WemonAde.com When Life Gives You…

This little interesting fish, the breed that good ‘ol Nemo was, is full of color and character.  Largely orange, this fish has 2-3 white stripes cascading down it’s sides, black lining each of the stripes.  Very pretty, but clown?  Well, I guess they got  the name from their bright colors and their great personalities. Energetic with the orange and white stripes (well that would apply to the main fish because there are in fact 28 different species listed), these fish love to hang out with anemones .  This is very cool, because these adaptive fish are somewhat immune to the poison that these anemones spew out.  These fish actually have used this defense mechanism of the anemone to their own advantage.  It pretty much swims around lovingly in the anemones’ tentacles, increasing it’s immunity to it.  It becomes their home, and when they mate, it becomes the home of their little baby fishies.  This symbiotic relationship has saved many a clownfish from dying, because nobody wants to get poisoned by an anemone! It has not been determined fully how these fish can survive the poison of their “house” mate.

Interestingly enough, the symbiosis doesn’t end there…undigested matter is the clownfish food, where it could potentially hurt the anemone, and believe it or not, the fish poo is actual FOOD/nutrient for the anemone. 

The other weird thing about the clownfish:  they are hermaphrodites.  All fish are born male, one determined lucky fish becomes a female.  If/when she dies, if there are other fish around living together, one of the other males becomes female.  Man, would that solve any problems with humans? 

Anyway, these are fish that reside in exotic and warm waters, hanging out in coral like areas, or anywhere there is a nice anemone. They have actually survived well in captivity and do pretty darn well in a salt water fish tank.  But you need to get at least two, because these are social creatures, believe it or not.  And really, they can’t make great friends with the anemone that you will HAVE to buy, because it gives the fish purpose other than eating.

So, one more thing.  The anemone may not host the fish.  Then you can get another one!  Ok, maybe not that easy.  I know that there are stores that sell Clownfish at a reduced rate if the fish aren’t perfectly striped.  I’ve watched a particular clownfish residing in a tank (doesn’t yet have a partner or an anemone), but this thing follows my hand around like I’ve got a string tied to it.  If I were to own a saltwater tank (over 10 gallons, must be), I’d have me a clownfish. 

Otherwise, I’ll just take a goldfish and put white out on it.