Best clown-hosting anemone for a bare-bottom SPS tank

[MO Will]

I have had RBTAs before - ended up with nine of them

My parameters are alot more stable now

I dose vodka and have low NO3 and PO4

Would love to carve out part of my new 120 as an anemone refuge

I have high flow (2 x vortech) and an ATI powermodule fixture

Thanks

Will

 

[tufacody]

BTA's and magnificas will stay on the rocks, with the latter being very difficult to keep.

Giaganteas also tend to stay on the rocks, but seem to prefer anchoring where the sand bed meets the rock. Also very difficult to keep.

 

[patriots81]

you should go with the bta. did you originally have 1 rbta and ended up with 9?

 

[MO Will]

I had 1 that turned into 2 that turned into 4 ...

It was a problem as the clones started to move around quite a bit and there was no way to keep them from killing the corals

Also - I have an ocellaris pair and they wouldn't host in the bta

I understand that the manificas are difficult to keep - is there anywhere I can read up on their care requirments?

Thanks

Will

 

[tufacody]

no better place than here! Just search for it.

 

[MO Will]

From what I have read so far it seems like there are a couple of important things:

(1) important to get a healthy specimen as H magnifica don't ship well

(2) H magnifica likes to have strong lighting - 400 watt MH ideal. I assume that if I have mine high up in the tank my 8 x 54 watt ATI powermodule should be enough light

(3) Be careful feeding this type anemone as they can get a bacterial infection if the food is not digested

(4) High flow is preferred

(5) They will move at first if they are not happy

Any other thoughts on the H magnifica or other anemones for a high-flow, bare-bottom SPS tank appreciated

Thanks

 

[garygb]

I would say water parameters in very good shape, preferably 0 nitrates, sg 1.026 to 1.027, temp 80-82F, preferably MH, though you could probably get by with the T-5 lighting you described. I would say 250 or even 150 watt MH is fine, assuming the anemone is fairly close to the light source. The tank should be well-established (at least 6 months preferably), a large, smooth surfaced rock for the anemone to attach to, and clowns such as ocellaris or perculas, as clowns are always found in H. mag in the wild. Also, feed several times each week with fresh seafood such as shrimp, silversides, squid.

 

[WDLV]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15689606#post15689606 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MO Will
From what I have read so far it seems like there are a couple of important things:

(1) important to get a healthy specimen as H magnifica don't ship well

(2) H magnifica likes to have strong lighting - 400 watt MH ideal. I assume that if I have mine high up in the tank my 8 x 54 watt ATI powermodule should be enough light

(3) Be careful feeding this type anemone as they can get a bacterial infection if the food is not digested

(4) High flow is preferred

(5) They will move at first if they are not happy

Any other thoughts on the H magnifica or other anemones for a high-flow, bare-bottom SPS tank appreciated

Thanks

I agree with you on most points. I just wanted to add to #3. This is news to me but I will say that a lot of people I've seen feeding anemones give them too large of pieces. With my mag as with any others I feed them very small pieces. I have been using a mostly blended mash of which the largest chunks are PE Mysis. This seems to make a big difference in their ability to digest food. While they're capable of catching larger food items, I don't think they're well suited to doing so.

Being a previous BB reefer myself I can't say that there are any sand dwellers that I'd particularly recommend. I did keep H. crispa and S. haddoni in my 210 but the crispa died for unknown reasons after only a few months and the haddoni sought out a region of the tank that had a buildup of LR sheddings etc. They just aren't designed for living on hard substrate..

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15716223#post15716223 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WDLV
..................

Being a previous BB reefer myself I can't say that there are any sand dwellers that I'd particularly recommend. I did keep H. crispa and S. haddoni in my 210 but the crispa died for unknown reasons after only a few months and the haddoni sought out a region of the tank that had a buildup of LR sheddings etc. They just aren't designed for living on hard substrate..

I have to agree on the Haddoni comment. While I have sand in my tanks, if my gosh darn clowns dig away the sand my haddoni will move right away. If I put the sand back in place it stays.

 

[MO Will]

Thanks for all of the helpful comments

No the hard part - finding a healthy specimen

I know everyone says good things about Divers Den but I don't think they often have H magnificas