Roses are red, .....

[Delphinus]

Nice catch, Brad! Definitely some jealousy happening over here...

BTA's like to attch to a hard smooth surface, but they like their pedal disk hidden from intense light. So a crevasse, cave, or overhang is usually preferred. Their tentacles will want to be out in the current and out in the light.

I'm not entirely certain I agree about placing an anemone into a low flow area. They like flow, they need flow. Definitely not a powerhead output though, it will move away from that if that's what it's getting. If it has problems attaching to a rock right away then maybe, but if that's the case, you got problems... I have never, never had a healthy anemone not immediately attach to a rock. Not saying if it doesn't attach right away that it can't recover, that's a different story. But if it's healthy, it will glue itself on pretty much right away. And if you get its placement right, it will likely never move except for shifting this way or that slightly. The only times I've noticed mine move more than a half inch have been just immediately prior to a split.

[Aquattro]

Bob, maybe I can answer that in a few months.

Tony, I have a lower flow crevice at the bottom of the tank that allows it's disc to be hidden from direct light, while alllowing it's body to be out in the open. It looks like it's attached now, and if attaching is a sign of health, this guy is healthy. It attached inside the bag and was a real pain to get out!! Took me about 15 minutes and a pair of sissors to release it.

I'll post a pic of "home" in a little bit

[Samw]

I personally know of an instance where a healthy bta that had attached to a rock during the day getting blown into a powerhead intake during the night and getting chewed up. This is why I would suggest letting the anemone start in a low flow area and then let it go where it wants. There is a lot of turbulence in some of these SPS tanks. Not worth taking a risk. An established anemone would probably have no problems but a newly introduced one is a different case.

[Aquattro]

Pics of home. Close up and further back.

[Aquattro]

Sam, I'm taking some of your advice and I've turned off the stream and everything other than the return pump. I'm home all day, so I'll make sure rosey doesn't play in the pumps :-)

[Samw]

Nice, that should be a good spot (I think. although I've said that last time to someone else and it didn't turn out so good). I forsee you moving that cap and surrounding acros shortly. That BTA will expand a lot.

[Aquattro]

Sam, most of the pieces on that side of the tank aren't permanently placed yet. I'll wait and see if the bta will stay put, and then work around it.

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by Samw

I personally know of an instance where a healthy bta that had attached to a rock during the day getting blown into a powerhead intake during the night and getting chewed up. This is why I would suggest letting the anemone start in a low flow area and then let it go where it wants. There is a lot of turbulence in some of these SPS tanks. Not worth taking a risk. An established anemone would probably have no problems but a newly introduced one is a different case.

Sam, I think you're mixing two different notions with your advice. Powerhead, pump, stream, etc. inputs are indeed a risk for the obvious reasons.

But that's not the same as saying "put it in an area of low flow." If the flow is inadequate to blow off detritus then you open the door for an opportunistic infection or pathogen, and for a stressed anemone this can be equally fatal as a bad powerhead injury. (Not that I'm saying Brad's is stressed! But just in general, it's fair to expect that usually there is a level of some stress from a newly aquired anemone {how much is going to depend on what it's gone through beforehand}.)

I'm not disputing what you say at all about the powerheads, and sorry if I wasn't clear on this. It's just that, to me, these are not mutually exclusive goals, but depending on how it's phrased it may be suggestive of such.

If you can get the placement right, right from the beginning, then there's no need for the anemone to "find what's right." It's not really magic ... each species has a fairly defined niche on the reef and all we have to do, as captive reef caretakers, is provide for that.

Brad, BTW, the spot yours is in looks really good. Wish you all the best success, and I can't wait to see more captive splits available in the hobby up here in Canuckada...

[Samw]

Hi Tony. I understand what you are trying to say. In my tank, the anemones were placed in a low flow area by design. That is not to say no flow. When I suggest to Brad about lowest flow area in his SPS tank, I didn't mean no flow. I assumed by the nature of his SPS tank that his lowest flow area will still have decent water movement. By high flow, I meant an area such as that being pointed by a powerhead. By low flow, I meant an area that is not receiving direct flow from a powerhead and gave the example of my anemones under my the powerhead.

In the case of the other anemone, it was placed on the rock and wasn't directly in the path of the powerhead but still got blown because of the nature of the tank I assume (high flow SPS tank). So even though that anemone was placed in a mid flow location, it still got blown by the currents.

So I think we're only disagreeing on semantics.

[spikehs]

can i have dibs on the first split ?