Anemones - Questions?

[redwarrior77]

Ok, so I'm just starting to identify all my new reef inhabitants and try to figure out if anyone might need to relocate to a new home. I've started with some of the more colorful creatures and right now I'm fascinated by the anemones...they are so beautiful to watch! I know I have one purple condylactus, one very lovely fluffy rock flower, and one little bitty curley-que.

I've looked up info online and it sounds like all 3 of these are non-reef safe. I'm wondering if I could keep the rock flower at least becaues it seems to be happy in a far corner of my tank where I don't plan on putting any corals. My future tank plans include assorted soft corals, perhaps an LPS or two, and a pair of black and white clownfish...will any of these anemones play nice with that mix or am I better off trying to find them good homes? For now, they're a lot of fun to watch!

 

[divemonster]

not reef safe?

not reef safe?

hmmmm. the rock anemone in my tank has found a place in the sandbed and stayed there. it hasn't gone near the reef. i'm going to feed it silversides and shrimp so if i do introduce fish later it may not be interested.

it's very rare for clownfish to symbiote with a condylactis anemone (like your blue one), at least that's what i've read. I had considered getting tank raised clownfish but changed my mind. (I want to keep this a Gulf Reef tank.) I've also read anemones are a challenge to keep because they are sensitive to changes in the environment. One of mine died last week and it seemed to be the strongest of the 3. :sad2:

are people asking you, "When are you getting fish?" They ask me all the time and I point out the blenny and the goby. Then they say, "No i mean real fish."

 

[redwarrior77]

My rock anemone is beautiful and has found a peaceful corner to stay in. I'm hoping if I feed him mysis and such that it will just hang out. I know clowns won't host a condy, but I wonder how they'd do with a rock flower?

I LOVE the gulf look, but I also love clowns. :/ I'm planning on waiting a few months before thinking about getting a pair, so I'm pretty sure I'll have time to figure it all out by then. I'd also like to get some rics growing and maybe even a frogspawn if my tank can handle it. I think I could be happy for months, though, just with what I have now and by then I might have totally changed my mind.

At least I have an answer now to all the people who kept pestering me about fish...they're right there hiding in the rocks and peeking out. I think they're plotting something against those rowdy hermits that kept them up last night!

 

[figuerres]

From what I know Gulf / caribean anemonies do not normaly host clownfish clownfish come from the pacific not the gulf.

now you *might* get one that works but it's also very possiblt the anemone will just have it for lunch

for any clownfish it may or may not host where you want it to.

I have 3 common clowns in my 90 and they perfer my zoa colony or a brain coral even though I have a big carpet anemone that's a perfect host for them.

as for "Reef Safe" well ... any are other than the ones that multiply and take over... as long as they do not eat your fish or sting your corals ....

 

[redwarrior77]

I think I'm going to keep the rock/flower where it is and see how it goes. Like I said, it's so pretty and it's in a remote corner of the tank right now and seems to like it there. If I were going to have an anemone anywhere it would be there, so why not see how it goes?

The condy took a turn for the worse this morning, though...I think I might have damaged it taking it out of the bag and it started to look pretty dead. I removed it and it was starting to smell, so I gave it a fond farewell. Luckily, ammonia doesn't seem to have spiked yet.

 

[divemonster]

Sorry to hear about your condy :sad2: but you are right on top of it Girl. bet you are tired today! you were up really late getting everyone settled in.

 

[biomekanic]

My clowns in my old tank were hosted to my rock anenome.

Story time with Uncle Bio!
For ages, my clowns ignored the rock anenome.
And hosted, I kid you not, to one of the MJ1200s.
Because clowns are morons. ( The damndest thing I've ever seen was a pair of clowns hosting to a Volitons (sp) lionfish. I wish I had pictures... it was at a long gone LFS here in town. The owner got them from a trade in. Anyway... )

I read that if you took a picture of an anenome and a clownfish, and tapped it to the outside ( not in, out ) of you tank, so the pictures were visible, the clownfish might get the idea.

Figuring, "WTH, it's worth a shot", I found a pic of a flowerpot much like mine ( a beautiful green color ) and a pic of a clownfish, and photoshopped them. ( False perc clowns btw )

I lured Romeo and Juliet over to the pic with some mysis, and they starred at it... for a couple of days.
They'd just hang out there, in front of the pic looking at it.

Day three, Juliet is wiggling against the anenome and Romeo is following along beside her.
They were a happy little trio until my tank crashed about a year and a half later.

 

[redwarrior77]

OMG...that is hilarious! I'm so sorry the tank crashed, tho.

 

[redwarrior77]

I'm so completely in love with this thing...I'm wondering, when I get to the feeding stage, what do they eat? I was thinking small mysis?

 

[divemonster]

Thank you for the story Uncle Bio! :lol: I thought i felt some tugging on one of my legs

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13005481#post13005481 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
I'm so completely in love with this thing...I'm wondering, when I get to the feeding stage, what do they eat? I was thinking small mysis?

i fed mine a small piece of raw shrimp yesterday (even though my ammonia is still reading .25ppm). I put the shrimp on the end of a bamboo skewer and put the shrimp close to its mouth. The anemone grabbed it and closed around the shrimp. it was cool to watch.

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13001236#post13001236 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by biomekanic
My clowns in my old tank were hosted to my rock anenome.

Story time with Uncle Bio!
For ages, my clowns ignored the rock anenome.
And hosted, I kid you not, to one of the MJ1200s.
Because clowns are morons. ( The damndest thing I've ever seen was a pair of clowns hosting to a Volitons (sp) lionfish. I wish I had pictures... it was at a long gone LFS here in town. The owner got them from a trade in. Anyway... )

I read that if you took a picture of an anenome and a clownfish, and tapped it to the outside ( not in, out ) of you tank, so the pictures were visible, the clownfish might get the idea.

Figuring, "WTH, it's worth a shot", I found a pic of a flowerpot much like mine ( a beautiful green color ) and a pic of a clownfish, and photoshopped them. ( False perc clowns btw )

I lured Romeo and Juliet over to the pic with some mysis, and they starred at it... for a couple of days.
They'd just hang out there, in front of the pic looking at it.

Day three, Juliet is wiggling against the anenome and Romeo is following along beside her.
They were a happy little trio until my tank crashed about a year and a half later.

Hmm.... Given how they like to stay in small groups I wonder if it was mostly the photo of a clown near the anemone that was the real trigger.

might have to try that out and see if my trio move over to "be with the neigbors"

 

[divemonster]

Denny, keep us posted on your experiment. . .

 

[biomekanic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13005493#post13005493 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster
Thank you for the story Uncle Bio! :lol: I thought i felt some tugging on one of my legs

Nope, no leg tugging. For the life of me, I can't remember which book I read about the picture thing with clowns.

 

[redwarrior77]

On the subject of feeding...how do you know when you're tank is ready to feed some of these critters? (Don't worry, I'm not hovering over my freshly added part 2 tank with a bottle of food as I write this!) I'm just wondering how long you can hold off feeding them after adding part 2 before you start doing more harm than good?

 

[divemonster]

as per Richard's instructions I was trying to hold off until my cycle was over with ammonia = 0, nitrites = 0 but my blenny (blennie?) began using its tail to excavate massive amounts of sand, and it was moving bits of shell with its mouth.

when i fed the flower anemone the piece of raw shrimp the blennie got very close and actually tried to steal the shrimp! One of the serpent stars came out of hiding and was trying to get in on the action, too. Then I realized some of the denizens on the reef were darn hungry. So i fed the 3 anemones, the serpent stars, the mantis, and the blenny. I put a small piece close to the goby so it could share with the pistol shrimp. I'll probably do a 5% water change tomorrow.

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13008618#post13008618 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster
as per Richard's instructions I was trying to hold off until my cycle was over with ammonia = 0, nitrites = 0 but my blenny (blennie?) began using its tail to excavate massive amounts of sand, and it was moving bits of shell with its mouth.

when i fed the flower anemone the piece of raw shrimp the blennie got very close and actually tried to steal the shrimp! One of the serpent stars came out of hiding and was trying to get in on the action, too. Then I realized some of the denizens on the reef were darn hungry. So i fed the 3 anemones, the serpent stars, the mantis, and the blenny. I put a small piece close to the goby so it could share with the pistol shrimp. I'll probably do a 5% water change tomorrow.

Yeah when I get home and walk over to my tank it reminds me of the sceen in Evan Almighty -- where he is in the office with the tank full of fish -- move right .... -- move left ....
they know when I am near food *MUST* be coming

 

[redwarrior77]

Well, I'll just keep on keeping on, then. I have some reef chili and marine snow ordered, so hopefully it will arrive before my levels get there and save me a trip to the LFS! I will probably still need to buy mysis for the anemone, but that will be fun.

 

[divemonster]

Mysis for the anemone? Why not feed it a chunk of raw shrimp using a chopstick or bamboo skewer and put it in (or close to) its mouth? That's what Richard suggests, and I've seen Denny Geek of all Things say that he feeds his silversides. I like fresh raw shrimp because it's cheaper than what's available at my LFS

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13009123#post13009123 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster
Mysis for the anemone? Why not feed it a chunk of raw shrimp using a chopstick or bamboo skewer and put it in (or close to) its mouth? That's what Richard suggests, and I've seen Denny Geek of all Things say that he feeds his silversides. I like fresh raw shrimp because it's cheaper than what's available at my LFS

?? raw shrimp
I don't think I have ever used fish...

but it would work, any small meat, shrimp, crab, fish, clam...
just watch out, what happens when you feed a carpet a lot of food ? you get a bigger one!