Hello... I have an office aquarium that has been going very well now for about 6 months. I have an automatic feeder on there and my fish (3 Damsels) seem very happy. Also a snail. Yesterday I added an anemone (pink tip) and after a rough day yesterday seems to be doing fabulously. However, I am concerned bc typically I turn off the lights in my aquarium when I am not there... (especially for the anemone) Are there timers you can buy to turn the lights off and on? Should I leave the light on all weekend? Also, what should I feed my anemone?
Caring for an Office Aquarium with Anemone
- Thread starter krislena
- Start date
Slakker
Premium Member
You should be able to get a timer from any hardware store, most commonly it's a dial with two pegs, one you set at the time you'd like the lights to come on, another you set at the time you want the lights to go off. Simply set the dial to the correct time of day, and voila, no more dark, lonely weekends for the Damsels.
Also, the lighting in that 12g might not be enough to keep an anemone healthy, most species require a high intensity light. What type of lighting do you currently have, and do you know specifically what kind of anemone it is? "Pink tip" could be several different species, and a picture would sure be helpful in IDing for you.
As for feeding, there are several different things you can try to see if your anemone likes them, a lot of people use krill and silversides, but i've even heard of people feeding squid and scallops. I wouldn't worry about not being able to feed it over the weekend, though, as anemones don't really need to eat every day. Two to three times a week, depending on how healthy it is (which we'd be able to determine to some extent if you get around to posting that picture
) is usually plenty.
Also, the lighting in that 12g might not be enough to keep an anemone healthy, most species require a high intensity light. What type of lighting do you currently have, and do you know specifically what kind of anemone it is? "Pink tip" could be several different species, and a picture would sure be helpful in IDing for you.
As for feeding, there are several different things you can try to see if your anemone likes them, a lot of people use krill and silversides, but i've even heard of people feeding squid and scallops. I wouldn't worry about not being able to feed it over the weekend, though, as anemones don't really need to eat every day. Two to three times a week, depending on how healthy it is (which we'd be able to determine to some extent if you get around to posting that picture
) is usually plenty.I have a small, golf ball sized, rose bubble tenticle anemone in my 10 gal nano at work for 2 months now. Hes under 40 watts of pc lighting and is growing and doing just fine. The light is on a timer that comes on when i come in and goes off when i leave. About nine hours of light. The rbta is up on lr about half way up the tank......I feed it 3 times a week..m-w-f..little pcs of mysis shrinp and small pcs of silversides. I also have lps corals and mushrooms and polyps...all doing just fine in a 10 gal with hob filter/fuge and nano skimmer.
I wasn't sure if I could use a timer because its a push button switch to turn the light on. This might be a dumb question but if I leave the my office lights on will that help?
Ok, in terms of lighting... 120, 60, and .30 are the Markings on the bulb... I believe its a Haitian Pink Tip based on the pictures I've seen online. I took a picture of it but I don't have my cord to put it on my laptop here with me.
It has positioned itself underneath my live rock on its side. The tentacles look great but I did see it bunch up in a tiny red ball this morning for a bit- no tentacles showing but it wound up coming out a little later.
Ok, in terms of lighting... 120, 60, and .30 are the Markings on the bulb... I believe its a Haitian Pink Tip based on the pictures I've seen online. I took a picture of it but I don't have my cord to put it on my laptop here with me.
It has positioned itself underneath my live rock on its side. The tentacles look great but I did see it bunch up in a tiny red ball this morning for a bit- no tentacles showing but it wound up coming out a little later.
There are 2 straight bulbs. Also, My coworker noticed that it looks like there is a HOLE in the bottom of my TANK! One of my damsels dug a hole under the live rock all the way to the bottom. When you look down there it looks like there is a hole straight down to the bottom about the size of a quarter. How can this be? What do I do about it?
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
Even if you know a lot about anemones and their care I don't think it's a good idea to have an anemone in an office aquarium. Anemones are much more sensitive than Damselfish. An anemone can go for a walk and get sucked into an overflow or powerhead. A dead or dying anemone can kill everything in an aquarium. Just some things to consider....
