Carpet nem in SPS tank. Will it work?

[Coral Hind]

Some kind of a night/moon light over the tank is key in keeping fish from accidentally swimming into the anemone. I have witnessed when the lights go out the fish all dart for their sleeping holes and some would swim right into my carpet which never lets go. Once I installed the moon light that all seemed to stop. Or maybe the replacement fish were just smarter.

 

[OrionN]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15605949#post15605949 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
Then I would be surprised if they were actually LTAs. Over the years I have kept over 10 LTAs, and each one stayed on/in the sandbed. The only time I have every since an LTA not on/in the sandbed was when they were kept under poor lighting conditions.

I agree. IME, only unhealthy LTA have their foot exposed.

 

[Creetin]

Coral Hind, Thanks I was thinking about that last night.
I do need to get my moonlights back up. I was going to diy a set.
Now this lights a fire under my a$$. I may have to raid my christmas decorations. LOL
I do not want to lose my purrple tang and sohal..

Now for handling the carpet, Does it lose tenticles if it grabs onto something? I should not handle it to place it in the tank?

 

[OrionN]

In a large tank, and if your are up to keeping hard to keep anemone, nothing can beat H. magnifica. High flow and high light is ideal for this anemone, along with excellent water condition. If you know this species well, it is easy to keep them from wander if you have bright light. I would not recommend keeping this species unless you do adequate research on it. This species is consider by many anemone keeper as the second hardest anemone to keep. You should plan to keep him in about 18 inches radius area and he will kill everything in his touch, other than clams IME. It is also difficult to get a healthy specimen. I never able to MO one arrive healthy out of multiple try. Only luck I got is from buying them from LFS. My two H. magnifica

 

[azcummins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15607954#post15607954 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by OrionN
I agree. IME, only unhealthy LTA have their foot exposed.

Todd corrected me. It seems my LTA's were in fact BTA's that had stretched their tentacles into the 8" range and never had bubbles on their tips.

 

[azcummins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15607976#post15607976 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Creetin
Coral Hind, Thanks I was thinking about that last night.
I do need to get my moonlights back up. I was going to diy a set.
Now this lights a fire under my a$$. I may have to raid my christmas decorations. LOL
I do not want to lose my purple tang and sohal..

Now for handling the carpet, Does it lose tenticles if it grabs onto something? I should not handle it to place it in the tank?

One way to tell if the carpet is healthy is to see how sticky the tentacles are. The one had would feel like super sticky fly paper and wouldn't let go unless I fed it food on the other side of its body.

They don't lose tentacles, but if something touches them, they will wrap around the victim in about 2 seconds and consume it. Mine was 14" across and when my pink spot goby landed on it, it shrank down to 2" in no time. Even got video of it.

My carpet never ate my purple tang, but he did eat the previous owner's scopias tang when the tang darted through the live rock and swam into it. No matter what type of fish it is, if the carpet gets its tentacles on it, it will be gone.

 

[azcummins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15608013#post15608013 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by azcummins
One way to tell if the carpet is healthy is to see how sticky the tentacles are. The one I had would feel like super sticky fly paper and wouldn't let go unless I fed it food on the other side of its body.

That being said, when I put it in the tank and took it out, I was very careful to only touch its foot. Its a bit of a challenge, but it can be done.

They don't lose tentacles, but if something touches them, they will wrap around the victim in about 2 seconds and consume it. Mine was 14" across and when my pink spot goby landed on it, it shrank down to 2" in no time. Even got video of it.

My carpet never ate my purple tang, but he did eat the previous owner's scopias tang when the tang darted through the live rock and swam into it. No matter what type of fish it is, if the carpet gets its tentacles on it, it will be gone.

 

[OrionN]

Just use a 3-5 Watts night light with or without sensor. Either on all the time or turn on as the hood go dark. Really easy to do.

 

[Creetin]

Thanks, Orion I did want 2 nems but i cant do 3. I originally wanted a carpet and a ritteri, But this other nem i bought is going to be one big RBTA. My tank is 6 ft by 3 ft, and having 3 large nems would prettymuch fill out the tank, and have no room for corals. I plan to grow the carpet pretty large. He will get fed good.

 

[Coral Hind]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15608031#post15608031 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by OrionN
Just use a 3-5 Watts night light with or without sensor. Either on all the time or turn on as the hood go dark. Really easy to do.

That is exactlly what I have. A 4w plug in night light with a built-in sensor so when the light goes out it comes on automatically.

 

[OrionN]

But the more food the carpet, the stronger he is and the more fish he catch. Best to put something that keep other fish from him like a pair of Saddle Back or Clarkii. They tend to keep other fish away. Night light will help. Sand surface fish other than the ones that stay near their home (shrimp boby) are no no

 

[Creetin]

I have a pair of onyx percula's in there now, and these are the wifes fish. The little she asks is to keep the clowns she wants so i oblige. The least i can do since i spend a ton of money on this tank.
The Carpet is in and looks good, Mouth is closed and very sticky.
It would eat if i fed it, But i will let it settle for a couple days before i feed anything.
I rearranged a couple small rocks and moved the spot i wanted it to have. This way its far away from where the fish sleep at night.
Now to get the moonlights setup.

 

[Creetin]

One thing thats funny the other nem closed up tight in a ball exactly when i added the carpet. Uncanny makes me think it senses the carpet and is not happy. Is this normal?? Is the BTA not happy about the carpet? Should i change the carbon in my media reactor?
Heres a pic of the new guy.

 

[Coral Hind]

Yes I am sure it did sense the new anemone by the slime and nematocysts floating in the water. Although a lot of people on here say it is fine to mix anemones I never like to do it. It is just my preference from experience.

 

[Creetin]

Thankyou! I have a 28 gallon nanocube HQI i was going to setup for a clownfish tank for a pair of snowflakes in the future.
I'll set it up and get the bta in there whens its matured.
The BTA will be a stunner, and could be the centerpiece of the tank.

I cannot pull him now he is not 100% and a touch bleached.
I think it would only hurt him more pulling him.
If i knew this would happen i would have passed on it.

 

[westohooligan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15608642#post15608642 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Coral Hind
Yes I am sure it did sense the new anemone by the slime and nematocysts floating in the water. Although a lot of people on here say it is fine to mix anemones I never like to do it. It is just my preference from experience.

This.

The only nems I have kept together are BTAs.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I have been lucky with my Haddonis and them eating fish. I currently have 5, with my oldest being with me for 10+ years. In all that time I have only lost 2 fish -- yellow watchman goby and a Mandarin. Until about 6 months ago I never had any moon lights.

 

[Creetin]

Thank you Toddrex for the info!
Yeah i will pull the rbta out when i can, It was unhealthy and a chance it would not make it. I would hate to lose it.
This weekend i have to find a spot for tha nano and set it up.

The onyx percs found the carpet. Kinda fast actually, and i hoped it would get to settle in before they found it. (Opposite end from where they hang out.) It does not seem to mind them yet, But they are being pretty aggressive trying to go down its mouth. LOL
I love clownfish but i do think they are the dumbest fish in the ocean.

 

[Creetin]

Ok the other NEM is inflating back up. Shew! The Gig was gaping a littlebit when i turned one of the tunze's back on.
Its closed back up since. Wondering if the flow made it unhappy?
I have a gyre flow in my tank and it can get turbulent, But the bottom is def medium flow so he should be good there.
I'll get a pic in a few of the clowns in its new host.
It has moved a little and is now grappled onto a rock, I think i'll turn off the tunze's tomight to see if he would preffere to sit in the sand, and borough to the glass to atattch his foot.

 

[Creetin]

Heres the clowns in the new nem, They are pretty rough with it.
If they start to annoy the nem i'll net em and put them in a breeder net.
I have all the powerheads on this afternoon. Its folded up tightly as a result, But i think its better for it to get used to the flow.
Its firmly attatched to the rock it's on.