If youre staring new tank-anemone?

[linkedsilas]

New to the hobby, had my tank going without any stock in it for 2 years, yes... Ive been preoccupied. I didnt have the time for it and now I do. It has live rock in it and some snails. I wanted to put in some coral, a clown and maybe try to find a blenny. Ive been reading up on bubble tip anemones. Am I wrong to keep seeing its for a beginner? I know I dont need one for a clown, but I think it would be interesting to have one. Am I dreaming because its a 30 gal tank?
Im a zoo keeper by trade so I take care of my critters as well as possible and dont want to get into something over my head so Im doing research now.
If i were to get an anemone is it better to get one before coral in hopes it will pick one location and settle there so I wouldnt have to move coral so fast?

 

[Daniel62]

Your tank size is fine. But these nems like to move. Sure some stay in place, but if you change anything like flow or lighting, this might trigger them to move. But yes they are a easy nem to keep. Also you will need some way to cover your power heads. good luck

 

[nemmy]

As far as caring for anemones go bubble tip are the easiest and the hardiest anemone. Just need a decent light and good water parameters. Also a stable 6-12 month old tank. Leaning more towards the 12 if possible. I know you said the tank is 2 years old so it's well established but it's established without livestock. Personally I would get the fish slowly. Maybe grab two clowns, wait a week or two, grab your blenny then wait a few months on the anemone.

Adding livestock creates ammonia which your tank needs to process into nitrate. So its best to add fish slowly so your tank doesn't get bombarded with ammonia all on one shot and can learn to adjust to it slowly. Once the tank is established for awhile with a livestock bioload then I would aim for an anemone.

 

[linkedsilas]

Thanks for your help, what about some kind of LPS coral that "might" host a clown...You think that would be better than an anemone?

 

[garygb]

I would say a BTA is similar, in terms of difficulty, to an LPS. A 30-gallon is plenty large to successfully keep BTAs. In addition to good light (which you don't mention your lighting), BTAs prefer specific gravity approaching natural seawater (1.026 or 35ppt). They also appreciate very low nitrates, moderate water flow, and water temps in the 78-82F range. BTAs like to attach in a hole in the liverock or with their foot planted on the underside of a overhang in the liverock. Once they find a spot they like, they don't tend to wander. Wandering is an indication something is off, likely high nitrates or insufficient lighting or flow. If you want to see the natural symbiotic relationship between an anemone and clowns, then if you go with either a maroon, tomato or clarkii, you will almost definitely see that as these are all naturally found in BTAs in the wild. If you prefer a more docile percula or ocellaris, then there is a very good chance the clowns will choose to be hosted by the BTA at some point. However, these species are not naturally found in BTAs and so it is not a sure bet like with the previous species I mentioned. As already stated, you will want to put either screen or foam around the powerheads, as a wandering BTA can be sucked into the pump and pulverized.

 

[linkedsilas]

Thank you