Which bubble tip anemone should I get?

[xLennie]

I don't plan on adding another Clarkii. I have always wanted another pair of Pink Skunk Clowns so, once I'm able to catch the Clarkii, she will be replaced with the Pink Skunks.

Yea they are cool! If I had a bigger tank and didn't go for A.Ocellaris, I would go for Gold stripe maroons. They look amazing to me, but I guess aggressive much

 

[shred5]

Hello

That anemone looked a bit off to me as well. That one is big and more expensive compared to other, around 2x the small oranges and around 4x the green acid wash one.

Introduction of something alive makes a lot of sense. The tank needs to live but cycling is only a small part of it. That is my approach in my freshwater tanks too. As long as a hitchiker is not harmful like planaria or hydra, all good. I would even intentionally introduce critters like pest snails, detritus worms, harmless nematods, copepods and so on... Many comes directly wih plants on day one anyway, and start creating an ecosystem.

We don't have sterile cultures here. Like when I searched for dragonets and mandarins, I saw people using sterile cultures to start food sources and get the tank established for months in order to sustain enough population going on. Like I cannot go and buy a pod culture to introduce it to my system. Also many people seem to dip corals which would get rid off good critters too, I believe -based on the dip ofc-. I wanted this to be an anemone only tank, so I was kinda lost how to make this tank alive. Being sent a piece of live rock or at least frags will help to introduce coralline algae and some "life" to the system, I believe.

Maybe snail shells are my other hope to introduce some life to the system, besides the small rock/frag piece Im getting?

I "think" the time length loses its meaning when you cannot introduce anything that would literally introduce the tank some good creatures and algae that was already homed in an "alive" tank. So I feel like, at some point, I need to introduce something to this tank to make it going, and waiting all alone does not sound like it. Does it?


The saltwater hobby confuses me much more than freshwater one. And this is mainly because, the way people reach success changes A LOT. Everyone I talk to say different stuff. Last week, when I talked to one of the most famous saltwater aquarists in my country, who bred 17 different species, has many articles, owns a store for 23 years told me that, he basically adds corals in one week. As I mentioned above, another senior aquaculture engineer I talked to mentioned that he keeps all the abovementioned anemones and more in a newly setup 2.5month old system. At the same time, last week, I saw someone mentioning he would not introduce any corals at least for 8 months but ideally not for a year!

I guess I have to find what will work for me to reach success?

There is a difference what someone new should do and what someone with allot of experience can get away with.
Just because someone does something does not mean it is the best practice. I will say those that take their time also means less loss of life. It is allot easer with nothing in the tank if something goes wrong. Now I am talking corals and anemones. Adding clean up crew or fish can come sooner.
There also is a difference between corals that are hardy and ones that are not.
There is also the difference on what you set the tank up with like live rock, dead rock, or established rock from another tank etc. They affect how fast a aquarium matures..

Yea saltwater is challenging and expensive. So making a mistake is more costly and since allot of it comes form the ocean still, has a impact on the environment so more caution should be taken.

It also is hard because allot of people do this hobby different, there is no one way.


I will say this people who have more patients in this hobby will be more successful than those who do not. Also bad things happen fast and good things happen slow in this hobby.

This hobby has super high turn over and mostly it is because people rush it and loose a ton of money.

 

[xLennie]

There is a difference what someone new should do and what someone with allot of experience can get away with.
Just because someone does something does not mean it is the best practice. I will say those that take their time also means less loss of life. It is allot easer with nothing in the tank if something goes wrong. Now I am talking corals and anemones. Adding clean up crew or fish can come sooner.
There also is a difference between corals that are hardy and ones that are not.
There is also the difference on what you set the tank up with like live rock, dead rock, or established rock from another tank etc. They affect how fast a aquarium matures..

Yea saltwater is challenging and expensive. So making a mistake is more costly and since allot of it comes form the ocean still, has a impact on the environment so more caution should be taken.

It also is hard because allot of people do this hobby different, there is no one way.


I will say this people who have more patients in this hobby will be more successful than those who do not. Also bad things happen fast and good things happen slow in this hobby.

This hobby has super high turn over and mostly it is because people rush it and loose a ton of money.

Yes, quite understandable. Thank you for sharing. Long term waiting seems to be the safest option no matter what


As I am reading and watching about acclimating an anemone and releasing it to the tank. I see many people saying keep the flow off and let it settle and find its place in the tank. And some others keep the flow on, otherwise it cant choose a location it likes and will likely change its spot after the flow is back on…

You hear what I mean right?

 

[shred5]

Yes, quite understandable. Thank you for sharing. Long term waiting seems to be the safest option no matter what


As I am reading and watching about acclimating an anemone and releasing it to the tank. I see many people saying keep the flow off and let it settle and find its place in the tank. And some others keep the flow on, otherwise it cant choose a location it likes and will likely change its spot after the flow is back on…

You hear what I mean right?

Flow needs to be off till it attaches otherwise it may just blow around. If using a powerhead for flow it could get stuck to it and damaged.
Unless foot is damaged they attach pretty quick.

BTA's are pretty hardy and they also can adjust to most conditions.

 

[xLennie]

As an update;

I ordered the first orangeish one and green one from the main topic. They were both shipped tuesday evening (it is thursday evening in my location rn) and arrived the next morning. I instantly went and picked up the package early morning myself at 8am. The heatpack was still warm.

Anyway, I unpacked, temp acclimated and drip acclimated them. I was pretty sad because they look like they had bad time being transported, quite bad actually. Looked sad, both oozing brown gunk have some slimey particles in their package and on them. Orange one having a loose mouth and when I unpacked, it didn't even have its foot stuck unlike the green one. Maybe that is the "normal" for anemones if they always ship poorly, but man, they looked bad. Both didnt even stick their foot to the plastic container I drip acclimated them in.

Picture when I unpacked and drip acclimating. Look how sad they look:

After introducing them to main tank following the acclimation process, they thankfully stick to the rock and after an hour, the lights turned on. Meanwhile I kept the flow off. They directly started looking better in the tank. With the lights on and spending a bit of time in the tank, they started opening up beautifully. They kept searching for a place they like for 3-4 hours. Gave each other a kiss once. They both stuck themselves in the gaps of a rock sadly on the bottom side. Orange one is in front but green is on the back :') Once they placed themselves in those gaps, they never moved again.

Them after being in the tank, looking for a spot:

As long as they are happy, I'm okay with it!

I also got my gifted snails (one turbo and one fighting conch) and introduced the small piece of live rock. It has one tiny featherduster(?) on it. Looking cute. Very hard to picture as it is tiny. Also the rock has good amount of coralline algae on it. So good news! I placed it as a bridge between two rocks of mine. I hope this will help introducing coralline algae better.
their location now:

I saw some people having their bubbletips under crazy flow. These two literally HATED it. If I even slighty keep the flow even moderate to low, they try attempt to close up and stick to the rock piece. It is on veery low right now, and they love it. When there is no flow, they look much happier, they open up beautifully.

Is this normal? People usually say anemones know what they like from what I see. I am just worried about them locating themself on the floor level, so with so low flow, they may be subject to debris? Also I keep seeing people have their bubbletips like moderate to high light. But these guys aint a fan of it too. They seem to enjoy medium light and very low current. Barely moves anything in the tank and almost just the water surface...

Please let me know if this is normal or if I need to do anything. I guess they know what they want better, it is just being super new to saltwater journey worries me about taking care of my animal properly.

Also, when should I start feeding them? After a week or so?


Thank you,
Lennie

 

[Reefing102]

The anemones looks good!

I would allow them plenty of time to settle in. My experience is they generally will get used to flow and light when they’re ready. Depending on light settings, your lights may be stronger than what they’re used to causing the reaction you’re seeing.

I’d give them at least a week or two to settle in before attempting to feed them. I don’t feed mine directly. My understanding, (could be wrong) is make sure whatever you feed them isn’t much larger than their mouth.

 

[xLennie]

The anemones looks good!

I would allow them plenty of time to settle in. My experience is they generally will get used to flow and light when they’re ready. Depending on light settings, your lights may be stronger than what they’re used to causing the reaction you’re seeing.

I’d give them at least a week or two to settle in before attempting to feed them. I don’t feed mine directly. My understanding, (could be wrong) is make sure whatever you feed them isn’t much larger than their mouth.

Thanks! I loved them.

Okay, I pass on the feeding part for now. I remember reading people feed their anemone often to make them get in a better shape. Since these seemed to ship poorly, I thought maybe food would help them to be at their best.

So, should I keep the flow as I always did and expect them to acclimate, or; keep the flow at veery low and let them look as they are in the picture right now? Today I tried increasing the flow just a lil bit, and green one directly started tucking in the rock and closing up. I put it back to very low, and within an hour or so, she opened up again as above

 

[griss]

I would leave the flow low for now and maybe increase it a bit each week.

As far as feeding, I've successfully kept different species of anemones over the years. Some I fed daily, others I fed on occasion and others I rarely fed at all.

My current Long Tentacle Anemone was fed daily for the first year I had it. Since then, I only feed it periodically. But, I do feed my fish quite generously with frozen Mysis (Neomysis japonica), Brine (Artemia sp.), Plankton (Euphausia pacifica) and Reef Plankton (Calanus finmarchicus). So, Im sure the anemone gets a bit of this daily.

 

[xLennie]

I would leave the flow low for now and maybe increase it a bit each week.

As far as feeding, I've successfully kept different species of anemones over the years. Some I fed daily, others I fed on occasion and others I rarely fed at all.

My current Long Tentacle Anemone was fed daily for the first year I had it. Since then, I only feed it periodically. But, I do feed my fish quite generously with frozen Mysis (Neomysis japonica), Brine (Artemia sp.), Plankton (Euphausia pacifica) and Reef Plankton (Calanus finmarchicus). So, Im sure the anemone gets a bit of this daily.

Thanks George. You've been a big help since I joined this forum.

I feed my clowns NLS Thera A+, Tropical Krill flakes, NLS Small Community fish formula and Ocean Nutrition Marine mix (blend of Artemia, pacific Krill, chopped cockles and rotifers). They seemed to love all of these. I tried spirulina flakes and they didn't like it at all.

I bet, I can feed my anemones with a turkey baster with this marine mix frozen food later on then

Idk why, but we don't have frozen mysis shrimp here. Chopped krills, marine mix, or spirulina brine shrimp mainly. I hope they are enough to keep both fish and anemones healthy and well

 

[griss]

I've found a good variety of foods helps both fish and invertebrates.

If you're interested in learning more about fish nutrition and how to make your own fish food, go to this link and click the download button in the upper right corner. Dr. Lee has an excellent article posted there.

 

[xLennie]

When I came home a few minutes ago, I saw that the orange colored anemone started splitting, halved the way.

I made a research about splitting before. Also we all see these tanks covered with bubble tip anemones I guess, just like a friend shared here in this topic. Whenever I watch a bubbletip anemone video, basically the tank is covered by big and small anemones around.

Do we know why the bubbletips split? Sign of stress, a healthy anemone, or just a natural occurance and no reason behind it? I couldn't find an exact answer so I would love to hear from your experience.

 

[griss]

Do we know why the bubbletips split? Sign of stress, a healthy anemone, or just a natural occurance and no reason behind it? I couldn't find an exact answer so I would love to hear from your experience.

Congratulations. IMO, they split when healthy and it is a natural occurrence.

 

[xLennie]

Congratulations. IMO, they split when healthy and it is a natural occurrence.

I'm glad to hear that

Thank you!