I need Help with my anemone

[blennymower]

Can someone please tell me any important things I might need to know in order to successfully take care of an anemone?


[You can see pictures of it by clicking my red house]


It's usually doing good, but sometimes (like now) it shrivels up. I have had for more than a month now. I feed about every other day.

Calcium is at about 480
Alk at about 10-11
temp is always between 78-82
Ph is betweeb 7.7-7.8

 

[SnowManSnow]

ummm.. what kind of anemone?

 

[returnofsid]

Well, after searching through the 2 pages of your Red House link, I can't find any information about what's wrong with your anemone, what species it is, or anything. We'll need a lot more information before we're able to help.

The first thing I can think of, reading through your link, is that you put an anemone into a tank that wasn't close to mature enough to house an anemone.

 

[blennymower]

I don't know, it looks like a Sebae?

 

[Katmanblue]

Wow, you certainly jump head on, I wish I had your (seeming) budget. Oh--and Yeah FIU!

I think you "may" get a little negative reaction for asking about the care of an anemone after you bought it, not to mention the tank has only been running since May (?)--which may also explain the anthias dying. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck, and if I didnt see it in one of the many pics, you may also consider a generator since we are full in hurricane season...

 

[blennymower]

The anemone does good in my tank. There are moments though, where it just retracts. But these things are usually rare, not common.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Post a pic of it in the clownfish and anemone forum. It could also be an LTA. You need to know what speicies of anemone is before you can get the correct in formation on how to care for it. Different species of anemone need different kinds of care.

 

[blennymower]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15357039#post15357039 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Katmanblue
Wow, you certainly jump head on, I wish I had your (seeming) budget. Oh--and Yeah FIU!

I think you "may" get a little negative reaction for asking about the care of an anemone after you bought it, not to mention the tank has only been running since May (?)--which may also explain the anthias dying. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck, and if I didnt see it in one of the many pics, you may also consider a generator since we are full in hurricane season...

Thanks for the suggestion.

But just for the record I didn't jump right in. All the equipment I have I have acquired very slowly over a year and a half because I'm an FIU student. And over that year and a half I've been reading a lot about reefs since I've become very interested, and I know knowledge can't replace experience. My budget is not huge (I wish) the stuff I have I bought over long period of savings and some of the stuff (like the rocks, reefkeeper, vortech, tunze osmolator) are stuff I convinced my parents to buy because they also enjoy my tank.


As for the anemone I'm willing to accept the critiques, as long as they're constructive. I've been fairly successful with it, just want to know more.

 

[Cbravo212]

I applaud you doing the research prior to setting everything up. Most people don't. The comments you may hear about having a nem is that your tank has not fully established yet, if it was set up in May.

My advice: Keep your water parameters spot on and keep them CONSISTENT. This will be your biggest asset for having a nem.

Good luck.

 

[blennymower]

Thanks Bravo, I think I have done to say the least a normal job of keeping the parameters constant.

 

[Katmanblue]

"jumping in" wasnt meant as a critique---more jealousy than anything since my own 90g build is going so slowly (one bulb at a time...dang economics)... I agree 100% with Sugar as far as id'ing the anemone. At that point you can google to death reading about care/feeding, etc.
Buena suerte!

 

[blennymower]

It's ok I wasn't offended. I just want to make sure no one thinks I'm the guy with a lot of money (not there's anything wrong with that ) that buys a bunch of stuff and throws fish in without knowing squat.

I still haven't been able to identify this anemone, dang it.

As far as your tank going slow, I know what you're feeling man. I had to break down my tank so many times because I feel I didn't have the adequate equipment to maintain it properly. So I had to wait months to buy stuff like an RO/DI unit.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15357402#post15357402 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blennymower
I still haven't been able to identify this anemone, dang it.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15357083#post15357083 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sugar Magnolia
Post a pic of it in the clownfish and anemone forum. It could also be an LTA. You need to know what speicies of anemone is before you can get the correct in formation on how to care for it. Different species of anemone need different kinds of care.

 

[blennymower]

I have a thread going on there alreay

 

[noahm]

From this pic, it looks very much like a BTA --Bubble tip. They don't always have the bubble tips, but in some of the pics they are pretty clear. Plain jane pale color though. MAkes me think it is underlit.

Need tank params etc. lighting etc. unless I missed it. Sometimes nems just shrivel up for a bit. If you aren't running MH on that Coralife fixture, you will need them for a BTA. Just don't shock it all at once with new MH.

 

[blennymower]

noahm I have two 250 watt 10K bulbs in the fixture. One bulb runs from 10AM to 3:02PM and the other from 2:58PM to 8PM

 

[Mike31154]

I'm inclined to think BTA as well and it looks pretty good in your first photo. It should gain more color as time goes by. As for the shrinking episodes, nothing to worry about unless it stays that way for an extended period, like a few days at a time. This is their way of expelling waste and renewing/balancing the fluid inside. Since you're feeding every other day, this may happen more often. Not sure the size of the food you're giving, but you might try cutting back to every 3 to 4 days for the feeding. Observe it after feeding periodically as well, to ensure it's keeping it down. If you find it expelling the food too soon, definitely cut back on feeding frequency/size. The waste should look fairly gross, not too much like what you gave it.

 

[noahm]

Probably not the lights then... how are the nitrates, etc. Nems typically aren't too tolerant of water quality issues. If you have pics of the nem now, it would help. (didn't see them in your build thread). BTAs sometimes split, but without tank params and pics, it will be real hard to tell. If it is still very much attached to the rock, that is at least a good sign.

 

[driftin]

I'm also guessing it's related to feeding often.

 

[romsoccer12]

my bta does this all the time. i do think its because you added it to soon and it doesnt like your water quality so every once in a while it spews it out and collects new water. my bta did this every day for a couple weeks than as my tank slowly became older, it slowly stopped doing this and now only does it once or twice a week.