clownfish:: coral hosting / pairing of "standard"+"designer"

[Muffin87]

Will a "designer" and a "standard" clownfish form a bonded pair, provided they are both Ocellaris?

 

Is a bonded pair more likely to host in a coral/anemone/etc. than a singleton, since the pair would have to find somewhere to spawn?

 

What are the ideal "surrogate anemone" corals for a pair of clownfish? I'd like my clownfish to host in a beautiful, easy-to-keep beginner coral that they're not gonna bother in anyway.

 

With so many people keeping clownfish pairs in nano reefs, where anemones are big no-no, I don't understand why there isn't a list of good "surrogate anemone" corals for clownfish pairs. Is the hosting behaviour so unpredictable? Many suggest toadstool, frogspawn, duncan. But in some cases the clownfish pair had a negative effect on the coral.

[kdcarey]

yes, different types of Ocellaris will definitely pair given time, assuming that there has not been a change in sex.

Not sure if a bonded pair is more likely to host

I have seen clownfish host different euphyllia(torches, frogspawn etc), leathers/toadstools and many other corals.... Something to keep in mind is that the coral should be large enough that it is not going to be overwhelmed/damaged by two fish constantly rubbing up on it.

 

Hope that helps, hopefully someone with experience establishing mating pairs can chime in