[Delphinus]

(Wow, that's a big signature!)

So .. um hey hi guys my ears were ringing :D

Seems to me, if Em has an anemone that needs a home, and AJ has home that wants an anemone, that looks like a pretty cool arrangement.

Em, got any pictures of the guy we can see?

Alan, your fish are pretty small yet. Plus they're percs/ocellaris, and percs don't always readily take to BTA's (some do though, but then again some never do). So it's a solid possibility that even if you put a BTA in there right now, it could be several weeks before the percs are acclimated to anemone living. My first pair, they took six weeks before they even went into the BTA when I first got mine (I had all but given up hope they would ever go in), and even then it was several weeks after that before they were in it full time (they would still leave the anemone to sleep behind their favourite powerhead when the lights turned off).

But then, my current male, who was just a tiny baby when I got him, dove straight into the BTA when I put him in the tank. "Oh hey an anemone, COOL! I'm in!" Much to the dismay of the other fish "Hey it's mine! Get out!" Funny fish, this is how their introductions went. Day one: "Hey I don't remember you from yesterday. Thus, you must be an intruder!" Day two: "Hey I remember you from yesterday. Thus, you must be my friend! Hey, are you single? How YOU doing." :D
(I consider myself lucky, I was anticipating many weeks before they were a "couple" ....)

Also with some exceptions, USUALLY percs/ocellaris are pretty mild-mannered, and don't beat the heck out of stuff too bad. (It's not that clownfish mean to beat up anemones, it's just that they seem to thrash about happily, and this can sometimes be like the receiving end of a punching bag for the anemone..)

AJ, the most important thing for anemones is water movement. The more, the better. (Just not direct current, like being in the output of a powerhead.) (Actually, the most important thing is a mature tank, but let's assume for the moment that's not an issue. Well come back to that one..) The second most important thing for anemones is placement. Different species have different substrate preferences. If the substrate isn't right, the anemone doesn't have it in itself to adapt, so it will be stressed. For a BTA, the right substrate appears to be a hard surface, such as a rock. The oral disk (the part the tentacles grow out of), it will like to be exposed to current and light. The pedal disk or foot, however, it will want hidden. Thus, what works for BTA's are crevasses, caves, overhangs, things of this nature. You'd be amazed how small a crack it will fit into, that belies the size of the anemone. My 6" anemone has it's foot in a gap between rocks no more than 1" apart at the widest.

Intense lighting helps, but is not a requirement.

The other thing is feeding. Anemones do need to be fed (and different species like different foods). BTA's like crustacean stuff. Mysis, krill, shrimp, prawn, etc. Although occasional other stuff is good too, but the shrimpey stuff is akin to their natural diet.

Although feeding is very important, I would not attempt to feed an anemone within a week after being transferred from one tank to another. It will survive a week without food (actually, if it doesn't survive a week without food, it likely was never going to survive anyways). They will need time to adjust from one setting to another. They're just "bags of water" so you can imagine that they go through a sort of osmotic shock when something changes on them.

BTA's are not agressive predators, rather, they are "opportunistic scavengers." I have yet to hear of a BTA taking down anything it was not meant to. Very docile and generally well-behaved anemones. And even though shrimp is it's preferred food, my shrimp routinely steal food from the anemones, dancing in and out of the tentacles. The shrimp don't hang around, of course, but other than that they have no fear of the BTA.

Anemones, BTA's included, WILL sting corals however, so make sure there is a sizeable buffer zone around anemones. At particular risk are stoneys. Some softeys may be at risk too, although there are some softeys that will not be affected.

Now, about the tank maturity. Well, the older the tank, the better. I personally do beleive you tank is possibly ready, since it has been cycling for a while now. But I can see your nervousness. It's been about 4 months, hasn't it? I moved my BTA from my 50g into my 75g after the 75g was four months old. On the RC forum I generally recommend to newbies to wait six months at least, because, well ... hopefully it encourages them to read up some more in the meantime.

Don't feel that your fish "need" an anemone -- in captivity, they don't. They're not stressed out without one. The converse is also true, an anemone in captivity doesn't "need" a clownfish. So, don't get an anemone because you have clownfish, and feel that the fish need an anemone. If you do get an anemone, do it because you love anemones and want to care for one, and if you have the clownfish/anemone relationship happening in your tank, then treat that as a happy bonus. I dunno -- does this make any sense?

If you want to consider anemones, or even clownfish, there are a couple of books that simply belong on your bookshelf. If you only get one of the following two books, get this first one. "Clownfish" by Joyce Wilkerson. A great read, talks about their natural history, all the different species, how to start breeding them, etc. A great section on anemones in there too. The second book is "A Field Guide to Anemonefish and their Host Sea Anemones" by Drs. Daphne Fautin and Gerald Allen -- the absolute foremost authorities on host anemones. More of a description of the animals in nature, but there is a section about captive care of clownfish. Both are great books and I read them time and again. BTW, I have both these books so if you ever want to take a peek through them or something ... (just don't keep them they are my favourite reefing books [img]smile.gif[/img] )

RC has a great forum on anemones, it's my other hangout besides this board. :D

Anyways I hope some of this info is helpful. Let me know if there's anything I can help out with. Cheers guys!