basic anemone facts

ill start it off i guess.. anemones are super nice additions to a system BUT, you better know what you are getting into. They can and will move around the tank until they find that perfect spot. the verdict is still out on whether they are reef safe or not. due to their free moving nature, keeping an anemone in a reef setup can be dangerous for your reef inhabitants. The pack a nice sting and they will surley run across a coral or two and either the coral or the anemone will win the battle. This also causes toxins to be released into the water column do to the "chemical warfare going on in your tank. The battle of the chemicals can happen across a great distance too, the anemone can be on one side of the tank of a frogspawn be on the other and one or the other will open up or stay semi closed. Now this may or may not happen, there really is no way to tell but if you have a heavily stocked tank with corals, air on the side of caution.

Anemone's are also very precious to the oceans. Most are taken from the oceans and really have no traditional life expectancy meaning that it could be a year old, or 20, there really is no way to tell. IF conditions are right it will live if not it will die, pretty cut and dry so do your homework on anemones before you just go get one and toss it in the tank. If your tank is under 6 months old do not even waste your time or money. The require a very stable environment and prefer a higher Ph and warmer temps, around the 79-80 range. Another factor is size, most anemones you see in the stores are juvenile and/or not very "happy" so they are not expanded. I personally have a green bubble tip anemone for my false percs (who have yet to really bond with it) that has an oral disk of about 6 inches across. Not extremely large but when I bought it it was about 5 inches across, tentacles included. I put it in my tank and it almost doubled in size! I had re aquascape my tank so that nothing was close to it. Some anemones get quite large also. The magnificent anemone often called the ritteri is often seen 3 feet across in the wild so you tank would have to be massive to house such an animal!

All anemones require strong lighting. basically if you cant house SPS corals, don't get one, you'll just end up killing it slowly. This also varies on specific anemones not anemone species/types. I have high light but not super strong like halide lighting but my anemone is roughly 8-10 inches from my lights at the very top of the tank. It is also a deep water bubble tip which doesn't need as bright of lights as other bubble tips or anemone species. Due to the "chemical warfare that WILL happen the tank with anemone and corals, heavy water changes and or protein skimming is required to keep the water clean.

CLOWNS! most of us have a clown fish and most of us love the bond between clown and anemone. Unfortunately, most clowns that we get are tank raised. The oscellarius clown or false percula is probably the most common and popular of the clowns. A great fish to have but often doesn't not take to anemones most likely due to being tank bred and not knowing what an anemone is. Your chances are roughly 50/50 getting them to bond. There are some trick but still keeps your chances about 60/40. Some anemones are more prone to clown hosting also. The carpets, sebae, and rittiri are the top clown hostesses but these get quite large; too large for a tank under 100 gallons give or take. Bubble tips are ranked right under these(basing this off of oscellarius clown fish) Maroon, tomatoes, skunks and clarks will bond with almost any anemone quite quickly.

Selecting an anemone is very important. Unlike corals, you do not want to get an anemone that is not doing so well but it is priced cheaper. You may be able to rehab it but odds are against you. The tentacles should not be flat and look withered. The mouth should be closed and it should have a good foot hold. It maybe that the anemone is just purging itself of waste(another thing to think about) and is deflated and very sick looking or it may be pretty much dead. If you take the time to get a healthy anemone, it will benefit you in the long run because if you rush it, or get a bad one, it WILL die very quickly in your tank and a melting anemone is a mess to clean and will foul your water terribly.

To wrap it up, do your homework on what type of anemone you want. More importantly, why do you want an anemone? Can your system handle it? Do you have any small fish that might become lunch for it? (mandarins, small gobies, scooter blennies) Do you have the room to house it? Are you willing to lose some coral to keep it? (It is not guaranteed that you will but if you get one already knowing the risks, If you loose something, it is not a shock and you are prepared for it.)

Happy reefing!!

to add to juices great read i have a tip on determining whether a nem has just expelled water giving the deflated look or is actually dying. if the nem is deflated looking pay attention to the mouth area, if it looks like it is turing inside out then it is most likely dying and should be avoided. when it comes to tears on the foot it may heal up but again buying one like this should be avoided unless you have a QT tank, a nem can injure its "foot (or base) simply moving across live rock, do NOT try to position a nem where you want it because if it doesnt like the spot it will move again anyway.

lordraptor1 wrote:

to add to juices great read i have a tip on determining whether a nem has just expelled water giving the deflated look or is actually dying. if the nem is deflated looking pay attention to the mouth area, if it looks like it is turing inside out then it is most likely dying and should be avoided. when it comes to tears on the foot it may heal up but again buying one like this should be avoided unless you have a QT tank, a nem can injure its "foot (or base) simply moving across live rock, do NOT try to position a nem where you want it because if it doesnt like the spot it will move again anyway.

Thank you for the input I cant believe I forgot to mention that lol there is sooo much information to try to cover, way to have my back!

juice28 wrote:

lordraptor1 wrote:

to add to juices great read i have a tip on determining whether a nem has just expelled water giving the deflated look or is actually dying. if the nem is deflated looking pay attention to the mouth area, if it looks like it is turing inside out then it is most likely dying and should be avoided. when it comes to tears on the foot it may heal up but again buying one like this should be avoided unless you have a QT tank, a nem can injure its "foot (or base) simply moving across live rock, do NOT try to position a nem where you want it because if it doesnt like the spot it will move again anyway.

Thank you for the input I cant believe I forgot to mention that lol there is sooo much information to try to cover, way to have my back!

no problem, i just like helping when i can, i have personally bought nems with torn feet that i placed in my fuge for a week and they healed up, i have also picked up nems that looked sick (for a cheap price) just to try and save them), WARNING: if you have a nem that starts turning inside out start to watch it, if it starts to look like it is desolving take a fine fishnet and scoop it out and get as much of it out of the tank as possible as it WILL cause amonia and nitrate spikes.below is an image of a gbta i picked up for 5.00 and saved it, it was bleaching and looked like it was about to disolve when i got it. after 2 weeks in my tank under my T5HO lighting it started to look better after a couple more weeks (and a few silversides it is where it is now), although it looks small it isnt, i just have a problem getting nems that like to get into cracks and when they are in these cracks they do not seem to get very large, i have also had nems that like to get to parts where they can get light (to make their own food with their zooanthellle) but i cannot get to them to feed them silversides[img][/img]

now another thing about nems is the fact that although they make their own food with zooanthelle within them needing good lighting for it they also should be fed silverside pieces, mysis, or some other meaty food at least once to twice a week to help them grow.

great pics! bubble tips like rock work so they will always get a foot hold way under some rocks ond then pop out of a crevis...long tents and carpets and rittiri's tend like sand(in tanks) thoses bubble tips look great! mine is about 3 inches across but ive seen it as large as 7 inches across the oral disk and i agree with the tips on selecting an anem..even though we are the only two who seem to be using this post lol

juice28 wrote:

great pics! bubble tips like rock work so they will always get a foot hold way under some rocks ond then pop out of a crevis...long tents and carpets and rittiri's tend like sand(in tanks) thoses bubble tips look great! mine is about 3 inches across but ive seen it as large as 7 inches across the oral disk and i agree with the tips on selecting an anem..even though we are the only two who seem to be using this post lol

only one of those is a nem , the one on the right is a figi yellow toadstool frag that has been in my tank for over a year and it has not grown a bit