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Why is my Clownfish beating up my Duncan coral?


Lognor

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Today I noticed a new behavior from one of my clowns.  At first it was swimming around my Duncan coral.  I was thinking that it was trying to cozy up to the Duncan wanting to use it as a host, but then it started hitting or biting the center of one of the heads.  It repeated this behavior several times over about 15 minutes.  Now my Duncan is completely closed up.  The two picaso clowns have both been using a fake decorative anemone as a host since I brought them home a couple of months ago. 

 

Looking for some insight from the community.  Is this normal?  Is it trying to host or is it going to eventually kill the coral?  Thoughts?

 

 

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They are most likely going to try and host that coral as well. My Clownfish has several things that she host and she just moves to each of them randomly throughout the day. So far she has two different Duncan Colonys, a Pagoda Cup Coral and I think she is thinking about adding a Candy Cane/Trumpet Coral colony to the list.

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burtbollinger

Hosting.  Mine host a Duncan (or vice versa).  Check video in my tank thread via my sig.

 

IMO a duncan hosting a clown is ideal.  Very cool looking and the Duncan will learn to ignore it and won’t damage

 

ive been fearful of clowns damaging torches but Duncan will be just fine.

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5 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

Hosting.  Mine host a Duncan.  Check video in my tank thread via my sig.

 

IMO a clown hosting a Duncan is ideal.  Very cool looking and the Duncan will learn to ignore it and won’t damage

 

ive been fearful of clowns damaging torches but Duncan will be just fine.

Ok, good to hear that.  Its a new behavior and my Duncan is not happy about the attention.  The Clown is literally hitting the head dead center in the mouth, so I wasn't sure.  I appreciate the feedback.

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burtbollinger
10 minutes ago, Lognor said:

Ok, good to hear that.  Its a new behavior and my Duncan is not happy about the attention.  The Clown is literally hitting the head dead center in the mouth, so I wasn't sure.  I appreciate the feedback.

Can’t hurt a Duncan easily.  They don’t tear as easy as frogspawn, torches or hammers IME.  Duncan will figure it out I think....give it time

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fishkeepersaltnfresh

My Duncan hosts my clown. Clown will not sleep anywhere else. Clown bites me aggressively if my hand goes near the Duncan (even for feeding).

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5 hours ago, fishkeepersaltnfresh said:

My Duncan hosts my clown. Clown will not sleep anywhere else. Clown bites me aggressively if my hand goes near the Duncan (even for feeding).

Lol. A previous clown would do that to me.  Now I just have to deal with the shrimp trying to clean me every time I’m in the tank. 

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  • 8 months later...
tonydahomie

I have a clownfish hosting in a duncan and i just noticed what locks like the tentacles of a couple heads have receded down all the way. 

 

 

There’s no other corals nearby the duncan colony so im assuming this is from the clownfish 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Acetabularia-less

My clown killed two Duncans this way (single heads added at different times). I've given up on keeping them. I hope yours will be able to survive.

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  • 2 years later...

I have a phantom who is terrorizing my Duncan frag.  Funny thing is, I have 2 fairly large bubble tip anemones and 2 Euphyllias in the tank, none of which he cares for.

A

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