well whatever.

[robbyville]

Ditto on what Tony said. Although once my percs found a host which we then had to return due to a pending move, they jumped right into the replacement. I guess that once they get used to the idea they acclimate quickly to new hosts!

It took about 3 weeks for my guys to really dive in.

Good luck,

Rob