ANEMONES

[Corey]

Hey Ive never tried it but can you have more than one type of anemone in a tank

[Delphinus]

As a general rule of thumb, not the best idea. But there are of course exceptions based on the tank (size, tankmates) and your experience level.

How big is your tank, how long has it been set up, and what anemones are you hoping to keep?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I have a 12" LTA and I put in a really healthy looking BTA. Didn't work out. Chemical warfare I think. The new anemone never took to the tank. However, my hex has 5 green tipped BTA clones & a different type of BTA clone, and all are doing great together. Maybe use ChemiPure or other filter media to remove the chem-warfare toxins. LTA shrank up when new BTA intro, but back to normal now that it's gone.

[AJ_77]

It seems like it would have to be a pretty huge tank, and well-equipped. Keeping more than one type of anemone has been called "a recipe for disaster" even though you hear of people doing it.

Some will release chemicals (as menioned just now - quick post :smile: ) when they sense another anemone close by, while others will actually go after the other and physically attack it. While I haven't seen it happen, I've read a few of these examples - one guy on ReefCentral had pictures of his carpet anemone destroying another species... :eek:

So yeah, playing with fire to mix them...

[Corey]

I have a 60 gal. too small I know but can you mix different BTA

[Delphinus]

It seems like it would have to be a pretty huge tank, and well-equipped. Keeping more than one type of anemone has been called "a recipe for disaster" even though you hear of people doing it.


Actually I find that the worst cases of competition tend to be among the same type of anemone but who are not genetic siblings. Which I think makes sense, because since the niche occupied will be the same, and the competition for resources will be identical. Your greatest competitor will be the one who is competiting for the exact same resources.

I have a 60 gal. too small I know but can you mix different BTA

In a 60gal ... I don't think I would. BTA's can give you a headache down the line when you have splits so more of one than another.

The easiest recipe for avoiding heacaches is to pick your favourite. I know it's hard to do.

[Corey]

guess I wont try, would be a pretty expensive mistake

[Samw]

I added a green w/ pink tip BTA beside my 2 Rose BTA's. It seems happy and hasn't moved away from the Rose BTA's.

[Quinn]

It sounds like one can expect separate individuals of the same species to be more comfortable together than separate individuals of separate species.

[Son Of Skyline]

Lately I've read as much as I can on this same topic. From all the posts I've read on various boards, there seems to be some evidence of different anemones not doing well when mixed together, but no solid proof (that i can find at least). I also read of many cases where it works, even in nano tanks. Personally I'd rather take the "better safe than sorry" approach and avoid mixing anemones.

[Samw]

Oh yeah, back when I first started my reef tank, I also had 2 thriving brown BTAs with a thriving Sebae anemone that I had to eventually sell after it outgrew my tank in about a year. They all stayed on the same rock. They were under 110w of power compacts.

[Buccaneer]

I have a RBTA and GBTA in my tank and no aggression that I can see between them ... the RBTA did wander around for about a month when we first got it before it settled down but is OK now for the last few months.

[Son Of Skyline]

I have a RBTA and GBTA in my tank and no aggression that I can see between them ...

I've done the same and I never had any problems. I haven't mixed two different species of anemones tho.

[Jaws]

I have 6 different anemones, three different species in a newly aquired 90G tank that has been operational with the previous owner for a little over a year now. I don't plan on keeping it this way but they all seem to get along fine. No problems yet but I don't imagine that will last.

[Delphinus]

I also read of many cases where it works, even in nano tanks.

Ugh ... that's crazy. Anemones .. at least the Indo Pacific hosting species .. don't really belong in nano's. Not long term anyhow - there may be exceptions when they're smaller / juvenile, but the bottom line is none of the 12 or so species truly stays small (assuming it's healthy). Even BTA's can approach 12" in diameter and I consider them to be one of the smaller hosting species.

Personally I'd rather take the "better safe than sorry" approach and avoid mixing anemones.

Agreed, ditto.

Remember that the problem with "potential" agression between animals is just that ... potential. The only way to guarantee you don't have a problem is to not do it. That's not quite the same thing as saying "you WILL have problems if you do go ahead." It's a risk or a gamble, if you will.

My own story to add to the "pile of evidence" :

I too have two BTA strains in my tank right now, my old BTA clones that I've had for years and a rose which I picked up earlier this year. I kind of added the rose against my better judgment on this one because I have long felt that comptetition between anemones is a potential. When I added my RBTA, after about a week one of the BTA's would seek it out and sort of cover it. I can't say for certain but I think it was aggression. The other two clones in there never sought out the RBTA, only this one. I ended up having to pull it out and sell it. The rose now has warped tentacles where it was contacted by the other BTA. It's doing fine otherwise, has grown to about three times its original size but it is a bit disappointing about the wonky tentacles.

That's one form of aggression, the physical contact. The other form is less easy to quantify. One specimen may just simpy start to deteriorate. This is what's referred to as "chemical aggression" because there's no physical contact between the two, but it's there nonetheless. This can be as simple as shedding nematocysts or it could be some other form of allelopathy. Or it could be complete hocus-pocus ... I think most of the evidence is anecdotal but I think it's generally well accepted that there could be something to this theory. It makes sense to me that this could be a strategy among those species that clone (e.g. BTA's) because they seem to to want to form colonies and in that sense maybe a colony would want to protect its own genetic lineage (or whatever). I'm probably reaching a bit but that's my theory anyhow :mrgreen:

Anyhow I guess my only point is that it can be tried, but you should expect some form of interactions eventually and be prepared to take action if necessary.