How risky is a carpet anemone?

M

Monster00101

New member
I have always liked the carpet anemones best but have been affraid of the stories i have heard. How risky are these guys to keep? I have a lot of fish in my reef and dont want them to get killed. I have heard they will eat all my fish. I have a scooter and a mandarin but they dont even go close to my plate when its coverd in shrimp.
 
I think is nothing to worry about cause the fishes know what is and anemone and they don't even get close to them except for the clowns

but also is good to know under what conditions you are going to put the anemone cause is always better to have it when the tank is mature enough

JMO
 
I had a blue carpet for a while. Ate about a dozen fish. The person who took it off my hands had a bunch eaten as well. This was in a 180g and the carpet was in a lower corner. His favorite was Cardinals, but he ate Tangs, Butterflys, Blennys and others as well.

Hard to resist them but I would highly recommend doing so!


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I have had my S. Gigantea for about a month and a half in a 75G and its been just fine. Its about 14inches wide. I have always heard these horror stories and actually have never witnessed it or had anyone around me have these issues. I do feed mine a lot to make sure to keep him in check. I think personally in my opinion that this is the biggest factor with them chomping on fish. The anemone gets fed everytime the fish get fed. He never deflates or anything either with this method. I also have 7 fish in my tank...... The best person to ask this question to probably would be Todd or elegence coral on here as they seem to be the longest keepers of carpets that are responsive a lot on here.
 
I have been keeping S. Haddonis for 12+ years now (( that is the age of my oldest one )), and I currently have 3 of them (( at one point did have 5 )). Over that time I have lost a total of 4 fish to them, 2 of which were a Mandarin and a Yellow Watchman goby -- two horrible fish to have in the same tank as an S. Haddoni. Overall, I would consider myself very luck to have only lost 4 fish, usually it would be a lot more.

IMO/E, the are 2 riskiest times for fish with an S. Haddoni -- first introduction -- could very well be chased, and could run right into the anemone; I've seen it happen. Second, would be an aggressive pair of spawning clowns with an S. Haddoni -- they will attack an existing fish, existing fish will chase the clowns, clowns go into Haddoni, existing fish is lunch.

In the end there are going to be risk, it is up to you if you want to take them.
 
I have lost 1 fish to my S. Haddoni. When i feed my fish seawead the clowns will take and swim right to the haddoin and the other fish will follow the clowns in.:mad2: So now i feed the clowns then the other fish.
 
I think the most notorious fish eater in our tanks is S. haddoni. I think it may be due to the fact that it lies along the bottom and is extremely sticky. In my experience, it was particularly dangerous at night right after "lights out".

Other anemones are usually less of an issue - up to a BTA which I don't think is an issue at all (or at least I have never lost a fish to a BTA).

I would consider S. gigantea a moderate fish risk, though to be honest I cannot recall ever losing a fish to one.
 
devilsthird said:
After reading this I may pass on getting one to avoid the risk. They are so cool looking though!
Click to expand...

That they are. :)

Red14.jpg
 
When I serviced tanks, one of our customers had the most striking blue carpet - and never any fish. The two clowns where the only constant fish inhabitants over the years of seeing his tank. One time we brought him some green chromis that he had ordered, acclimated them, and then watched as one of the dumb things was released and swam right into the anemone.
 
also i know people are saying haddonis eat more fish than gig.....

IMO gigs are a riskier if you have corals, they tend to move around more and seem to prefer rockwork in the aquarium over the sandbed.. i guess any anemone is risky with corals.
 
Sorry for late reply. thanks for all the info. I think im gonna pass i got a scooter that i love and he was never scared of my bleached sabae so im guessing he would become lunch. Thanks again.
 
I used to have a blue h , that was beyond sticky it, I had some serious trouble once when it grabbed my hand took forver to get it to let go without damaging it. I sold it to a fellow reefer...where it started by eating his clowns..and several other fish. The colour on it was amazing and it had very dense polpys, a really stunning anenome.
 
I had an rbta that roamed all the time. I sold it and purchased and haddoni and have been very happy. It stays put with it's foot between the sand and live rock, and it is in an area where the water current pushes food towards it during feeding time. All my fish and inverts have been safe and it is currently hosting my true perc, but my b/w occ has not diven in yet. I think what helps is I have really good moonlights and fish aren't getting freaked out or accidentally bumping into the haddoni. Hopefully I will continue have good luck in the future.
 
WILL EAT YOUR FISH! Gigs are much safer than Haddoni. Dont get a Haddoni unless you have Clarkki and nothing else. My tank: Green Carpet dinner included but not limited to one ocellaris, one dragon goby, and a damsel. Got that beautiful KILLER out of my tank before he ate my Powder blue and Yellow Tangs!!! BTW I have a 150g reef five years established and had not lost a fish in over three years until I was given the carpet....
 
Of all the anemones, I love carpet the most especially gigantea. I've kept a haddoni for about 2 months and ended up trading it back to the lfs. It got way too large way too quickly. In the 2 months period, I lost 4/5 of my chromis and 3 of my trochus snail. I keep seeing the snail shells and the carcass of my chromis around its mouth.

I haven't had any success keeping a gigantea yet. Not sure what's the secret it...
 
Secret to Gig is major flow usually. Thats what I see with people that have the most issues it seems. Flow and good lights make it worthwhile
 
=Conrad25;18176170]Secret to Gig is major flow usually. Thats what I see with people that have the most issues it seems. Flow and good lights make it worthwhile
Click to expand...

I don't think that is all. I have MP40 blasting at 100% power and 250W DE w/4 24W T5 blasting for 8 hours and still have trouble keeping a gig alive for more than 2months. Yet, I've seen people keeping their gig nice'n healthy under just T5.
Antibiotics doesn't seem to help either. I haven't tried it because I seriously don't know where to get it and don't have to deal with the health risk. But from reading different threads on gigantea recovery, I'm not sure if it helps.
 
You can call it whatever you want, I have had him in my tank for 3 months now and he has more color than ever and I know he will be in my tanks for years to come
 
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