Anemone advice

[lumpy]

I've been researching into buying an anemone. (My children insist that our clown fish needs a home :D)

From what I've read it can be difficult to pick out a healthy Anemone specimen and that they can be tough to care for. I was wondering if you guys could give me some real world tips and wisdom.

I'm running a 75 gallon with 2 white T5s and 2 Actinic T5s but my fixture can hold up to bulbs if I need them. Water Quality has been good. 0 Amonia, 0 Nitrites, 0 Nitrates using the drip tests. Tell the truth the tank is pretty sparsly populated at the moment so that helps.

My LFS is carying a long tentacled red or purple anemone, or another one that appears to have short fat green tentacles with orange tips. By fat I dont mean Bubble Anemone fat. I think the tentacles may have been close in cause they had it in a low light tank as they want it to move from its current peice of live rock which is a bit large for it.

Any tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Bifferwine]

How long has the tank been set up? It's generally recommended that you wait a year or so before adding an anemone.

I think the lighting you have is on the low end for an anemone. They require higher lighting than most corals, and four T5 bulbs is really pushing it. It may be able to keep one alive... but it may not. I don't understand what you were trying to say -- the fixture may be able to hold more bulbs? If so, adding more bulbs would give you sufficient light -- 6 bulbs of T5s would be just fine, IMO.

Your water parameters are good, so that won't be a problem.

Another thing to consider is that there's no guarantee that a clown will host the anemone. Many clowns simply ignore an anemone once it's been introduced. Some prefer to host a powerhead, a rock, a patch of algae, or a thermometer. They are unpredictable so keep in mind there's a chance your clown won't cooperate. ;)

If you decide against the anemone, there are many types of corals that are easy to keep (much less demanding than anemones) that clowns commonly host in -- including toadstool leathers, xenia and hairy mushrooms. It may be an option to try one (or all) of those corals instead of the anemone.

Also keep in mind, that some anemones do not naturally host clowns, so there's a close to zero chance that you'd see a relationship between the animals at all if you choose the wrong type of anemone. It's important to choose an anemone that naturally has that symbiotic relationship.

In any case, I think you'd be okay with an anemone, if you had more light. The long tentacle anemone would be a good choice -- clowns like those. I'm not sure what the other anemone might be if it's not a bubble tip. Maybe a condy anemone? If so, that's not a good choice, as the condy anemone is one of the anemones that does not naturally host clowns (although there have been a couple people on here that are the exception to the rule). Avoid carpet anemones -- they are fish eaters. I've even seen one at the LFS eat its own clown. :lol:

 

[Bifferwine]

Here's a helpful chart to guide you, depending on your type of clown. Again, picking a specific type of anemone doesn't ensure success, but can increase the odds that they'll be buddies:

Clownfish Database

 

[Cathic]

Clown fish may or may not host to anemones (we have users that have them host corals power heads etc.) and some prefer nothing if they dont find something they like. That being said I believe that there are also1 or 2 kinds of clowns that have significantly lower hosting rates than others.

BTA's seem to be the preference for providing a home for clowns as they are both beautiful and get the job done for most clowns. They do require high amounts of light and I dont think 4 T5's will be enough for a BTA. The ones you described I believe would be like haitian pink tips or condy nemes. (someone else chime in on that please, I'm not familiar with the second description)

As far as picking them out, look for full extension on the tentacles, a closed tight mouth and and one that is readily accepting food. These animals are fantastic additions to aquariums but do require intense care for the beginner or for those who have not housed them before.

-Cathic

 

[Samhain]

I would wait until your tank is mature and you have more experience under your belt. Nems can be really delicate, and while your parameters are ok right now, new tanks have natural fluctuations that the reefkeeper can do very little about. Even very experienced reefkeepers will hesitate to put a nem in a young system. Better to wait for a year or so to let the system mature, rather than risk your entire tank because your kids want a nem now. Especially since there are absolutely NO guarantees that your clowns will pick the nem to host them. Clowns are silly creatures that will pick a very wide variety of things to host them. Powerheads, overflows, rocks, etc. have all played host to forum members clowns over the years. Several of these tanks have had nems that the clowns completely ignored in favor of whatever random object they decided on instead. Mine are currently hosting in xenia coral and seem quite happy about it.

So why not just get one now and try it out? Because they ARE delicate creatures, can be rather finicky about water quality, flow, and lighting, and can kill EVERYTHING in your tank if something goes wrong!!!!! When anemones die, they release their nematocysts (stinging cells) into the water column. In a great big body of water like an ocean, the cells are rapidly diluted and carried away, causing little harm to anything not in the immediate vicinity at the moment of death. However, in our closed system, the cells cannot be diluted or carried away. They simply circulate and annihilate everything in the tank. They (and nudibranchs) are some of the most toxic critters we can keep in our tanks, and some of the most delicate as well.

So wait until you get a little more experience in reefkeeping. Wait until your tank has matured for a year or so. Then give it a try! The bubble tips are some of the easier nems to keep, so they are a decent choice for a first nem, but give it some time yet.

 

[Bifferwine]

So why not just get one now and try it out? Because they ARE delicate creatures, can be rather finicky about water quality, flow, and lighting, and can kill EVERYTHING in your tank if something goes wrong!!!!! When anemones die, they release their nematocysts (stinging cells) into the water column. In a great big body of water like an ocean, the cells are rapidly diluted and carried away, causing little harm to anything not in the immediate vicinity at the moment of death. However, in our closed system, the cells cannot be diluted or carried away. They simply circulate and annihilate everything in the tank. They (and nudibranchs) are some of the most toxic critters we can keep in our tanks, and some of the most delicate as well.

This is a good point that I neglected to mention. Anemones are a common cause of tank crashes. When they die, they tend to take everything else in the tank out with them. They also have a bad habit of walking into powerheads. They will move around the tank if they are not happy with their environment, and for some reason, they walk right into powerheads, which results in their death (and often other tank inhabitants' deaths too). They also will sting anything in their path that they walk into, killing corals.

As Cathic said, many people love having anemones in their tanks. I personally wouldn't keep one in a reef tank, due to the risk to my other livestock. But it's up to you to weigh the pros and cons of keeping one. You say that you have very little else in your tank right now, which is good. Better to add an anemone before the tank is fully stocked, rather than after when it could move around and sting everything else.

 

[lumpy]

OK sounds like I need to wait longer. I'm sure my kids will understand. I didn't realize some of the challenges associated with keeping them.

Is there something that would have teh long tentacle look that anemone's have but would be a better choice? Not for the clown fish but simply for the appearence?

 

[Cathic]

It is easy to overlook some of the conditions we as hobbyist have to see and maintain for are inhabitants to be happy. Don't worry, the day will come when you will know that you can have them and I'm sure well see you post again checking to make sure. Patience is the hardest part of this hobby.

 

[Bifferwine]

Try a torch coral. They are a great coral for new tanks and are relatively easy to keep.

 

[cvcdrk]

Yeah....your kids probably won't know the difference between a torch and an anemone and the torch is a WAY safer bet.

There's lots of corals with long tentacles, though, that could potentially work. Still no guarantees on the clown because they're picky but that's probably your best bet. :-)

 

[Cathic]

I think frogspawn and Hairy mushrooms are two corals that people commonly see them go for as well.