Anenomes and clown fish- The Relationship

If you have seen the movie “Finding Nemo,” you saw how the clownfish lived in an anemone. Clown fish and anemones have a well-known relationship. In the ocean, the clown fish are protected from predator fish by the stinging tentacles of the anemone.

It all begins by the fish slowly beginning to adapt to living in a stinging anemone by making quick contacts with its tentacles. Most sea creatures have protective mucus or slime coating. The clownfish begins mixing the slime of the anemone, which has stinging cells, with its own skin slime. Every day the fish stays longer and longer among the anemone’s tentacles until all of its slime is completely mixed with the anemones. This protects the anemone clownfish from getting stung. The fish then snuggles among the deadly stinging tentacles of the anemone.

All anemones have nematocysts or stinging cells in their skin. Most fish avoid anemones, but anemones provide clownfish with a safe home. In return, the clownfish helps clean the anemone by removing parasites and dead skin, helps by chasing away their predators and drops scraps of food for the anemone to eat. The anemone also gets fertilizer from the feces of the Clown Fish.

Together the anemone and clownfish live in shallow calm lagoons or costal reefs to depths of 50 feet. These fish live alone, in pairs, or even in a small group within one anemone and they always stick close to their anemone host. They rarely move far away.

In our tank one of our clown fish has started to rub onto our anemone once in a while, so we are really hoping that he is trying to host with the anemone. If this happens, our two clownfish could end up having babies. We’re keeping our hopes up!