Number of clowns/pairs of clowns and BTA's you can keep

[Serioussnaps]

Here we go. Please dont turn this into a thread off on a tangent with your own agenda. If you want you own questions answered start your own thread!!!!!!!!Thank you.

I have been involved with reefkeeping for a few years. Kept all fish, coral, inverts etc.... but HAVE NEVER KEPT ANEMONES. I have kept clowns and pairs but never an anemone. Just never really messed with it due to my infatuation with softies and SPS.
Now i really want to attempt AN ANEMONE DISPLAY.

I have a few questions for those with experience and preferably first hand knowledge.

1) I am interested paticularly in BTA's(rose or green maybe both) I understand all the husbandry and their requirements, but one thing i cannot find referenced anywhere and im tired of looking.

CAN YOU KEEP MULTIPLE BTA'S IN ONE DIPLAY? OR CAN YOU KEEP A NUMBER OF ANEMONES TOGETHER OF THE SAME SPECIES OR ARE THERE NUMBEROUS PROBLEMS. I am particularly speaking of BTA's though.

Could I keep maybe 3 BTA's in one aquarium. I have seen where they reproduce and people have them together but this doesnt imply that i can go buy two BTA's and successfully keep them.

Please i know i CAN do it , but CAN isnt good enough, I want to successfully keep them for years.

CAN YOU HAVE MULTIPLE PAIRS OF CLOWNS IN RAHTER SMALL CONFINES SAY A 55 75G OR 90G display?/????

In other words have multiple anemones hosting multiple pairs of clowns?


If you can how should i go about it. If not, why?

THANK FOR YOUR TIME READING THIS POST

 

[Toddrtrex]

First, not sure that is the best way to start off a thread.

In my 75 I now have 5 RBTAs, 3 of them are in contact with each other at all times. (note, they are all clones of my original one) The original one I bought about 3 years ago.

In my 58 I have two BTAs, again, clone. (over 5 years now)
There is also a Haddoni carpet in that tank too.

I personally would only buy one. IME they spilt easily enough, just give it some time.

As far as multiple pairs of different clowns in a "small" tank, I personally wouldn't risk it. The odds of a battle are too great and not worth the risk to the clowns. Plus it is a PITA to catch clowns.

HTH

 

[dantodd]

Re: Number of clowns/pairs of clowns and BTA's you can keep

CAN YOU KEEP MULTIPLE BTA'S IN ONE DIPLAY? OR CAN YOU KEEP A NUMBER OF ANEMONES TOGETHER OF THE SAME SPECIES OR ARE THERE NUMBEROUS PROBLEMS. I am particularly speaking of BTA's though.

Could I keep maybe 3 BTA's in one aquarium. I have seen where they reproduce and people have them together but this doesnt imply that i can go buy two BTA's and successfully keep them.

For BTAs yes.

CAN YOU HAVE MULTIPLE PAIRS OF CLOWNS IN RAHTER SMALL CONFINES SAY A 55 75G OR 90G display?/????

In other words have multiple anemones hosting multiple pairs of clowns?

No

If not, why?

The clowns will fight. Some will almost certainly die.

 

[stykthyn]

couldnt agree more with these guys.

 

[SEAFLOWERS]

I have a nem species tank with ten Btas but only one pair of Onyx perculas and all has been well for a long time. I don't recommend different kinds of nems in the same tank, but others have done it successfully.

 

[FiberLux]

I agree with dantodd.

In my 180, I had one anemone and a pair of beautiful Onyx clowns. Then, I went through brain freeze and added a pair of Picasso clowns that I just had to have!

Since I didn't have a tank to move one of the pairs into, I had to rush out to add another BTA and hope that the bickering would eventually stop without any deaths!

Fortunately, it did and my two mixed pairs are now living side-by-side. I will be moving one of the pairs out as soon as my cube is setup. But, I won't ever try that again!

 

[Serioussnaps]

Thank you everyone. I didnt mean to be rude in the original post of the thread and im sure some can understand why i said that.

Good stuff. I appreciate your input very much. Guess when i move my tanks to a new house in July I will start a BTA tank. I might use a 120 or something fairly large to have two pairs of clowns but of different species. Who knows. I will certainly obseve the first pair before trying.

Once i get it up and goind i will post some pics up.

Thanks for the valuable experiences despite the originally rude post.

 

[phender]

If you are going to add two different species of clowns, may I suggest that you try to add both pairs at the same time. This would allow the two pairs to establish their own territories without a new pair having to take over a part of an already established territory.

 

[Anemone]

My 65 gallon BTA tank currently has 20 RBTAs in it. 19 are clones of my original female (which has split well over 100 times in the 11 years I've had it) and one is a male clone from another captive RBTA.

It took the male RBTA almost a year to really settle in and become comfortable. During that time I had to hand feed the male and even hold food near its mouth while it expanded and engulfed the food (ie, the tentacles weren't particularly sticky and the anemone wasn't "grabbing" food). I think that chemical warfare may have played into the delayed response of the male clone - even though they are of the same species.

So, yes, you can keep multiple different BTAs in the same tank. However, I feel the possiblity for chemical aggression, even within the same species is possible. Of course, any chemical aggression might be less prevalent if you added all the anemones at the same time, as versus allowing one to take over the entire tank (as was the situation in my case).

FWIW,
Kevin

 

[Serioussnaps]

Of the species of clowns that host BTA's what are likely to be the least aggressive. I know Maroons are highly aggressive and have exprerienced it myself, I wont be keeping them. I will have my precious Copperband in this tank if he doesn't pick at the anemones. In the 2 years I ve had him he's never picked at anything but a snail, so this may be feasible. I currently have him in my new SPS tank and I dont like him near the soon to be alot of exprensive stonies.

What about the Clarki clown. I dont like tomatoes. I currently have a pair of percs so they will likely be the first canidates. Do you think percs and clarks will get along? I dont think they will but i have room to try it.

--Also, you have nineteen clones in 11 years. So 2 clones every other year and one every other year? Everyone else seen about the same reproduction?

Yeah i think I wanna put one GBTA and one RBTA in the display i have in mind. Then just let them do what they do.

What have you noticed to be a positive contributor to the health of your anemones and their reproduction?Feeding, current, lighting etc...?

Once again thank you everyone.

 

[Serioussnaps]

Im doing what i asked others not to do--go off on a tangent.
Did you breed those skunks?

 

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7311370#post7311370 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serioussnaps
Im doing what i asked others not to do--go off on a tangent.
Did you breed those skunks?

If that was directed at me, they kind of breed themselves . I raised about 3 or 4 batches of babies. I haven't raised any for about a year. They still lay eggs about every 10 days.

 

[Anemone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7311310#post7311310 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serioussnaps
--Also, you have nineteen clones in 11 years. So 2 clones every other year and one every other year? Everyone else seen about the same reproduction?

No, I currently have 19 clones. The original anemone and daughters I've kept in my tank have produced well over 100 clones in 11 years - and if I count the splits of the daughter clones I know about that have occurred in other folks' tanks, I'd say easily over 200.

FWIW,
Kevin

 

[Serioussnaps]

Hell yeah. Im sold.
Gonna get me some BTA's.