Rose anemone growth and hosting?

Doge

Member
I've had a rose anenome for quite some time now and it split a few months ago. I think both of them had plenty of time to heal but they're really small at the moment. They're about the size of a 50 cent US piece and aren't very tall. The tips of the anenome (top) are also very small. I'm pretty sure my lights are strong enough because when I first got the anenome it was a decent size. I'm starting to feed the anenomes with shrimp two to three times a week (started feeding couple days ago), also, I have a blue tang and 2 clowns in the tank if that makes a difference. Lastly, how do I get both of my clowns to host the anenome. When it was decent sized only 1 clown hosted the anenome and it was the female. To end this how do I get both clowns to host and now that I'm feeding the anenome will it grow?

Thanks for your help if your responding :rollface:
 
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I hardly ever feed my rbtas but then again they've hardly grown.

Is the tank cycled? Hate to break it to you but that blue tang is not going to work out well in that small of a tank (assuming its 27g?). Check out liveaquaria and try to gain more knowledge before buying fish. They are sensitive creatures, best of luck to you
 
I hardly ever feed my rbtas but then again they've hardly grown.

Is the tank cycled? Hate to break it to you but that blue tang is not going to work out well in that small of a tank (assuming its 27g?). Check out liveaquaria and try to gain more knowledge before buying fish. They are sensitive creatures, best of luck to you

Yes it is. The three fish have been in the tank for a year or two now so I think they're fine lol. :spin3:
 
Yeah I agree with the blue tang but for now seems fine I always keep my baby hippo/ blue tangs in my 35 gallon for about a year or 2 then move them into my 250 gallon they never work out for me just putting ten into the larger tank for the RBTA I would feed them maybe only 2 times a week and they sound a bit small for the clowns to host them they could be killed by the clown at this time but I would wait it out one morning you will probably wake up to find the clown hosting its a random thing and could take any amount of time patients is the #1 factor in a reef aquarium:) hope this helps also what kind of lights do you have and pics of the anemone will help you can take a picture each week or month also to monitor growth


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You don't say what species of clown, that said if they're not maroon clowns then they may or may not be hosted by the RBTA. BTA's are the natural host of maroon clownfish and with percula or ocellaris the most common clownfish, their natural host are some of the carpet anemones.

Not saying it won't happen but don't hold your breath for them to take the RBTA as a host. Also remember that the fish isn't the host, the anemone is the host. About the only thing that clownfish can host are parasites :D
 
Yeah I agree with the blue tang but for now seems fine I always keep my baby hippo/ blue tangs in my 35 gallon for about a year or 2 then move them into my 250 gallon they never work out for me just putting ten into the larger tank for the RBTA I would feed them maybe only 2 times a week and they sound a bit small for the clowns to host them they could be killed by the clown at this time but I would wait it out one morning you will probably wake up to find the clown hosting its a random thing and could take any amount of time patients is the #1 factor in a reef aquarium:) hope this helps also what kind of lights do you have and pics of the anemone will help you can take a picture each week or month also to monitor growth


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Okay, and I'll start uploading pictures of the anenome every week or so to see the progress! :)
 
I've had a rose anenome for quite some time now and it split a few months ago. I think both of them had plenty of time to heal but they're really small at the moment. They're about the size of a 50 cent US piece and aren't very tall. The tips of the anenome (top) are also very small. I'm pretty sure my lights are strong enough because when I first got the anenome it was a decent size. I'm starting to feed the anenomes with shrimp two to three times a week (started feeding couple days ago), also, I have a blue tang and 2 clowns in the tank if that makes a difference. Lastly, how do I get both of my clowns to host the anenome. When it was decent sized only 1 clown hosted the anenome and it was the female. To end this how do I get both clowns to host and now that I'm feeding the anenome will it grow?

Thanks for your help if your responding :rollface:

edit: going to start taking weekly pictures starting today (every saturday)
 
Awesome best of luck I'll keep up with this thread so we can see if there's progress :)


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I started with one Rose Bubble Tip in my 29 gallon bio-cube. About a year after I introduced him, maybe 2, he split. About another year goes by, one of them split again. Now I have 3. Too big tip to tip for the 29 gallon, so threw together a 40 breeder. About another year goes by, one of them split. Now 4. 40 breeder is getting too small. One of them branched off again - now I have 5 :( Planning a 250 - 300 gallon tank.

One thing I've heard, but can't really say is not to feed them. I used to feed silversides. One of them choked or whatever they do and almost died probably on the bones or something - so I stopped feeding that. About the time I stopped the splitting seemed to slow down. I gave some mysis shrimp but even stopped that. Now they just get whatever the clowns bring them or they catch (brine, mysis, and pellets).

They are doing fine but can over take a tank and grow.
 
I started with one Rose Bubble Tip in my 29 gallon bio-cube. About a year after I introduced him, maybe 2, he split. About another year goes by, one of them split again. Now I have 3. Too big tip to tip for the 29 gallon, so threw together a 40 breeder. About another year goes by, one of them split. Now 4. 40 breeder is getting too small. One of them branched off again - now I have 5 :( Planning a 250 - 300 gallon tank.

One thing I've heard, but can't really say is not to feed them. I used to feed silversides. One of them choked or whatever they do and almost died probably on the bones or something - so I stopped feeding that. About the time I stopped the splitting seemed to slow down. I gave some mysis shrimp but even stopped that. Now they just get whatever the clowns bring them or they catch (brine, mysis, and pellets).

They are doing fine but can over take a tank and grow.

Wow it's amazing how they can keep splitting. I'll keep in mind what you've said and try out everything. Thanks for the advice!
 
Weekly update #1:
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http://s1255.photobucket.com/user/Buberino2/media/image_zpsk9gdxzwh.jpeg.html I don't think the image thing works..
 
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Those RBTA's look pretty bleached out to me. How long has your tank been set up, & what lighting do you have over it? Also, what are your water parameters? As Dkuhlmann said, don't hold your breath waiting on the clowns to host the nems. It's always a crapshoot as to when/if it happens. I've had clowns dive right in immediately, or it may take days, weeks or even months; or it may never happen. You might also want to rid your tank of those aptasia before they take over your tank. Good luck!
 
Those RBTA's look pretty bleached out to me. How long has your tank been set up, & what lighting do you have over it? Also, what are your water parameters? As Dkuhlmann said, don't hold your breath waiting on the clowns to host the nems. It's always a crapshoot as to when/if it happens. I've had clowns dive right in immediately, or it may take days, weeks or even months; or it may never happen. You might also want to rid your tank of those aptasia before they take over your tank. Good luck!

I'm currently changing my tank. Just got a new tank that has way better LED lights so I think that should help. The tank has been set up for a couple of years now. When I start moving everything I'll make sure the aptasias are gone too :) thanks. Also, what causes bleached anenomes?
 
That's awesome and stress causes bleaching. too much light, not enough light, poor water quality are all the usual cause of stress witch in return can cause bleaching if they do bleach then feed them more than usual so they regain their color back and then cut down to normal feeding :)


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And aptasias are the worst thing in the world not even the lasers they sell work so I had to build a 7.6 watt laser to be able to fry them in an instant but even that didn't work I ended up taking all the rock out and bleaching it also you can put some butterfly finish in there or some bergia sea slugs or a small filfish and they will eat the aptasias this is the more natural approach.


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I cant see any pics but are you sure they are BTA's and not manjos? the small size has me wondering. the tang should be moved to a much bigger tank, just because you had it for a year in that size tank doesn't mean it is fine or healthy.
 
I started with a small 50 cent size rbta back in 2007. Now I have over 50 (stopped counting this year) from that rbta. For the first few years, I used to feed them silversides once every week. Then it dropped down to once every month. For the last 5 years, I only feed them a small chunk of scallop every Thanksgiving or Christmas.
 
As others have said--feed the RBTA's more than u usually would. Maybe feed them a pinky nail sized piece of frozen shrimp every other day. The quickest, most inexpensive cure for that aptasia issue is peppermint shrimp. Get 5 or 6 & they should clean em out in no time...Aptasia X works pretty good too. btw, what size is the blue tang & new tank? That tang should be in at least a 75 gal. aquarium. Good luck!
 
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As others have said--feed the RBTA's more than u usually would. Maybe feed them a pinky nail sized piece of frozen shrimp every other day. The quickest, most inexpensive cure for that aptasia issue is peppermint shrimp. Get 5 or 6 & they should clean em out in no time...Aptasia X works pretty good too. btw, what size is the blue tang & new tank? That tang should be in at least a 75 gal. aquarium. Good luck!

Alright. Thanks for the advice :)
 
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