Want a centerpiece anemone

[SDguy]

I won't bore you with all the details and history of my reef, but long story short, it's been resurrected. It's a 30" tall 4' 150g tank. 2 x 250W MH 14K Phoenix bulbs. Vertex Alpha skimmer. Two MP40's, and two small Tunzes for flow. The live rock is OLD, well established (like since '06 ). I don't want the mess of corals I had last time, and was thinking one large anemone to take up a good chunk of real-estate. I was also thinking it would be best to add it first, and let it establish itself.

Comments on how to proceed, and which species I should look at, would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Big Dave PDX]

Where in the tank do you want this 'center piece' to be?? A big carpet nem on the sand? A mag nem or carpet high on the rocks? Bunch of cool BTAs on a rock tower? You can go a bunch of different ways. Are you going to have clowns in it? A certain breed of clowns with it's natural host?

 

[SDguy]

I'd prefer on the rocks judging by my aquascaping, so mag or gig is an options I'd think. I'll have sand, but not sure it will be deep enough for an LTA or haddoni. I wouldn't mind a bunch of BTA's, if I could stop the splitting at a certain point

I'm tossing around the idea of moving my big clarkii pair into the tank, but that's up in the air for now... either way I don't care if the clown and new naturally occur together in the wild.

 

[Curt2199]

Something like this? That's a blue gigantea carpet in a 180g.

 

[SDguy]

Yeah, that's a nice one! I'm hoping to take up a much larger percentage of space once it's grown in though

 

[socal619]

I'd prefer on the rocks judging by my aquascaping, so mag or gig is an options I'd think. I'll have sand, but not sure it will be deep enough for an LTA or haddoni. I wouldn't mind a bunch of BTA's, if I could stop the splitting at a certain point

I'm tossing around the idea of moving my big clarkii pair into the tank, but that's up in the air for now... either way I don't care if the clown and new naturally occur together in the wild.

Can't really stop the splitting, but you can sell off the extras. That's what I do, I have rainbow bubble tips

 

[OrionN]

Feed that Gigantea well and he will get to about 20 inches very quickly.

 

[Winwood]

Hard to beat a mag high on a rock pedestal. Also, they have a tendency to get really big if well cared for.

 

[jesterisdead]

I have a green and it precedes the sand. I moved him up and he went right back to the sand again. He be a big one though and very cool especially at feeding time.

 

[garygb]

I have mags, crispa and BTAs. No one has mentioned it, but you could get a crispa and feed it well and have a very large center piece anemone. They like to attach in the liverock. Generally they aren't as colorful as gigs or mags, but they are quite attractive with all their tentacles--more than the other host species. And, there are occasionally purple ones, which would make your centerpiece the envy of just about everyone.

 

[SDguy]

Even though mags are great, my first choice has been a gig, since they come in so many colors.

 

[adtravels]

Look at Ron Popeil's purple crispa and drool.

 

[taylor t]

Look at Ron Popeil's purple crispa and drool.

As I do love gigs, Ron's purple crispa is definately one that sticks out as a real show piece. Ron's and davoceans LTA was a real show stopper too, both monster big and both looked SUPER healthy. Theres a few crispa's that are really nice out there I can picture right now.

What ever you decide, I'm looking forward to seeing pics of what you get!

 

[SDguy]

I believe Daveo's was also a crispa. I saw that beast in person!

 

[davocean]

Ah, memories of my tank that had both a crispa and doreensis that I was pretty proud of!
While those are both pretty cool host nems, I'm pretty sure what Peter would want to keep would be a gig for it's color and location, perched high on rock, that would be a wonderful centerpiece.
Of course now I need to spice this post w/ pics from memory lane!

 

[SDguy]

I didn't even remember the LTA with that thing staring at me! :lol:

I am leaning towards gig... although one of those African mags with the green tentacle tips and red column isn't out of the question.

 

[biodegraded]

I've only had one anemone, a magnifica (ritteri) that completely filled half of my 120 gal tank. It would expand over 24". Since your tank's floor area is the same as a 120 I'd expect you'd also have half a tank of anemone if happy. It was, frankly, too big for my aquarium.

 

[OrionN]

I love Gigantea and Magnifica. If you want fish safe, then Magnifica is the way to go. There are some colorful morph out there.
DSB then a Haddoni or LTA is the way to go.
Crispa can also be very nice.
Just what ever you choose and set up your tank accordingly.

It is likely easiest to get a colorful Haddoni, then Gigantea. Colorful Magnifica also is not really rare.

Very nice color Crispa and LTA are difficult to find.

 

[Winwood]

If you could find a purple crispa, they are quite spectacular. Here's a pic of my old tank that I used the anemone as the centerpiece.

 

[taylor t]

Yea, I had them backwards... I knew Davocean had both, I couldn't remember which one was which as they both were in spectacular health. Big difference in the pics I see of nems that are surviving, and the ones that are thriving. His were definately thriving.

Winwood's crispa was another one I was thinking of. That crispa you have is a real beauty! For sure! That's what I'm talking about with surviving and thriving. A perfect example of a nem that is thriving.

SDguy, I think you'd be very happy with a gig... they are my favorite. But, any anemone that is THRIVING is eye candy. Color in my opinion is second.

I would take a plain old green haddoni over a red one any day, that was thriving.