Anemone in a 29G Biocube

[rob12]

Hey everyone,

1st I would like to say thank you all for helping me the past 4 months. This is my first tank and its going great. I purchased some hardy fish (3 damsels, goby, & tomato clownfish) to start the tank and just replaced them today with a paired yellow stripe maroon clownfishs, a pink spotted goby, small hippo tang, & a yellow watchman goby. Also I added a fire shrimp about 2 weeks ago.

Anyway I would like to host the clownfish and a anemone but I heard that with a tank that small and the way the filter is setup it shouldnt be done. I dont know much about the anemone but I heard they move around the tank until they find the perfect spot for themselves. The problem is that if they move over the filter they will get sucked in, die, than give off toxic wastes which will destroy the tank. Please give me some feedback.

Also, the person who is helping with my tank also said to get a pair of True Percula clownfish. I trued to do some research and find the differences between both but I cant find any except for the colors. Its not to late for me to return the maroons & purchase the true perculas. What should I do??

By the way I apoligize but my knowledge is very little regarding saltwater.

 

[JamesJR]

Re: Anemone in a 29G Biocube

Sorry to make this so long, but hopefully I can answer some questions.

If you are wanting to host clownfish in a 29 with an anemone I would be hesitant to recommend you try one just yet. They have very demanding requirements when it comes to lighting, water quality, movement and the substrate they settle on. I also think you may want to wait a little because 4 months is still a little early to be adding an anemone.

What type of lighting does the biocube have? My guess is that the lighting it has may be a little underpowered to keep an anemone long term. Also, your tank is overstocked. That is way too many fish to keep in an aquarium of that size. I think with a load that high you are just heading for disaster and it will be hard to keep the water quality high enough for an anemone or even the fish for that matter.
The person who is helping you sounds like they may be a lfs employee who is trying to suck money out of you while they can.
Mixing a pair of true percs in with maroons in a 29? that is pretty bad advice. First off, the maroons are very aggressive and would probably terrorize the percs to the point of killing them. Plus you already have too many fish to begin with.
Maroon clowns get much bigger than the perculas and overall the maroons are much more agressive.

Here is a good article on maroon clownfish

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/pbiacul.htm

and here is some info on percula clownfish

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/apercula.htm

I think that you should get your stocking issues under control, wait a little while till your tank matures and then try an anemone. I would take some of these fish back and get your money back because these fish won't do very well long term being so cramped. I would just keep a pair of clowns in this tank and maybe the shrimp.

As you were asking, Percula clowns stay much smaller and I think they would be a better choice for a 29 gallon tank than the Maroon clowns. when you do go to try an anemone I would try a healthy bubble tip anemone. Try to get one tank raised too because it will not have suffered as much trauma from being shipped oversees and will probably adapt to your tank.

I hope I have been helpful. good luck and happy fishkeeping!!!

 

[phishy2]

i agree with jamesjr, too many fish, i would do the percs in a 29 instead of the maroons, i would definatly get rid of the hippo tang your going to kill that thing in a 29. wait awhile longer for an anemone you wont be sorry. a bta would be good. just make sure your lighting and water conditions are sufficient.

as far as the bta getting sucked into the filter, you can make a shield for the intake so it cant get sucked in. there are posts about that.