I dont know which anemone to get, please help

[Tmoriarty]

You could possibly keep a small BTA in a 10g (there are heaters you can put under the sand to prevent the above issues, small flat non adjustable heaters for nano tanks). The issue comes with water quality and size. Eventually every hosting anemone can get to the point it is to large of a bio-load on your 10g tank.

If you truely wish to keep one I would go BTA, they are the only anemone species forgiving enough to deal with some water quality issues and split naturally allowing you to get rid of the clones and hopefully keep the size down.

If you go that path do not follow the 3/4 watts per gallon, give it enough light to do well. You would need to stay on top of watter changes or at a minimum come up with a method to keep nutrients low and stable.

I agree with Minh that it is not advisable, but it is also not impossible.

 

[FTDelta]

Why not find a suitable surrogate "non-anemone" host such as a hammer coral, frogspawn or torch coral instead?

 

[emdr888]

Why not find a suitable surrogate "non-anemone" host such as a hammer coral, frogspawn or torch coral instead?

+1

You may find your clown will never host a bta, but have the problems associated with having a nem in a small tank.

 

[Dxbullet19]

I never thought of a torch coral honestly because I never thought that my clown could host it. Any suggestions as to which one? And about how big would they get? I appreciate everyones input by the way, the stores around me pretty much just tell me what I want to hear in order to make a sale so I can't really believe them. What people are saying here are almost opposite of what I've been hearing lately and I trust this more than a salesman. Thank you

 

[Navyblue]

The problem with that size of tank IMO is nutrient export. I think you need to at least have a good skimmer and some way to export the nitrate (like macro algaes) in order to have decent water quality to keep an anemone.

I'd also want to upgrade the lighting if you want to keep coral (not to mention anemone). I would suggest a toadstool leather, you won't have to monitor calcium, and they don't sting clownfish. The LPSes like torch, hammer, frogspawn, long tentacle plate and etc are fine too, but these sometimes can sting clownfishes and you need to monitor/dose calcium, not a big deal but something to consider.

When corals gets too big you can frag them and sell them. But if you have to ask these questions, I'd say you are not quite ready yet. Keep reading and good luck.

 

[blackstrat]

I have had one rtba and one maxi-mini carpet anemone.
Notice I say "had"...past tense?
The rose tip reeked havoc on my corals. Constantly moving, stinging. Moving the flow to try to accommodate him/her/it was to no avail.
The maxi-mini was on the back side of the LR where I couldn't get to him to target feed him. Anyway, he was boring.
If you can get a RBTA to stay in one place and then in a visible location, they then are really cool. I could not.
FWIW...(for what its worth)

 

[blackstrat]

Maybe a large tank might have more success than my 55 gallon.

 

[Dxbullet19]

Well this is why I am asking questions from different sources. Everyones gotta start somewhere but everyone has different information on whats best and what to do etc etc. Im trying to learn how to do this stuff thats why I am asking so many questions.

 

[velvetelvis]

There isn't any clownfish hosting anemone that you can keep in a 10 g tank on a desk like your's. As you can see above, there will be people who say that you can keep this or that but just avoid it...If anemone is what you want then get your heater cover and keep a Maxi S. tapetum carpet with a few anemone shrimp.

No clown fish hosting anemone for you

+1

I have a 14G biocube with a couple of S. tapetum "maxi-mini carpet" anemones, some blue anthelia, flame algae, and (eventually) a colony of sexy shrimp. Maxi-minis are beautiful, relatively inexpensive, and easy to take care of. You get the fun of keeping anemones without the hassles of larger, more expensive, more demanding species (that is, any of the clownfish-hosting kind).

Don't get me wrong, I love my bubbletips almost as much as my clowns do--but the maxi-minis are a lot hardier and more forgiving of mistakes.

 

[blackstrat]

My True Peruclas's (wild caught) had zero interest in being hosted by the Rose Tip.
I tried to get them together, no go.
Had the Clowns been interested, I would no have doubt kept the Rose Tip
and would have dealt with the roving anemone by moving my coral.
I was disappointed but realize there are no guarantees in the world of Aquary.

 

[newb]

"Why not find a suitable surrogate "non-anemone" host such as a hammer coral, frogspawn or torch coral instead?"

i have a pair of false perc that have called a brain coral home for years. of course i think i could throw an old boot in there and they might call it moovin on up.

 

[c2g174]

i agree, ive tryed btas in small tanks its really hard to keep stable. an if all goes bad could really foul up your water and posibbly kill everything else

 

[rssjsb]

I currently have a t5 light setup. 1-18w 10k and 1-18w actinic. Filtration is a fluval 205. All my levels are okay as well just had the water tested at a local store. Thanks everyone!

In addition to what others have said, you don't really have enough light to keep an anemone. In fact, I think you may need to upgrade to keep the corals people are suggesting as a substitute for an anemone. 18 watts in a spectrum that's usable (actinics don't really contribute much to photosynthesis) is probably only going to be enough to keep very low light corals like mushrooms.

You've been given good advice here from people with a lot of experience. BTAs are really the only hosting anemone suitable for a new reefkeeper, and they are problematic in a small tank, even one with enough light. They move around a lot and will sting corals that they encounter. Setting aside the heater issue (trust OrionN on this), you're better off with maxi-minis. They're easier to keep and do not move around so much. Some are really beautiful, too.

In short, wait until you've got more experience and a bigger setup to try a hosting anemone.