Mixing anemones of different species

[beuchat]

Hi,

I have read some previous posts about people triying to understand allelopathy and sharing experiences with mixing diferent nem's species. As i have had some degree of success using antibiotic with new anemones in QT, I have some related doubts/questions and maybe we can discuss about them:

I wonder if somebody have made the experiment of removing one nem and experiencing a significative improvement in the residents ones.

Is it possible to think in allelopathy when the only issue is bacteria transfer between new infected anemone and healthy residents without chemical warfare?

Is there the possibilite of allelopathy and pathogen transfer working at same time?

Can we assume that in case of introducing a complete healthy anemone to the DT, allelopathy itself is reponsible for illness in one or all of them?

I hope the experts may give their opinions, experiences or thoughts about these and other related issues about mixing different anemone´s species.

 

[elegance coral]

I mix different species all the time. I have five different species in one tank right now. Allelopathy is real. With new, unhealthy, anemones there may be some level of contagious transfer between species. This is different from allelopathy.
I recently gave away my malu after moving it into the tank with my haddoni. Both anemones were well established and healthy. The haddoni began going down hill. I tried everything I could think of, but nothing helped. After removing the malu, my haddoni quickly recovered.
I've had the same crucifer for quite a few years. I added a gigantea to it's tank, and the crucifer's mouth began to gape. It's never done this before. My work load has been unreal lately, so I haven't been able to address this problem. The crucifer's mouth is still gaping, but it seems healthy otherwise. I'd be willing to bet that if I moved the crucifer to another system, it's mouth would stop gaping. You can see the crucifer with the gaping mouth in this video.
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[phender]

I have had 2 cases with giganteas, one in with a mag and the other with a H. crispa. In both cases the giganteas were very healthy and over a year(one was two years) in my tank, living and growing with the other species. In both cases, when the other anemones hit a growth spurt, the giganteas went into a tail spin from which they did not recover. No other changes occurred in the tanks.
This is not proof of allopathy, but it is enough for me to vow to never try to keep gigantea in a mixed tank again. It is just too hard to lose a beautiful anemone like that when you thought you were out of the woods.

 

[beuchat]

OK,thank you

That's s a very important information for me because I thought is was just a question of providing good conditions for them to thrive.

Now I have removed the hadonii and kept the gigantea in my tank.

 

[wedwards]

I have an LTA and a BTA in my tank right now and have not had any problems... yet

 

[atreis]

I've a gbta, rbta, lta, and rock flower in my tank right now. They are all happy - in fact the LTA has recovered nicely from the pure white bleaches state it was in when I rescued it.

 

[R33f3r]

Has anyone had long term success with gigs and bta's together?

 

[beuchat]

Thank´s to all for the aswers.

When I wacht the video from elegance coral just wonder how is it possible to have those wonderfull nems alltogether without mallor issues.

Maybe the secret could be to introduce always healthy nems?. I do not know.

Please, elegance coral, maybe you can provide us with some infomation or some tips that you think could work for anyone like me, trying to establish a multispecies tank. I know speaking alleopathy and pathogen trasnfer can be something ambiguous, but in your case nems are trihiving!

How did you get to that point ?

 

[phender]

I can't speak for Elegance Coral. I don't know how long he has had his anemones together.
IME, anemones seem to be able to control the alleiopathy. Mine were fine in one case for over two years. There was only a problem when one started growing quickly.