Just noticed you are in Indiana. Wanted to welcome another midwesterner:Cheers:
Where about are you? Im about 30 minutes from the border just south of Chicago
Hairy mushrooms. I always recommend those for clowns. Extremely easy coral to keep and clowns love them.
But just because you have either a hairy mushroom or an anenome in your tank, dont assume the clown fish will host it. I have hairy mushrooms in my tank yet my clown still hosts the patch of hair algae. It seems that it is a 50/50 chance
Ekkkk....How is this different than an anemone in a smaller reef tank? (Other than the easy to keep part... hehe)
" It is somewhat aggressive, however, and can harm sessile invertebrates and overgrow other inhabitants of the reef." LiveAquaria.com
Mushrooms are an excelent beginner coral. Very hard to kill, dont require excelent water conditions, something that is hard to achieve when you are just starting out, or powerfull lighting.
Another good beginer coral are Zoanthids and Palys. Both come in all the colors of the rainbow.
I think that's misleading. They are no different than other mushrooms as far as stinging goes. It's true that they grow very quickly -- you have to keep them in check. When I get home, I'll post a pic of my colony and my clowns.