First Anemone Failed, What to do before trying a second?

[apolloreef]

I was hoping to gain some insight from people who have more experience than I do with the subject. I've read the FAQ's, but don't have a good idea what went wrong with my first anemone. About six weeks ago I purchased a small (2+" foot) green bubble tip anemone from a large, but local and well reputed store. The anemone was acclimated and placed in my tank which was about 7 months old with 3 fish inhabitants (2 clowns that did not host, and a cardinal) and an assortment of coral (mostly hardy, but all groups represented including SPS and LPS). All of the coral have been healthy and growing under 2 T5 bulbs supplemented with 2 24" LED strips in the ~30g tank. The anemone looked happy at first, but quickly deflated after a few days. It continued to look pathetic and rebound for a few days at a time for the next three weeks. I spot fed it some mysis shrimp when it was looking happy. After about the third week it started to lose grip of the rock and I pulled it when I discovered a hole through its mid line. The tanks parameters are fairly stable at around 10kH, 480 calcium, and normal limits for all other params whenever I test.

The store I bought it from does a lot of business and I didn't really probe to see how long the anemone had been there. Is it possible that it had a rough collection and I learned a lesson about buying fresh livestock?

I am currently looking at the red bubble tips that my smaller local store has who have helped me out a lot in the past. Their anemones have been in their system (which is where I've bought nearly everything from) for a few months and are much larger. Would it be safe to try to add one of these anemones to the tank? Are there any specific things I should check/change before I do so?

Thanks.

 

[frizzo98]

I have had a very similar problem. Will anyone chime in?

 

[TinManx]

Start with a healthy anemone already acclimated to captivity, give it good water, good flow, and light, and you cant lose.

IME, the problem is always the health of the specimen that you obtain (barring a run in with a powerhead).

They are extremely hardy animals.. I have been reefing on and off for around 20 years, and honestly I still cant seem to keep SPS alive long term, but I have successfully kept almost all of the anemone species, including a gigantea for many years.

disclaimer: I don't test water as I don't dose, except for kalk in the topoff, and I usually tend to set up dedicated species tanks.

 

[mcfa2403]

In my experience Rose bubble tips seem to be healthier than the greens. Simple reason is they cost more wholesalers pay considerably more for them so they typically treat them better (notice many GBTA will arrive at stores all but completely bleached while roses do not). Also watch when the nem is pulled from the tank as this is an easy time for it to be damaged.

On a side note the deflating and reflating is usually a normal process mine typically do it twice daily (once at night and once during the day). Keep in mind that anemone tissue holds a considerable amount of water to inflate and that deflating allows them to expel the water once it becomes "stale" so to speak.

BTA are fairly hearty but keep in mind that because nitrates and phosphates are within normal limits it doesn't mean that the fluctuation wont affect them. Also unless the LED strips are reef capable 2 T5 bulbs is typically too little for GBTA, IME (I could be way off if someone else wants to correct what comes next I wont be offended) reds seem to fair better under lower lighting. My assumption is that red zooaxenthelle performs better under low par values than green does.

 

[mcfa2403]

Also with rose there is a better chance they are clones and have been acclimated better to captivity.