anenome advice

[stevie-o]

Hello i have a 29g biocube i only started it a couple months ago, and its doing great. Right now in the tank i have a cinnamon clown fish, and a talbot's damsel i want to add an anemone now so i can add the corals i want to get around it. So my question is what kind of anemone would be good for my tank, and if possible would my cinnamon host it or would i have to take him out and put a different clown in there?

 

[garygb]

Well, most folks would advise you to allow the tank to become established for a period of ~6mos before adding an anemone. Having said that, Entacmea quadricolor is the preferred host anemone for A. melanopus. Fortunately, E. quadricolor, or bulb tip anemone (BTA) is the easiest host species to keep. You can have a green/brown variant or one of the rose/red colored (RBTA). They're all the same species and equally hardly. If you get a captive bred (cloned) BTA then you will have an especially hardy anemone. BTAs like to plant their foot in a cave or deep crevice in the liverock and providing you give them good water quality, strong lighting and moderate, random flow they generally will stay put. Until they find a place they like, they may wander into a powerhead intake which can prove disastrous for the anemone and other tank inhabitants.

What are you tank parameters and lighting system like, I'm not that familiar with biocubes?

 

[stevie-o]

im not sure about the parameters i have a metal halide on it i know it will do fine. I was talking to a guy at my lfs and he recommended the bubble tip also. So im going with that thanks a lot =)

 

[Nebthet]

The bubble tip anemone is the best bet for your size of tank. They readily split which is a good thing in a tank of your size. Most other anemones like the sebae or carpets get ver large in size and don't propagate via fission.

Also the bta can be kept in lower lighting conditions than other anemones. They like mid level lighting as opposed to high level.

 

[seacups]

i am no expert but your going to want to know your water parameters before adding it. you dont want to throw it in and hope for the best. that would be a waste of money and a beautiful specimen. i added my RBTA earlier than whats recommended (i am not recommending you do the same) but i tested the water almost every other day just to make sure it stayed in check after adding it.
also some people do report that there BTA has never split and has grown to about 12" in diameter. i am not sure on our tanks dimensions but on most nanos that does not leave much room for any thing else.

 

[garygb]

Yeah, you will be fine with the lighting. I would suggest you get at minimum the following tests: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph; either a good floating hydrometer (these will cost at least $20 or so) or, better yet, a refractometer that is accurately calibrated using pinpoint calibration fluid.

For a BTA you will want 0 ammonia and nitrite, absolutely essential. Preferably undetectable nitrates, especially for a new anemone while it's settling in, temperature in the 78-82 range, and specific gravity/salinity around 1.026/35ppt. ph preferably 8.2-8.4 but can be lower without a problem.

 

[stevie-o]

oh whoops im kinda retarded and didn't understand what parameters meant ammonia, nitrite, nitrate are 0 ph is 8.4 temp is 80 not sure about salinity im sure its fine though i will take it to my lfs so they can test it

 

[stevie-o]

also i want to get a mystery wrasse should i add him before or after my BTA?

 

[garygb]

You will want to get your own instrument to measure specific gravity, you need it often when you do water changes.

You already have two fish, with a BTA you are pretty much at capacity for that size tank. Cinnamon clowns get rather large and so do BTAs, your bioload is going to be high enough in my opinion, without the addition of a third fish.