Flasher Wrasse and little sand-dwelling anemones

[kurt_n]

So I've got these nuisance sand-dwelling anemones through most of my sandbed. It took a while, but I finally got them ID'd as Edwardsiidae. There are patches of sand without them, but they inhabit about 50% of my tank. They're small, but they easily kill and eat small nassarius snails... which I haven't been able to keep in my tank since the "invasion"! The big nassarius can get away, but anything smaller get incapacitated by the anemone's sting and get devoured.

Anyway...

I'm considering getting a flasher wrasse, or possibly a mated pair. With these "land mines" in my sand, is this just a disaster waiting to happen? I know the wrasse will dig into the sand to sleep, but I'm not sure if their mucous coat is thick enough to keep them safe.

Any experience or thoughts?

 

[evolved]

Paracheilinus DO NOT sleep in the substrate; they sleep within the rockwork.

That being said, I'd still be nervous.

 

[evolved]

Double Post

 

[kurt_n]

Paracheilinus DO NOT sleep in the substrate; they sleep within the rockwork.

That being said, I'd still be nervous.

Oh... learn something new everyday! So the fairys sleep in the sand, and the flashers find a secluded place in the rock - probably down by the sand line?

If that's the case, I think I'm OK. I think. The anemones are pretty small and even the "big" ones can only reach up about 1/4" to 1/2" above the sand.

(That also answers the question I was pondering... should I put sand in my QT this time?)

 

[Ambition]

Neither fairy or flasher wrasses sleep in the sand. Both sleep within the rock work.

I would still be worried about adding any fish with them beig all over. Have you looked into various ways of removing the aneomones?

 

[kurt_n]

Guess I should mention that I've had these pests for at least 3-4 years, and this is a 6 year old tank. Current fishy inhabitants don't have any issues with them (including my tiny Yellow Clown Goby), but was worried about something that I incorrectly thought slept in the sand.

Yup... tried killing them off - most effective thing was little blobs of kalk paste plopped on top of their heads. But there's just too many of them. For a while, I was ticked they killed off my little nasarrius snails, but once I looked at them as part of my cleanup crew, I kind of came to peace with them! They definitely keep my sand bed clean! I keep thinking once they overpopulate, they'll kill themselves off.

 

[Empty Bottles]

Will peppermints eat them? You might be lucky and have a great source of live food to use to ween a copperbanded butterfly.