New to anemones

[thoroughly]

Hey all,
Well, I have to say....reading some of the FAQ's.....apparently I should have found you guys about two months ago, when I decided to start a saltwater tank. Just wanted to confirm how much trouble I am in.....thanks in advance.

75 gallon tank, 10K daylights, two 2foot 65 watt actinics, with emporer filter on the back of tank and a cylinder filter under the tank. Lots of live rock, and after one month, added two percula clowns. One clown died....bit by with a crab (hitchhiker in rock or the 14" blister worm-both removed now) since the other clown was doing well, I decided to try some corals. Several metallic mushrooms corals doing well, and a host of others, but I purchased what I was told was a bubble tip anemone. It was completely white. I placed in in my tank after acclimation, and after a few days, it moved to a spot under my rock, and now hangs almost upside down in a partial "cave". It stays small until night, and then comes out and gets pretty big. I initially assumed that this was just a white anemone, that for some reason was active at night. Oh, and btw, my percula clown won't even go near it! So....I am guessing now...that....
1) a bleached anemone? A short time after introduction it also had/has a long string of brown goo hanging off of it...which I am now assuming is that last of its phytoplankton/algae, although it was white to begin with.
2) this is not an anemone that likes it at night? It is just sick? It has stayed in the darker spot for a couple of weeks now
3) It is eating some frozen brine shrimp. Can I feed it anything else?
4) and never buy an anemone for a clownfish?
Any advice would be great for this novice to the hobby....appreciate any comments!

 

[55semireef]

Re: New to anemones

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8323624#post8323624 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thoroughly
Hey all,
Well, I have to say....reading some of the FAQ's.....apparently I should have found you guys about two months ago, when I decided to start a saltwater tank. Just wanted to confirm how much trouble I am in.....thanks in advance.

75 gallon tank, 10K daylights, two 2foot 65 watt actinics, with emporer filter on the back of tank and a cylinder filter under the tank. Lots of live rock, and after one month, added two percula clowns. One clown died....bit by with a crab (hitchhiker in rock or the 14" blister worm-both removed now) since the other clown was doing well, I decided to try some corals. Several metallic mushrooms corals doing well, and a host of others, but I purchased what I was told was a bubble tip anemone. It was completely white. I placed in in my tank after acclimation, and after a few days, it moved to a spot under my rock, and now hangs almost upside down in a partial "cave". It stays small until night, and then comes out and gets pretty big. I initially assumed that this was just a white anemone, that for some reason was active at night. Oh, and btw, my percula clown won't even go near it! So....I am guessing now...that....
1) a bleached anemone? A short time after introduction it also had/has a long string of brown goo hanging off of it...which I am now assuming is that last of its phytoplankton/algae, although it was white to begin with.
2) this is not an anemone that likes it at night? It is just sick? It has stayed in the darker spot for a couple of weeks now
3) It is eating some frozen brine shrimp. Can I feed it anything else?
4) and never buy an anemone for a clownfish?
Any advice would be great for this novice to the hobby....appreciate any comments!

Well it depends on what you call a pretty big hole you have dug yourself into.

So exactly what kind of lighting do you have again? I am assuming you have a halide/PC combo right?

Anemones require established tanks. A two month old tank is what I call a tank hitting "puberty."

Basically your tank has a long way to go until it is established. Your tank needs another 7-8 months to really be able to keep a BTA with less worries Other anemones that are not as forgiving as the BTA need at least a tank that has been up and running for a year at least. From what you have described, your BTA is bleached. Have you been feeding your BTA? Is it sticky to the touch? If you have been feeding it, then that brown stringy stuff could be waste your BTA is emitting. But if you have not fed it since, it is the last of the brown zooxanthellae algae. If you want to attempt to rescue your BTA, give it small daily feedings and do small weekly water changes on your system. You should strive to feed your anemone pieces of raw shrimp, clams and silversides. Thats really what you want to feed it not frozen brine shrimp. Frozen brine shrimp does not contain as much nutrients and it is not as "meaty."

These beneficial small feedings will boost your BTA with extra energy and nutrients and will give your BTA a fighting chance to come back. As long as you keep your water quality superb, your tank as stable as possible, strong lighting and your small daily feedings, your BTA should come back from its bleached state. But since its a new tank it will be a more difficult to do so.


Just my .02.

 

[redvipe2010]

In my opinion, you do not have enough lighting for any anemone. 130 watts in a 75 gallon is not enough

Any BTA that is white, you can consider it bleached. The best food IMO is silversides. Considering your BTA's condition, I would feed it very small parts daily, no bigger than it's mouth. The additional feedings may supplement the lack of lighting, but since it is already unhealthy, your chances decrease. But I strongly suggest getting more lighting for your tank.

Also, your bristle worm did not kill the clown, it was just doing it's job and cleaning up after the clown died.

How old is your tank set up? Typically, tanks are not ready for an anemone until they have been set up for 6 months.

By the way, Welcome to Reef Central!

 

[SuperNerd]

That's not how you welcome people! This is how you do it! :lmao:

Well kinda...I still can't link the reef central part hehe

 

[redvipe2010]

Oh, so sorry! LOL

But thank you for correcting me! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, how come nobody welcomed me like that? LOL I'm going to go cry myself to sleep now! Well maybe after another beer or two. Opps, can't cry in the beer!

 

[SuperNerd]

I agree that the watts per gallon rule is not always the best to use. Go by penetration. If your tank is deep then PCs won't be able to penetrate as far as halides.

What you have now doesn't really seem like a lot of light to me either and, as already mentioned, you added something to your tank that may very well be suffering from its own immaturity. Anemones are much more sensitive to changes in water quality than other "corals" (and in the wild they only die if they are eaten or become sick...as far as I know they can technically live forever and is one reason why you should go out of your way to purchase aquacultured anemones if possible) and should not, IMO, be added until your tank is stable enough and mature.

You could not help the fact that it was already bleached...but it may be somewhat of an uphill battle, in terms of its recovery, if your water parameters are jumping up and down.

If you want to be successful with corals, as well as other inverts such as anemones, shrimp, etc, you will need to monitor your water quality using test kits for at least Calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH. Also keep an eye on your Specific Gravity and keep it within the acceptable range for inverts...not just fish.

Check out this link for BTA care (roses are just another color morph of a BTA): www.karensroseanemones.com/

 

[SuperNerd]

redvipe2010: There's no crying at reef central!!! :lmao:

A belated

..."to reef central"
:lmao:

 

[redvipe2010]

Thank you SuperNerd! I feel so much better now! No more tears!!!

 

[Anemone]

Ahem,

[welcome]



Kevin

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8325557#post8325557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Anemone
Ahem,

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>



Kevin

Showoff.

10K daylights, two 2foot 65 watt actinics

Can you be more specific on your lighting. Are those daylights MH or what?

emporer filter on the back of tank

These filters are great for freshwater tanks and some FO saltwater tanks just because of their easy use, but they don't exacty get the job done with reef tanks or anemone tanks. Well at least mine never did and what I have heard from other peoples experiences.

 

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8325557#post8325557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Anemone
Ahem,

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>



Kevin

:lmao:

 

[thoroughly]

response to lighting questions

response to lighting questions

Hey all.....
Fed the anemone today....took three feedings of shrimp. My lighting is a 48 " 65W 4-lamp "24 hour lighting system" by current.
It has 8 lamps in 4 dual daylight (6,700/10,000K) plus dual actinic (420nm/460nm) and two lunar lights. Is this a crap system? Not good enough for the 75 gallon?
Thanks for all the help guys....appreciate all inputs.

 

[redvipe2010]

From your original post I thought you had only two bulbs. I believe that lighting will work for you in that tank, although I'm not familiar with that fixture. Hopefully someone else will chime in.