clownfish hosting bubble coral

[reefnoob]

I was wondering if a clownfish could host a bubble coral? I have a concern regarding the fact that bubble corals can sting. I've searched the internet and some people say their clowns get black spots from the sting, or the clowns are too rough with the coral and will eventually kill it. Is this true?

 

[Bifferwine]

The concern would be for the bubble coral, not the other way around. :) Clowns are usually very aggressive with what they are hosting and can easily kill LPS corals such as bubble corals, frogspawns, hammers, etc. if they decide to host them -- especially if the coral is small relative to the fish's size. They basically beat the polyps to death, forcing them to stay retracted all the time, so the coral dies.

The coral can sting the clowns, but the worst that will result in is some discoloration of the fish.

Some good alternatives to anemones that clowns seem to take a liking to that can hold up to the clowns are xenia, toadstool leathers, and my clowns' favorite, hairy mushrooms.

 

[Cheeser]

is there a way to make the clown stop hosting the bubble?

 

[FishyReef]

Ha! Clowns and bubble corals are the bane of my existance! My domino clowns wrecked havoc on my pearl bubble coral. They never offically hosted it but were seriously checking it out and thinking about hosting it - they'd get up really close to it, peer at it, and occasionally nip the polyps. I tried introducing several other corals for them to host but they were only interested in the bubble. I finally found a huge hairy mushroom (like 6-7" in diameter) and placed that near the bubble coral. The female began to host the mushroom and I thought I had the problem solved, but she eventually went back to pestering the bubble. I even moved the bubble to another part of the tank but she found it after a day or so - and the coral wasn't thrilled with its new spot so I moved it back. I finally had to frag off a dying part of the bubble two weekends ago, and since then the coral is doing better. For now I've resorted to leaving my long plastic tongs propped inside the tank in front of the bubble - this seems to deter her from bugging it and she continues to nestle in the mushroom multiple times a day. She won't let the male into the mushroom so I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do about him, but the bubble is happier for now. Bottom line - try to prevent your clowns from hosting your bubble (or don't intentionally get a bubble for them to host) - otherwise you'll have a very unhappy coral!

 

[reefnoob]

Is there a difference between Sarcophyton Toadstool Leather Coral or Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral?

 

[Bifferwine]

Nope.