First Anemone
 

Hey Everyone,

So I've done softies, SPS, got a clam, a few fish and now I am thinking about getting my first anemone. I have heard they can be problematic both to keep (moving all over the place) and when they die (releasing toxins in the water.) My tank is a 120 G and has been up for almost a year without any significant problems. I do have an open brain that is not thriving because my false perc thinks its his host. I would like to potentially relieve brain of this constant torture by introducing a nem to spread out the contact time with the fish.

Any particular anemone that would go good with this clown that is less evil on the hierachy of nem mischeviousness and ability to thrive??

thanks,

Palmer

Depends alot on what species of clowns you have. I had gbta's that were a pain and kept splitting. My true perc would never go near them. He used zoas instead. I then picked up a nice purple tipped sebae anemone and it has never moved away from it's rock, it has moved around the rock but never off of it. I then picked up an ocellaris clown and both clowns adore their neme. Sebae's have an added bonus of not splitting as a rule. But not all clowns like sebae's and they aren't the most gorgeous anemone's either, but still somewhat attractive.

If the Ocellaris are already hosting your brain... it might be hard to get them to move just because you added an anemone. I added a GBTA to my last tank hoping they would finally leave my frogspawn and it never worked. They never even looked at the GBTA.


When I set up my new tank... I added my RBTA first... then the clowns. I had to be patient because it took about 2 weeks for them to move in.

After that I added my Frogspawn to the tank and they have not given it a second look.

So basically I am saying...

1) try removing the brain before hand and it will make the clowns look for a new home.

2) Try taping a picture of the same type Nem with an ocellaris inside to the glass. Yes this actually worked for me. Someone told me to try it in the past. My clowns were not interested in the nem for almost 2 weeks. I tried the picture and within 3 days following they entered and have never left.

As for polluting your tank... its possible. They can also start a spawning frenzy as well.... which my last one did and caused a white out in my tank. Even my snails started releasing eggs when the nem was. crazy.

With a 120G tank though.... you should not worry too much.. you have a lot of water volume so pollution would not be as quick. maintain water quality and your parameters and you should be fine.

As for walking around your tank. I find you can train them with your power heads. If they go somewhere you dont want them... alter your flow. Keep altering your flow patterns until he is generally where you want it. Mine has a small area it likes... a strip we will call it about 5" x 10". He moves around that area daily buy never anywhere else. So I don't put any coral in that area and conflict solved.

They don't split???? How do they propagate themselves??

I had nothing but problems with my RBTA for the better part of a year. The first one I got launched itself in to a power head and turned itself in to soup. The second one I got when it was small, and it grew so quickly that it was too big for the little rock it had perched on. After that, it motored around the entire tank for weeks, I had to rescue it from a frog spawn (or the frogspawn from it, I couldn't tell) at least three times. All the while, my cinnamon clowns pretended it wasn't there. Finally it completely disappeared for three weeks. I thought it was dead, only to show up one day sulking under a rock, a shadow of it's original size. I can only assume it split in two, but I've never found the other half.

It finally found a rock near where the clowns always hung out with lots of holes in it. It anchored it's foot so deep in to one, I don't think I could remove it if I tried. The clowns started hosting in it even though the female was 3 times the size of the nem. The clowns have been feeding it nearly every day since, and it's twice the size it was when it split. The clowns also started laying eggs under a nearby rock ledge, and don't go more than a couple days without a brood.

When it works out, it's really freaking cool. But it's a total game of chance as to whether it will work out or not. Thankfully it never killed anything, and it never damaged itself, but I know that was always a possibility.

Now if only I could get it's tentacles to bubble again! They haven't since it split.

I have had a GBTA in my tank now for about a month now and the clowns wont even look at it, its big enough to host them both but they dont even care.

As for the BTA he has never moved since I got him, he was put in the tank, then he stuck to a rock and been there ever since.

Tony is the resident Nem expert but I can tell you that BTA's are among the hardier. They are also one of the more popular hosts for clownfish. That being said, it doesn't mean BTA's are easy and that your clowns are going to rush right in. I was lucky with mine: It's never really moved and the Fire Clowns hosted within a few days.

It is usually the best idea to get a natural host for the clown, even if it is tank raised. Unfortunately false perc's natural hosts are 2 of the most difficult to keep anemones, the Gigantea and the Magnificent, and one that will eat your fish, the Haddoni.

BTA's are typically considered the easiest to keep, but it is never a given that clownfish will go to any anemone. BTA's will typically move around the rock work more than most anemones as well.

A couple of sand dwelling anemones that would cause less destruction to corals are sebae and long tenacle. Make sure if you get a sebae it is not white or yellow. These are most certainly doomed to die.

As paddyob pointed out, if you are going to try to get it to go to an anemone, remove the brain as it already considers this its home.

In answer to "They don't split???? How do they propagate themselves??"
Today 01:47 PM
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/sea...baeanemone.htm
This is not the original article I read it from, but can't seem to find it at the moment. Since looking for the article though I seem to have found further articles saying they do split, but mostly in a last ditch effort if they are dyeing. So I guess I'm not quite sure, don't want to mislead anyone. If they don't split then instead of asexual reproduction/cloning it would be sexual reproduction.

Scientific Name:
Heteractis crispa.
Other Common Names:
Leathery Sea Anemone, Sebae Sea Anemone.
Description:
This is a mop-like Anemone with a lot of tentacles.
Reproduction:
The Leathery Sea Anemone is a solitary animal and does not appear to clone itself.Feeding & Aquarium Compatibility :
This Anemone should be tan or cream-colored (not pure white, which is a sign that they have lost their zooxanthellae) when purchased, otherwise the odds of survival in an aquarium will be slim.
This species will accept fish meat, plankton, shrimp, live adult Brine Shrimp, smelts, bloodworms and squid.

That being said, I have also read they are very difficult to keep.

Interesting. Thanks.