Tip of the Day – 7/6/2010

Today’s AquaNerd Tip of the Day involves a little reef aquarium lingo. Most people say that when a clownfish is swimming in the tentacles of an anemone, that the clown is hosting the anemone. This is actually an incorrect statement. Instead, the anemone is the host and the clownfish is the resident. Another thing people don’t realized is that this relationship can be decided on by both parties. By that I mean, it’s not just the clownfish’s decision on which anemone it would like to take up residence in. The anemone has to accept it as a guest. Sometimes anemone can be overwhelmed by a clownfish and it may become too stressed to host the fish. It will shrivel up and eventually die.