Long tenticaled anemone in 37 gallon reef w/ power compacts?

[PufferFish87]

I have a LTA that came in a tank that I purchased from a RC member.. I dont have much knowledge of anemones.. But I did think that they needed MH lighting to survive.. But this tank only has power compacts.. It is a pretty large anemone and I dont plan on upgrading my lighting anytime soon so any suggestions would be appreciated.. If the anemone is not going to survive I will probably just sell it off because I want to do the right thing.. so fill me in!!

Thanks

 

[kamil5000]

Of all the difficult anemones, the LTA and BTA are probably the 'easiest'. They can thrive under PC (depending on how many you watts you have). Also you can feed it more to make up for any loss in light that its zooanthella are not processing.

But light is only one of the requirments: you also need adequate waterflow (strong, indirect flow t o help it with waste managment and gas exchange) and also very good water quality.

Unfortunately, most newbies seem to have difficulty keeping anemones alive for more than six month. I killed two before I got it right (one in the pump and the other just fell up - probably water conditions in a newly established tank new tank).

With the right conditions they can live a very long time.

Good luck.

 

[kamil5000]

One more thing. Under the right conditions - they can grow very big. And since LTA's do not split in captivity, you may find that soon it will be taking up most of the space in your tank. I keep on having to move corals out f its way as it grows.

 

[sarahkucera]

I've got an LTA in a 120 gallon and the beast takes up 1/4 to 1/3 of the front of the tank.

This is what I started with, poor thing was the last of the livestock to be picked up from a tank tear down. They gave it to me for free because they said it was going to die that night when they drained the tank if I didn't take it.
<img src="http://www.midnightmadness.org/sarah/saltwater/071106/DSC08866.JPG" width=600 height=484>

Today:
Tentacle closeup
<img src="http://www.midnightmadness.org/sarah/saltwater/072306/DSC09476.JPG" width=800 height=426>

Mouth closeup.
<img src="http://www.midnightmadness.org/sarah/saltwater/072306/DSC09478.JPG" width=600 height=450>

Full anemone shot.
<img src="http://www.midnightmadness.org/sarah/saltwater/072306/DSC09479.JPG" width=600 height=450>

Full tank shot. Look at how big that monster is!
<img src="http://www.midnightmadness.org/sarah/saltwater/072306/DSC09490.JPG" width=800 height=600>