anemone attack

Question
QUESTION: This evening, my little scooter blenny was caught by my anemone. It was struggling to get away, with no luck. The anemone nearly had the little guy covered, when I reached into the tank and pulled the blenny away. Scooter sat on the bottom of the tank and didn't move for a while, but now seems to be moving some. Is there anything I can do to keep this from happening again? Will this attack cause permanent damage to my fish? I'll be watching them closely for the next couple of days. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER: there is a chance that he will recover just do you best to keep him healthy and eating. but be aware that in alot of cases such as this the fish will not live. as for this occurance happening again it will continue to happen until the blenny or anemone is removed from the tank. blennies and mandarins are commonly known to be a little stupid when it comes to knowing what an anemone is capable of.

hope that helps.

Marcus

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks alot Marcus! We have a lot of mushroom corals in the tank, so as you know, we're a bit limited in what to put in it. Are there any fish that are reef safe that are a bit more aware of what's happening with anemones? I don't want to keep making expensive mistakes like this one. Or, in your opinion, would we just be better off getting rid of the anemone? I can't think of the name of it now, but it did say that clown fish don't often use this type.  Thank you, Paul

Answer
there are definitely many fish that are very anemone safe, you just happened to get one of the few that is especially susceptible to death by anemone.

there are many free swimming fish such as clowns, angels, cardinalfish, dottybacks, the list goes on. and also many bottom dwelling fish such as many gobies, hawkfish, and so on.
not knowing the size of your tank i cannot recommend a certain species of fish but mandarins and other dragonet species such as scooters are some of the only fish that are definitely not compatible with an anemone. but be aware that any fish can make a mistake, you may wake up one morning with a yellow tang in your anemone dead, its just the way things go its the risk you take with a beautiful creature in your tank such as this, the risk is rather minimal might i add.

also not knowing what anemone you have i do not quite know how aggressive it will be, if you have an atlantic anemone, or an anemone of the condy variation they are very aggressive and move alot. they will eat whatever they get their hands on. but many beginner aquarists are very attracted to them with their low price tag usually no more than 10 bucks. i learned the hard way with one in my tank with it eating my very large hippo tang and half of my juvenile emporer. not a good day.

many other anemones are very docile such as long tentacle anemones, or bubble tip anemones, those two i just mentioned also happen to be some of the easiest to care for that also host clowns. condy anemones do not host clowns in nature but have been seen to host some pretty desperate clowns.
some other anemones that are moderately hard to care for in perspective to anemones in general are malu anemones, and sebae anemones, many say these two are the same thing but there are several differences in the wild. many fish stores will label them the same.

the two hardest anemones to care for, which may also be some of the hardest creatures to care for in this hobby are carpet anemones and ritteri anemones, both these anemones will grow massive in captivity, about 3 feet in diameter and they both will host about any clown in the tank, clowns arent picky when it comes to these anemones. carpet anemones are rather aggressive and have quite a more potent sting than other anemones in the trade. so they, like a condy will eat many things that cross its path. the ritteri is somewhat docile however.

hope this helps you out, if you want to follow up with tank specs and your type of anemone feel free to do so. I am here to help!

Marcus.