Looking For One!

Here is a link to the Anemone and Clownfish Forum

I would really like to see you start a thread in there with specifics about your tank, experience level, etc before you buy one of these difficult animals. I know the urge to buy certain fish, corals and other animals is very strong, especially when you are new and haven't lost much, but take our advice and slow down a bit.
 
Where's your bubble tip anemone? I just see a condy in the pic in your thread.

Also, how long have you had your sps? If you've had them a while (more than a month) and they're growing then your tank is in better shape than we are thinking based on the pics and the amount of time set up.

My suggestion is to hold off on getting a carpet at least until you set up your 180 in a year. Shipping a carpet is stressful for it, but so is a move. Even if you do go against our advice and buy a carpet that manages to live until you move, you're running the risk of killing it just by moving.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11949105#post11949105 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nanook
Here is a link to the Anemone and Clownfish Forum

I would really like to see you start a thread in there with specifics about your tank, experience level, etc before you buy one of these difficult animals. I know the urge to buy certain fish, corals and other animals is very strong, especially when you are new and haven't lost much, but take our advice and slow down a bit.
Click to expand...

Actually I see he partially did that yesterday and didn't get much of a reponse...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1330185

Cramz,

I would suggest if you wanted and 2nd opinion to open up another thread on the Clownfish and Anemone Forum entitled, "Am I Ready For a Carpet Anemone?" and post pics of your tank, list of equipment, and everything else Nook stated. I guarantee you'll get plenty of responses.
 
The pic with the hydrometer is from a long time ago...i don't use that anymore. I have MH lights over my tank if you look at the new pics with the pc my sump is all cut and ready to be assembled just waiting on the arrrival of the weld-on. I have no surface scuzz or film w/e you call it b/c i point my spray bar at the surface to agitate. My Cinn. Clown get's along with my perc and they have been the ones who have been in there the longest together w/ the damsels and i have never seen aggression between them unless the perc gets too close to the BTA. Not saying there couldn't end up with fights but for right now it works. I see that you guys are pointing out all my mistakes that i made as a new reefer but as a Stay at home father this is what i do with all my free time and believe me it's a lot. I read forum after forum and i read articles. All i was asking for was tips on how to keep one and tips on how to buy one if you read my original post. I do not need to be told my system is flawed when you look at my old pictures! If i could do it all over again the only thing i would change is getting a wider tank. I love that i just jumped in and started learning a lot of the times the hard way. What fun is it if you just do everything by the book exact word for word...what do you learn? Imagine all the things that have been learned over the last 10 years about people just doing things that are different and coming up with things. I love the animal i would love to have one, do you think if i was just going to get one no matter what, I would post a thread on tips and info about them from my "fellow" reefers b/c i think that's the best advice. I have spent weeks on the internet and havn't learned as much as what i have learned by walking into a LFS and talking to someone for an hour or two. If the advice i am hearing is wait then yeah i will wait but what am i waiting for? I hear untill the algae but what else..
 
Nick, the first paragraph was written before I looked at his tank. Yea I see where you're coming from. Pretty much dead on.

Camz, when youput in new rock, there's always dead matter on it and it can put the tank into a small "cycle" of sorts.

It seems like you're going in the right direction by getting a sump/fuge and everything set up. A fuge can make life sooo much easier.

Like I said earlier to answer your question. A larger tank would help, a little longer waiting period would be required to make sure the tank is 100% stable. (anemone's are not very forgiving, especially carpets). A carpet anemone will eat anything that comes too close. (I've lost 2 fish to my maxi mini carpet). A full-size Hadoni can grow up to almost 2 feet in diameter remember. (you have a 4 foot tank, not much you can do there especially when the tank is only 12" fron to back).

Wait for a new tank is what I'd wait for. Or better yet, hold out for a maxi-mini anemone. Just as cool and about half the size.
 
DSCF1403.jpg


DSCF1399.jpg
 
I was just going by the pics in the gallery. If those are old please up date us with current information.

Tips on keeping one.
- Get a bigger tank than a 55 or 75. Think 120ish.
- Get a sump.
- 250w minimum of MH lighting per 2ft of tank.
- Get a skimmer for your sump.
- Plan to buy one from a vendor
- Make sure sump and tank is stocked with biologically active LR.
Not seeded baserock.
- Locate heaters and all uneccisary pumps, gadgets in the sump.
Anemones can find danger anywhere.
- Keep a healthy phytoplankton population through
dosing, so that you can build a healthy zooplankton population
from that. The anemone will appreciate that.
- You will probly have to stock up on silversides.

Tips on getting one.
- Check out and talk to the store in Valley park.
- Otherwise go to each and every LFS in reasonable
driving distance and see if they order them often and the
"luck" they have with carpets.
- Find the store that has the median price and best record.
Some stores will charge $$$$$ because they have a
mentality that since its a big anemone it is worth alot.
Other stores might charge not so much $$ cause they know
it will die.
 
yeah that mini is cool! I really appreciate the tips and after thinking about it i am going to wait for when i get my new tank established. What are your fav. corals since all you guys broke my heart and tore me down j/p...I really like my sun polyp i got
 
All of us, myself included, have bought a fish or coral or whatever on an impulse just to have it die when if we would've done our research and gone "by the book" we could've saved ourselves money and the life of an animal. Reef critters are not plucked from the ocean by choice, and once they're in your tank it is your responsibility to give them the best environment possible. Congratulations on making the right choice :)

Now, as far as corals go, my favorites are zoanthids :) They're super colorful and easy to keep. There are also many different varieties out there so you can add all kinds of cool colors to your tank!
 
Also, if you like your sun polyp you may look at dendros and duncans. They're similar to sun polyps but they're out during the day. The only thing you've got to be careful of with all three of those corals (sun polyps, dendros, and duncans) is that they need to be fed on a regular basis with a turkey baster. I had a tank with just sun polyps and dendros in it for a little while and I fed a cube of mysis every night. Despite doing water changes my nitrates and phosphates were sky high.
 
my sun polyp is out a lot during the day...that's when the LFS feed so it comes out a lot waiting to be fed when I feed i start just by squirting some of the water with a little of the mysis and brine over it and about 10 min later they are all out ready to be fed...hopefully this isn't bad
 
Nope, not bad at all. "Baiting" your sun polyps is the best way to make sure every mouth gets fed :) It depends on who you talk to, but some people (such as myself) feel that brine doesn't really have any nutritional value. If you're just using it to bait the polyps to open that's cool, but if you're using it as a main food source you might want to switch over to mysis or Rod's food :)

The more you feed your polyps the happier they'll be, and provided everything else is right you may have lots of little tiny sun polyps forming on your rockwork in other places as the sun polyps reproduce. It's a pretty gratifying feeling, but I might just be weird ;)
 
Sorry to barge into your club forum but this thread peaked my interest due to the topic. Some personal experience that I hope helps. My carpet resides in a 200 with total system water volume of about 400 gallons. It's a green haddoni. I got it 2nd hand from someone who was tearing his system down. It was purchased from one of our better LFS's and I knew the history behind the anemone. I've had him for about 2.5 years and it's been in captivity for a total of about 3 years. I've been very fortunate with it and that it has done really well in my tank. I contribute that to the system's volume, overall age and stability. That and being well fed :) I think the purple tang was his favorite meal. But seriously the anemone is a major consideration with anything that i do with the tank. It usually stays at about 12-13 inches but at times puffs out to 18 or more. It's under a 400 watt MH and and 2 48" t-5s. I do consider it one of the more difficult creatures IME to care for. I pay attention to it daily and would classify it under the "if you have to ask if I'm ready" rule then you should probably wait. My advice would be to wait until you have tweaked out your system hooked up your sump/fuge got the bigger tank annd anything else. A 55 might be ok but remember this is a creature that is potentially going to take up a 1/4 -1/3 or more of that tank bioload will be an issue. Patience is the key to this hobby above all else.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11949552#post11949552 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Cramz07
I have spent weeks on the internet and havn't learned as much as what i have learned by walking into a LFS and talking to someone for an hour or two.
Click to expand...

Wow:eek2: I couldn't let this statement go. I know this sounds harsh, but I have never heard that said since Reef Central came into being. I know we have some good stores here in the area, but the volumes of information we now have in the hobby stemmed from boards like RC. The thing about RC is that we are hobbyists trying to help each other, not make a buck off each other.

End rant:)
 
lol ouch that rant hurt nook :) jk but I agree with nook some if not most stores are after your money, definitely go for other reefers knowledge and experiences with most if not all of your questions....JMHO
 
I'm not saying i havn't learned a lot from here but look at what happened right here i was just trying to ask for "reefers knowledge and experience" and see what it would take to take care of one and tips on buying one and all i got was a heated topic of people more or less putting my tank down or not even answering my questions. If i walked into MY LFS i would of probably got a straight forward answer to the question asked. That's just my opinion on a thread like this. Or on here you get the know it alls that when they ask the parameters of your tank and you say normal instead of typing every single one out freak out and say what are the exact levels. I know what the levels should be and so why should i sit here and tell you my every single test...those are just my problems with posting on here just trying to get questions answered..

Oh and my sunpolyps i mix mysis and brine...yeah everyone i talk to about brine i compare it to a potato chip to us humans. It's about a 3-1 ratio of mysis to brine
 
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