Anemone Shopping Advice

[ChrisOaty]

Hello everyone, I'm sorta new to posting on RS, but i've used it for a while for its wealth of information. I've got a friend who has a 36 gal reef that's been established for almost a year, water parameters are spot on and he just upgraded to Metal Halides about 3 weeks ago. He wants to make the plunge and look into getting an anemone. He asked for advice and so I turned to you all. Obviously I wanna pick out one of the easier anemones to keep (not that any of them are "easy" to keep). But he is very determined to get one for his clowns. What should I look for at the LFS for health? We've bought a package each of frozen shrimp and silversides. Does the food need to be soaked in something prior to feeding? how much feeding is required and how often? Any info will help i suppose. Thanks in advance!

 

[BigJay]

1.I've got a friend who has a 36 gal reef

. 2. But he is very determined to get one for his clowns.

3. What should I look for at the LFS for health?

4.We've bought a package each of frozen shrimp and silversides. Does the food need to be soaked in something prior to feeding?

5.how much feeding is required and how often? Any info will help i suppose. Thanks in advance!

1. in a 36 g he's going to have to devote pretty much that entire tank to a nem if he gets one. Maybe a bubble or sabae as a carpet will eventually be too big.

2. He should know that his clowns may not use the nem as a host and may ignore it all together.

3. Learning to spot a healthy nem requires lots of research and knowledge about the specific nem your interested in purchasing. Getting a healthy specimen is difficult even for very experienced reefers. Since a dying nem tends to just shrink in size before it finally melts it may be hard to tell. Watch for bleaching, flacid tentacles or extremely shrunken tentacles, lack of stickiness, tears (any tears or holes and the nem should not be purchased) , use of dyes (colors unnaturally vibrant or not normal for that partic nem). etc..

4. food doesn't need to be soaked. rinsed in RO water before hand.

5. nems are photosynthetic so do not need a lot of direct feeding. Once a week is plenty.

Nems take a huge amount of dedication as in giving up tons of tank space, immaculate tank conditions and paying close attention. Everyone loves clowns playing in a nem but more consideration shuold be given to the care that it requires then just the coolness of the look. Best of luck!

 

[Clownfish518]

I understand the allure - clowns and nems are what got me into the hobby in the first place.

You don't mention what kind of clowns you have. There are 28 species of clowns, and 10 species of host anemones. No anemone hosts all clown species in nature. Matching the clown the clown and anemone species is best from a getting the anemone to host point of view; but if your friend has never kept an anemone before the bubble tip anemone is really the only choice. It is by far the easiest to keep; but it may take quite a while for the clowns to decide to accept it as a host. Or never. Clowns do not need a nem to be healthy.

BTAs are also the smallest of the host anemone species; the only one small enough for a 36. A carpet will grow to be measured in feet - so will practically every other host nem species.

Nems will not adapt to the conditions in your tank - they have no brain and are incapable of adaption. You will have to adapt the tank to the conditions they want. They are motile (can wander), so make sure that all powerhead intakes are protected as they can get sucked in. Better yet, remove the intakes from the tank. BTAs simply have the widest range of what is acceptable - other species have very narrow ranges.

BTAs like to hide their foot in crevices/caves or attach to overhangs, so providing these will increase the chances of the nem settling down.

Finally, BTAs are often tank bred these days. I would definitely go for one as they will be healthier and easier to keep. Anemones do not age. They lack the mechanism to grow old. A wild caught specimen may be hundreds or thousands of years old. Wild caught specimens have a very poor survival rate, so besides that they could be older than a redwood I really think a BTA is the way to go.

HTH

 

[Mcvivor]

Yes Yes, you need to make the tank for the NEM, the worst is when the move!! My LTA is over a foot in diameter and he is moving today actually, he is slowing moving to the right.... I am kind of nervous!! He is starting to touch my other corals grr!

 

[kospaintball]

I love the Bta nem

 

[CobrajetMach1]

I have a BTA and 2 false percula clowns and they wanted nothing to do with the nem for the first few weeks that I had it, then I read somewhere to print out a picture of clownfish in an anemone and tape it to your tank... I thought it was stupid but worth a shot. About 2 days later they started going in it. Now they're in it nearly 24/7. Practically the only time they come out is when I flip the top up to feed them. They pack their cheeks with food and dive back down to share with the nem. It's pretty funny, they can't get enough of it. I haven't fed my nem since I've had it, it looks really healthy to me and I see the clowns taking food to it anyways so I figure it's cool. It wandered for a couple of days when I first bought it but soon found its' happy place and hasn't moved since.