Mixing Anemone & Coral

[Aseidman]

I have a 30 Gallon xhigh mini reef set up. It was stocked and did well with a good number of caraols. Unfortunately about a year or two back, someone shut my AC off when we left for vacation and everything cooked ! A very sad day.

Anyway, for the past 2 years, I have kept the tank lit, the refugium running and some small snails and crabs in the tank, but I added no corals. Shockingly 1 or two corals have survived the ordeal.

Anyway, now that I am ready to begin to re-stock.. I need to decide what I stock with ! So...

I am thinking to add some nice Anemone and clownfish. In the past, I avoided Anemone as I was told that its a bad idea to mix coral and Anemone in the same small tank.

Is this really the case > I have seen tanks that mix the two and I think that some enemone are a visual pleasure and comparitivly chep to corals. Any reason I can not add some carpet anemone or a bubble tip ? and then add coral later ? Are there particular anemone I should consider ?

thanks,
Allen

 

[asonitez]

I think if you added the nem FIRST and let it find its place and stay there for a few days. you can start adding coral but give it space to grow and spread. I've seen my RBTA grow and reach 14" before and i make sure not to place any corals in their way. I'm glad mine chose a nice cave to jam its foot into.

 

[K9Nurse911]

+1 or letting the nem find it's home first...I have a BTA in with several soft corals, and haven't had any problems...I keep the corals away from the nem, though he does extend and touch my GSP on occasion...no problems noted on that...but yea, let the nem get settled, and place the corals away from it...and watch out for corals that can "stretch" themselves and sting the nem...(torches, etc)


- Andrea

 

[Toddrtrex]

Personally I will never have a BTA in a reef tank again. I had no issue with the main one moving, but the clones sure did. Plus, with them being rock dwelling anemones they took up too much real estate. I prefer sand dwelling anemones in reef tanks. I have kept Haddonis and LTAs in SPS tanks without any issues (( as long as frags don't fall on them ))

 

[isseym328]

When I got back into the hobby 7 months ago I wanted a tank with both nem and corals. Now I have a 60g choke full of sps and softies and a huge purple carpet on the sand. Am I saying I didn't lose any corals to it? No. Some pieces did fall off and land on the carpet...which burned them like crazy. I managed to save most of them but there were a few small frags that I lost. I agree with everyone that you should get the nem first and make sure it finds a happy place in your tank. That way when you start adding corals around it it won't make a sudden decision to move around.

 

[aph]

I tend to avoid nems myself. I have heard that it is best to let an anemone find its place in a tank BEFORE putting corals in there so it won't move around and sting everything... however, I've also heard that anemones should not be added to a new setup, that it should be a 6+ month established tank...