Are bare bottom tanks good or bad for anemones?

[dcom]

Hi guys I am re-purposing my tank to became an anemones only tank.
I've been getting several anemones from different stores in the area for the past 3 months and although most time they attach to the glass or a rock and stay there, sometimes they dont attach at all, just move around and dye few days latter.

Since I would like to prevent their death as much as possible, I started wondering if my current set up been bare-bottom could possibly be not ideal for anemones. Maybe they need substrate to cover they foot... although Iv'e found they are supposed to just attach to the glass/rock in the absence of substrate.

In peoples experience?
Would you say anemones "need" substrate to flourish?
Would you say its better to have substrate specifically for an anemone tank?
Would you say it is absolutely not necessary and they should just attach to rocks/glass?

 

[garygb]

It depends on the species. Some species need sand to bury their base in and others attach to the live rock. I have bare tanks and prefer it because debris gets circulated into the skimmer rather than trapped in the sand. My anemones are rock dwellers, so that works. For LTA, haddoni, H. aurora, they need sand. Some people have these anemones in a bare tank and fill a tupperware container with sand so the anemone can dig into the sand and liverock can be placed around the container to hide it.

 

[davocean]

^^ agree w/ most of that, but I don't think I've seen anyone keep a sand dwellar in a container of sand for any real lengthy amount of time.

 

[OrionN]

Add H. malu to Gary’s list. They are also live in sand area instead are of rock.

 

[Big E]

I kept my first malu for 9 years in a shallow tub with only about 1" of sand.......it never moved.

My current one is in a butter tub and it hasn't moved in 4+ years.........no sand. There are two small rocks to add weight at the bottom and that's it.