Can farm-raised clownfish associate with anemones?
One popular misconception is that tank-raised clownfish will not symbiotically associate with anemones. This is absolutely not true as demonstrated by the many hobbyists who report tank-raised clowns associating with anemones in home tanks. The behavior appears to be instinctive, and cannot be “bred-out”, nor do the young need to “learn” this behavior from their parents. We have found that Entacmea quadricolor, the bubble-tip anemone, is one of the easiest Pacific anemones to keep in an aquarium, and many species of clownfish will associate with it. There are also numerous reports form aquarists that tank-raised clownfish have associated with unusual hosts such as Condylactis anemones from the Caribbean, the tentacles of long-polyp stony corals, and even Mushroom anemones.
