why do you think clownfish take food to anemones?

[fungia]

my friend and i was debating last night about why clownfish take food back to their anemones. why do you think they do it, is there any research that shows why?

 

[Anonymous]

What I want to know is why my clownfish rip food from their anemone and drag it to another part of the tank. Lil bastids make it so hard to keep that thing fed.


I think when they feed the anemone, they are really just dragging food to "home base". But that is just an opinion, I really have never looked into it.

 

[Anonymous]

My clown use to take food back to the BTA it lived in. I think it is part of the lease agreement.

 

[Anonymous]

No research that I know of but I don't believe it has ever been observed in nature. I think Laura pretty much hit the nail on the head. Clowns don't really encounter large chunks of food in nature very often. When they do in an aquarium, they take it "home". I've observed clowns taking large chunks of food "home" to koosh balls, Goniopora, soft corals, PVC pipe, a conch shell, and all sorts of things that they "host" in but certainly won't consume the food. I think it's an artifact of captivity.

And as I pointed out in another thread on this very subject (search 'murder AND reeftank'), partners in mutualistic relationships don't go out of their way to benefit the other partner. In other words, they don't risk their own neck for zero benefit to themselves and a positive benefit to the other partner. And that is exactly what swimming out to grab a piece of food would be--chance of predation, metabolic energy spent, just to feed the partner. Not likely. All actions serve themselves first and as a byproduct are beneficial to the partner.

 

[zonkers]

Perhaps a healthy, well fed anemone provides better protection to the clownfish?

 

[Anonymous]

eons of symbiotic evolution. It is pro-survival to both species, ...the anemone benefits, therefore lives, and the fish benefits from the shelter/protection. Eloquent.

Oops, did I just start another "evolution" thread?

 

[Anonymous]

Perhaps a healthy, well fed anemone provides better protection to the clownfish?

eons of symbiotic evolution. It is pro-survival to both species, ...the anemone benefits, therefore lives, and the fish benefits from the shelter/protection. Eloquent.

Oops, did I just start another "evolution" thread?

It might seem like a clownfish, or a cleaner wrasse, or a shrimp goby, "cares" about the other partner of its mutualistic relationship but it really doesn't. It cares about as much for the well being of its partner as a parasite does for its host. Maybe even less.

Each partner does what it does naturally, and the other partner benefits from the byproducts. A grouper couldn't care less if a cleaner wrasse starves to death. A shrimp goby couldn't care less if its shrimp never finds a mate. And a clownfish really couldn't care less if its actions make an anemone more or less hungry or healthy. I have seen a maroon clown rip tentacles off an anemone enough times to know better

True altruism, where one animal will risk its own survival to increase the odds of survival of another genetically unrelated animal, hasn't ever been observed in the wild to my knowledge.

 

[reefland]

I once won some money in a bet that I could toss a chunk of shrimp while standing 10 feet from the tank and that the shrimp would land in the anemone even with the pumps on. Naturally everyone in the room jumped on that bet as it was just about impossible for something to likely float for a second or two and be tossed around the tank with high current to be able to land in the anemone.

I aimed carefully gave it a gentle toss.... as it swirled around out rushed the female clown, grabbed the shrimp and brought it back to the anemone. Easy cash.

However after nearly eight years as Laura D states the clowns turned against the anemone and activily prevented me from feeding the anemone. No matter what I did they would beat the anemone to get the food out, drag it someplace else. The anemone reduced in size and eventually died. The clowns then took up hosting in a large elegance coral I have.

 

[Anonymous]

Well this question is best suited for someone in the science field not a hobbiest...My arguement would be evolution too..not intelligence or concern on the part of the clownfish, just evolution, instinct...The anemone is the home, maybe it feels supplying food to the anemone through instinct..

 

[Anonymous]

Here's a quote from "Anemonefishes and their Host Sea Anemones" by Fautin and Allen:

Indeed, aquarists have added much to knowledge of this symbiosis. Many have seen fish bring food to their anemones. This behaviour seems confined to aquaria. The normal diet of clownfishes is small plants and animals that live in the water above the anemone, or algae that grow around it (chapter 4). In nature, they do not encounter large particles of food, so they eat their food where it is found. Feeding large morsels to a fish in an aquarium produces an artifact: the fish, unable to devour the piece immediately, takes it home to work on it in the relative security of its own territory, as is typical of predators that obtain food in large amounts. But the territory in this case consumes the food!

 

[Anonymous]

Not leaning in the direction of "conscious thought." Rather, over eons, as a symbiosis develops, there are certain "acts" or tendencies that promote the continued "well-being" of a symbiotic pair. ...And things that detract.

I think it's logical to say, the things both partners do, that tend to promote the survival of each, and therefore the symbiotic relationship, grants their genes a competitive advantage as the genetic chain continues to propagate.

Over time, these traits, acts, whatever you call them, get passed on. Those poor pairs that do things that detract are culled from the gene pool, those who do cooperative things, win the race.

I think the feeding behavior we see in our tanks is related to the homing instinct. I've dove about 1,000 times in the indo-pacific and have observed enumerable anemone/clown pair systems. When threatened the clowns always dash back into/under the host. Perhaps, a large floating food particle in a tank is seen as a threat, or, once the clown has grabbed it, to protect his prize, he "runs home."

 

[Anonymous]

Not leaning in the direction of "conscious thought." Rather, over eons, as a symbiosis develops, there are certain "acts" or tendencies that promote the continued "well-being" of a symbiotic pair. ...And things that detract.

I think it's logical to say, the things both partners do, that tend to promote the survival of each, and therefore the symbiotic relationship, grants their genes a competitive advantage as the genetic chain continues to propagate.

Over time, these traits, acts, whatever you call them, get passed on. Those poor pairs that do things that detract are culled from the gene pool, those who do cooperative things, win the race.

I think the feeding behavior we see in our tanks is related to the homing instinct. I've dove about 1,000 times in the indo-pacific and have observed enumerable anemone/clown pair systems. When threatened the clowns always dash back into/under the host. Perhaps, a large floating food particle in a tank is seen as a threat, or, once the clown has grabbed it, to protect his prize, he "runs home."

I agree with that; I don't think they see it as a threat though. I think they're taking food home. But I think they're taking it home for themselves, not for the anemone. It just happens that the anemone is capable of eating it.

 

[Anonymous]

My Clarkii clowns will take a pellet, spit it at the anemone, and go back and grab another and do the same thing. Usually only after they fill their faces. Wonder if they're thinking it will be there later, and storing it up like squirrels?