Updating Alan on his possible anemone

[EmilyB]

Worries me a bit about the clowns. Unattached anemones are dreadfully abused by clowns.

This anemone has a real personality.. (and probably the only person who I know who will understand that is Tony).

Knowing my BTA's downstairs, I searched long and hard for a rock with a nice deep hole, and found one that even has some coraline..... :D

I used ice to get him to let go, and stuffed him into the hole in the rock... ;) Read as gentle persuasion...

He plunged in there like he had found heaven. So, we'll see where he is tomorrow, but he will have much better odds against clowns if he is duly attached prior.

This weekend, we are likely tearing down the tank to replace with the 50g, as I have a couple old timers very unhappy in 10g confinement.

So, we will play it by ear, but if I have to move the anemone here anyway, we should decide whether or not just to move it to its new home then.

[AJ_77]

Hmmm... I'm not entirely sold on the anemone idea, and now these calm words of solace from you...

Still, I want the best solution for all involved. If my clowns will promise to behave, ;) then I'm still enthused, and cautious. (They're only little - how much damage could they do? I'm a little freaked out by your statement, to be honest. I didn't know that clowns had the capacity. Do they reject the anemone, or is it tastey, or what??)

In any event, I'm glad that you're guarding it with such diligence. I have a very kind standing offer from Tony to consider adopting one of his "clones." It's just that yours came up now.

Talk to you in a few days then.
[img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 28 May 2002, 21:01: Message edited by: AJ_77 ]

[EmilyB]

No, I am sure Tony will agree. A free floating anemone can be a punching bag for some anxious clownfish.

Oh, however, if you have made a prior deal with Tony, sorry. Tony should maybe trade you, and then take this puppy and grow him up !! :D ;)

[ 28 May 2002, 21:34: Message edited by: EmilyB ]

[AJ_77]

The deal Tony offered is to be on "the list" for when his BTA splits again. Could be a while!

There are advantages to waiting. Maybe we can work something out between the 3 of us. I hate to act quickly with something like this.

But I want the bulbs, and would still like to see the critter. [img]smile.gif[/img]



[ 28 May 2002, 21:47: Message edited by: AJ_77 ]

[EmilyB]

I guess I was trying to give you some confidence Alan... [img]tongue.gif[/img] My anemone is staying now. You can come and visit when you get the bulbs. :D

[AJ_77]

I was thinking of something Bob said - holiday season is coming and he didn't want to take on the responsibility of a new creature with new and unfamiliar requirements, until perhaps Fall when he would be around all the time and more focused on the care of his tanks. That stuck with me.

So, for confidence, I'll have to develop my Softie tank further. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Thanks for being sensitive, Deb. :D

And again, thanks for the thorough correspondence.

Cheers!

[AJ_77]

NOTE TO TONY:

Are you smirking as you read all this?

;)

[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!

[Delphinus]

HOLY COW I took a long time to write that. When I started writing it, the last post was the one where Alan's signature was the Calvin cartoon. I missed all that came after that!

[AJ_77]

You ARE amazing, aren't you? I feel you have helped clear my head on this, Tony. I don't "love" anemones or have an irresistable attraction. I want my clowns to be fulfilled and best-cared-for.

So, wrong motivation? Let's go with that for now.

Cheers, bed.

[ 28 May 2002, 23:20: Message edited by: AJ_77 ]