starter anemone

[puffer21]

well i have had my tank for a year. and i want to get an anemone. im getting a mh light and coralife supper skimmer this weekend. and in a while i would like to add an anemone. im getting two percula clown fish (there at the store in a seprate tank) and im picking them up tommorow. what is a good starter anemone to get that the clowns will host in.

 

[fishonadic]

To be honest there are really not any good starter anemones becasue in general they are hard to take care of. When you said you were getting a skimmer and mh, did you have the tank set up as a FO or was if a reef tank? I ask this because if you had a succesfull reef for a year you could give one a shot but if not you may want to try more hardy corals first. IMO a bubble tip anemones would be my 1st choice and is what I started with because they are cheep and most clowns will host them.

 

[bertoni]

25g is pretty small for the host anemones, IMO. They grow to be a foot or more across in many cases, including the bubble-tip. There are some mini-carpet anemones that would be fine, IMO.

 

[puffer21]

well i would really like an anemone and i thought that it would be ok if i got a skimmer and mh. would i kill the anemone. would the clowns host in a mini-carpet.
thanks for all the help puffer21

 

[bertoni]

The clown probably wouldn't use a mini-carpet as a host. A BTA might do okay, but the tank is really small. I have a BTA in a 29g with no fish, and it's a bit too much for good water quality without a lot of changes, IME, although that tank only has a BakPak for a skimmer.

 

[puffer21]

is the coralife supper skimmer a good skimmer

 

[michaelm2431]

My clowns host in all my leathers.

 

[bertoni]

There isn't any good objective data on skimmers, but my CoraLife seems to be doing better than the BakPak and Remora Pro. Hard to say, though.

 

[puffer21]

ok thanks.

 

[smcnally]

This shows how big a BTA can get. I've seen them bigger too, but this one is about 12-14"

 

[puffer21]

i thought that they spilt so that they didnt get so big. so does that mean i cant get a bta. cause that is why im getting the mh for the anemone

 

[bertoni]

If the anemone is splitting frequently, that might be a sign of stress. Mine is probably 10" across, has been that way for about a year, I think, and hasn't split.

I wouldn't try a BTA and 2 percula in that size tank. A 40g or 55g might be okay, though.

 

[puffer21]

ok thanks

 

[smcnally]

Anemones don't always split. I was told that if I fed the anemone in that picture every day for a couple of weeks it would split. It just got bigger. They do grow pretty quickly too. I would reccommend against it and put the money into going with a larger tank first.

 

[puffer21]

i dont have room for a larger tank.

 

[GoblinFish]

Awesome picture up there ^^ is that your tank smcnally?

 

[Amphiprion]

"Hosting" anemone species may not be the animals for you. Unless you do not mind having an anemone nearly fill your entire tank (and only keep it and some clowns), then you would be ok. None are really "easy" or "beginner", but by far the two hardiest species would be Condylactis gigantea and Entacmaea quadricolor (BTA). The former is not a typical hosting species, but is very hardy nonetheless. As bertoni said, even the smallest species of these anemones reaches ~12", while others reach upwards of 39".

 

[BlackOnyx]

try a bta if it gets to big sell it someone

 

[racrumrine]

Clowns are known to host in many things other than anemones. You might want to investigate an easier to keep alternative such as Frogspawn, Hammer Coral, Torch Coral, Plate Coral, Hairy Mushrooms, Donut Corals, etc.

If you are dead set on an anemone, I would suggest buying an RBTA anemone from a fellow reefer. At least that way you would not be conducting your experiment with a new animal recently pulled out of the sea (plus there is no guarantee the clowns will host anyways - I had a clown that wouldn't host for over a year for example). If the RBTA anemone doesn't thrive, it will be easy to sell/trade with someone else.

I have a plan of doing the same thing as you with a 25 and MH lighting. However, I have been keeping several types of anemones for awhile in larger tanks and if my plan fails, I can always move it to a bigger tank.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[puffer21]

thanks every one. when i bought my tank i got it for the anemone people said i could get an anemone if i have mh and a skimmer. so i think i will try that. all i want in the tank is two clowns and an anemone.