What size anemone for clowns?

[genpetahhhh]

I have two false perc clowns that are a little under a year old and am interested in getting an anemone for them to host in. Currently they are hosting in my finger leather and are keeping it from ever opening.

So my main two questions are these. What type of anemone would be best for these clowns and for a newbie such as myself? (I assume bubble tip) And what size would it have to be to handle two clowns fine?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

 

[garygb]

Yeah, BTA is probably the best anemone choice since you don't have experience with anemones. You should get an anemone that is approximately twice as wide across as the length of your two fish. So if the fish added together are 3 inches, then you would want to get a BTA that's around 6 inches or more. Ocellaris are not especially rough on their anemone host. And, BTAs are frequently chosen as a host by ocellaris in aquariums. Before you buy a BTA though, what kind of lighting do you have, and what are your water parameters, e.g., specific gravity, nitrates, ph, temp.?

 

[genpetahhhh]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I was planning on testing my params tonight but just noticed my HOB filter is no longer working so need to get it fixed. I doubt my params are zero right now because of that. I will get it either fixed or more likely replaced with a larger one tom. As for lighting, I have a 250W MH HQI Sunpod coming in the mail tom. This is for a 29g tank with a 20g refugium. That should be plenty for a BTA in theory. Currently I have a Coralife light that is a 50/50 with two 65W bulbs so 130W. The temp I try to keep around 78.

 

[wrxreefer823]

I too share the same question... Should I wait a certain amount of time before getting an anemone? My tank is about 5 months old now...

 

[garygb]

Yeah, gen, you will have plenty of light with a 250 MH on a 29 gallon tank. At first, when you introduce an anemone, you might need to protect the anemone from the full intensity of the lighting. This can be done by placing several layers of plastic fly screen over the tank below the light and removing a layer every few days until in a few weeks your anemone is fully acclimated to the strong light.

xrx, generally the recommendation is to wait at least 6 months for the tank to become completely stable before adding an anemone. This of course is just an arbitrary time frame, but if you can keep things stable and adjusted for several months consecutively, then you are likely ready to try an anemone, preferably a BTA first--as this species is more forgiving compared to some of the other host anemone species.