My anemone ate my anemonefish

It was the weirdest thing.  I was watching my new percula swim around in my carpet anemone.  Then the anemone just folded over and engulfed him!  I have some othe anemone fish that always hang out in that anemone, so this was very weird.  I don't know if my reaction should be "stupid fish" or "stupid anemone".  Either way I think that is the first time I've seen an anemonefish be eaten by an anemone.

Adam

I'll agree this particular anemonefish was infact a clownfish.  It is rare, but is true.

Adam

Yes, I do believe it was your anemone.  Sometimes anemonefishes don't have their slime coating in normal form after the catching and shipping process.  Usually they slowly build there way back to having it.  I think these particular fish were anxious to jump in the anemones and consequently were taken as food. 

As a side note, A. percula naturally only resides in 3 anemones.

Adam

Mark Peterson wrote: 's The poor perculas in both situations! Adam, what type of anemonefish are the others? How often does an anemone host more than a pair of fish? Is it possible that since it already had its pair, the anemone decided this new one should be considered food, rather than an additional occupant? Rock Flower Anemones don't typically host fish.

My other fishes that have hosted in that anemone are a tomato A. frenatus, a false clown A. ocellaris, and a domino damsel (not an anemonefish) Dascyllus trimaculatus.  Anemones often host many pairs of anemonefishes, but not in this case because my anemone is only 8 inches across.  It is currently the host anemone for my pair of D. trimaculatus.  I do believe the anemone would have accepted the new fish as residents, but it was too soon.  However, it is possible the anemone didn't want new residents, it just wanted dinner.  Tough to say what may have been the cause, but at least I know what happened.

Adam

Look in the thread I started about a.percula and anemone, Jake was kind enought to post a chart that lists compatability of anemones and anemone fishes.  It is the best I've come across so far.  Hopefully this doesn't happen when I finally get my black clownfish...

Hmmm, worried.  I'll say no not worried.... because it is a hobby don't worry.  Is there a chance they will eat your wonderful fish..... yep. 
But I don't think so.  I think they'll be fine.  Seems to me that if an anemone was going to eat your fish, they'd eat them at first, not sometime down the road. 

Adam

Horseshoe crabs- is there anything cooler?  And at the same time is there anything more stupid? 

Adam