Tips for a first-time Anemone owner?

[zukharla]

I've decided to brave an Anemone in my tank. I've had a large Latezonatus clown in my tank for a few years now. The tank has always been FOWLR but I recently started adding corals. She used to just make pits in the sand prior to this but now she is trying to host in my Heliofungia and sometimes even my Slipper Coral and she's getting herself a bit worked up about it all so I think getting her an Anemone would be the kind thing to do.

I was going to try just a simple BTA because, at this point, I think she'll host in anything from how she's acting. I've been doing reading about lighting, caring, aggression level, etc but any tips you guys could give me would be fantastic. I am a bit worried about the Anemone fighting it out with my other corals.

Or if I am blind and missed a thread that gives me the info I want (sorry, am new!) then feel free to direct me there

 

[Doe5ia14]

The basic questions you wil be ask are what size tank do you have, what kind of lights are you running, and how long has the tank been up and running?

Giving that sort of information would help people try guide you in the right direction.

As far as a BTA's aggression. If you have a big enough tank people have built seperate islands to keep their BTA from stinging other corals.

 

[zukharla]

Sorry! My tank is 5ft x 18" x 18". Been running for about 6 years now - was a Reef tank for 3 years until we had a power outage while at work and the tank cooked except for a couple of fish, so for the past 2 1/2 years it's been FOWLR. Only just got the courage again to put more corals in there, if that is information that helps. The lights are 4 x T5.

One thing is that I do have a Copperband Butterfly in there. I know they eat Aiptasia (which I have never had in the tank) so would they likely pick at other Anemones aswell? I imagine the clown would protect the Anemone. She's always been really laid back til the Heliofungia went in there. Now she's very protective of her space.

 

[Doe5ia14]

If your corals you have in there are doing good for awhile I would think you would be ok for a BTA, since your tank has been pretty much established. I would just check your water parameters, nitrates, nitrites, etc...

On the Copperband I'm not sure. They have tiny mouths and I'm assuming you will be getting a bigger sized BTA for your Lat so I wouldn't think the Copper would try a big BTA, with a large Lat in it. But I'd wait for others opinions about the Lat.

 

[M Woodhill]

My advice is u really gotta be patient. Last time I introduced an rbta within three weeks after setup and it resulted so badly.

 

[kduen]

In my experience the Copperband will stay away from the BTA, mine kind of glanced at it a few times but that was it. If all your levels check out I don't see a problem with it just know that there are no guarantees that it will accept the BTA as a host. Also if you decide to go this route look for a BTA that is at least 3x the size of your clown as it will lessen the chance of the clown "loving it to death". I would also seperate the clown and BTA upon first introduction so the BTA can find a spot it likes before the clown moves in.

 

[zukharla]

It may be hard to find a BTA 3x the size of this clown in any of my LFS. Pretty darn big clown! But I understand what you are saying and will go on the hunt.

My water parametres are as they should be. It's an extremely stable tank. The corals I have in there currently are all flourishing and have doubled in size since purchasing them a couple months ago.

There is a really nice four-colour anemone at the LFS but it's very small so I think I'll pass that one up.

 

[zukharla]

My advice is u really gotta be patient. Last time I introduced an rbta within three weeks after setup and it resulted so badly.

My tank has been running consistantly for 6 years so I think it's pretty well established. I agree with you 100% though.