I have a green torch coral that my clown has been hosting in. It took him a little while to get attached to the coral, but now he is getting pretty rough with the coral. He has been causing it to close up and not be open much at all.

2 Questions: Will the torch get used to the clown? (it's a saddleback, btw) and/or Should I remove the clown and get a different fish?

Just wondering what your expert opinions were.
-Jon

Edit: Everything else in the tank (besides my xenia) is doing great: mushroom anemone's, hairy mushroom, zoos, other polyps, kenya ttree, sinularia, green star polyps, frogspawn, toadstool leather, and pocillopora all doing well! SO...it must be the clown....

well there are some people that have allowed there clown to host in a frogspawn, but personally, the saddlebacks can get a bit rough.. well most any clown "can" get a bit rough.

i dont think anyone can say for sure that the coral will adjust or recover. i would recommend (at the very least) continue to monitor closely, and if it continue to react badly to the clown, i would separate, or get the clown to host elsewhere

I have heard of clowns bothering corals by hosting them. My clowns used to host in a colt coral, and that is the only coral I've lost and some have told me that could have been the reason, but that is all anecdotal.

My clowns now host in my toadstool leather which I have to frag on a regular basis.

Do keep a close watch on your coral.

It's a "Crap Shoot". Literally a 50/50 chance for the coral. My false percs hosted in a frogspawn that DID NOT like the idea for the first week or so. It was always retracting, and looking stressed. JUST before I was going to remove the coral and sell it, it "gave in" and no longer reacted negatively to the clowns.

I've seen other LPS suffer and die from the stress of damsels hosting. Again, it's a 50/50 shot. Just keep a close watch and be prepared to react accordingly. It may take a week or more to figure this out. During that time, if you see any tissue recession on the base, or branches where polyps stay closed for two or more photoperiods, I'd call the experiment "over" and separate the coral and the fish. At that point, the coral is most definately NOT getting the benefits of either particulate feeding or photosynthetic support.

D

The coral didn't open up at all yesterday...so I'll give it one more day...then the clown gets traded in.

Thanks for your responses and your help. I appreciate it.

-Jon