Carpet Anemone...Should I or Should't I ??? Opinions Please

[Barry]

Hello All,

My local pet store has a green carpet anemone that I could pick up at a resonalble price. I fell that it may be better off in my tank, due to the fact that it is being kept in what I would consider sub-standard conditions. It is in a 20 gallon tank under one florecent light. It is still doing well believe or not. She had to take it our of another tank origionally because it supposedly ate her Power Blue Tang ( which I have a hard time with

).
I have a 29 g reef tank with 165 watts of lighting. The tank is four years old and I have stable conditions ( knocking on wood as I type

).Livestock includes assorted hermit crabs, assortes soft corals,three cleaner shrimp, a sebae clown, and two chromis.

I have three questions:

1. Will it eat my hermits ?
2. Will it eat my fish ?
3. Will it sting my corals ?

If the answer is yes to any of the questions, I will not bother...

Thanks for the help !
Barry

 

[Gatortailale1]

IMO, although I have never owned a carpet anemone, I would say your tank is TOO SMALL.

I know this link is for a Heteractis magnifica, but Carpets can get large too. http://www.reefs.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=032326
I have read several posts where peeps who own 180 gal tanks say that carpet takes up almost 24+ inches of space on bottom. At that size, that is 3/4 of your little 29 gal tank.

ALSO: 165w of light doesn't mean much. Several owners who post about keeping them say "YOU MUST HAVE MH LIGHTING" [I'm sure someone will disagree and say they are tired of hearing about the need for MH lights] But honestly, a carpet needs a ton of light = MH lighting. AND A lot of space.

UNLESS You plan to get a bigger tank soon, DON'T get it.

 

[New Reefer]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> I have three questions:

1. Will it eat my hermits ?
2. Will it eat my fish ?
3. Will it sting my corals ? <hr></blockquote>1. I don't know for sure, but rather doubt it.

2. YES - I've had one and can speak from experience. It killed and ate a few of my fish, including an African Dwarf Angel. I eventually sold the anemone to a friend with a much larger tank (mine is ~55gal, hers is ~200gal). It's doing very well there, over a year now... However, within minutes of her introducing a Picasso Trigger, it caught and ate it!

3. YES - also from personal experience. It also killed some Featherduster worms, and some other things as well.

IMHO, don't buy it unless you can adequately care for it (you need *much* more light) in a "species only" tank.

Hennie

 

[Barry]

That's good enough for me, I will pass.....
I am not sacrificing four years worth of work...

Thanks Again !!

Barry.

 

[Emmitt]

I wouldn't advise getting one for the reasons gatortailale said.

I had an s.haddoni for 2 years that tripled in size. After much self debate, I elected not to transfer it to a 90gal I recently set up. Instead, I donated it to a certain Dr. on another board for his captive breeding project.

In a tank the size of yours, you will lose fish to it. And even if you don't, the presence of the anemone will reduce the area your fish have to swim because they will attempt to avoid it.
Also, sooner or later the anemone will move and when it does it is likely to trample your corals, especially any lps you may have on the substrate.

jmho,

 

[newreefman1]

I have a haddoni. Had it almost 3 years now. For me, its been super hardy, regenerated a few times after being ripped from powerheads but its more than doubled in size since when I first got it.
Ive had it in as small as an 18 tall and in my 60.
It has eaten over 200 bucks of fish over the last 3 years including a purple tang, a few lyretail anthias, a longnose hawkfish and a mandarin goby(dont ask).(probably eaten a few more, just dont remember anymore..im most sad about the purp tang).
Regardless, the anemone staying alive in my tanks is the only reason I have kept a tank running over the last 3 years. At one point I wanted to take em all down but I couldnt get rid of the anemone to a good home so I ended up setting up a tank to house the anemone and my maroon clown.....alas...im back to my 60 and the anemone is getting bigger every day.

I cant say buying an anemone is the wisest choice out there for an aquarist but I have had great luck with mine. I wouldn't buy another anemone though if mine dies but having mine all this time has been fun, rewarding, and fun once again. The alluring aspect of having a clown and an anemone paired is too neat

The answers to your 3 questions are as follows

1. Doubtful that it will eat your hermits. I dont think an anemone can digest shells but I may be wrong. Thats not something I would be worried about though.
2.If you have a sluggish, perching, slow moving, stupid...etc fish, that wanders in the way of the carpet, it will eat your fish. Most fish know to stay away from an anemone instictively but alas...some are dumb as bricks. Quite possibly is your answer to that one.
3. Anemones are known for wandering. That said, mine doesnt move more than 3-5" after it gets planted(always attaches to the bottom glass. My case only).
I have seen and heard of anemones that wander all throughout the tank. If this happens, anemones can sting corals and have a path of destruction as they find their comfortable place to rest....and if that place isnt comfortable in say 3 months...it will do it again till its comfy. so....the answer to that question is...possibly yes.

I hope this helps you some...its rather see sawing but there are alot of things to consider if you want to keep an anemone long term.

I have a few pics of my tank where you can see the anemone. For reference purposes...the tank is 4' long(so you can figure out the size of the anemone)

pics

more pics

 

[delphinus]

I agree with everything said so far.

Just for sake of further reference. I have a S. haddoni in one of my tanks. This tank is basically dedicated to the carpet and everything else in it is secondary. It's a 24" long tank and the carpet takes up darn near 50% of the footprint size.

I don't dare to keep any fish in this tank. The tank is too small, fish would get eaten. (I'm pretty sure even some species of anemonefish would be at risk unless they were INSTANTLY acclimated.) Because this species LOVES FISH! When I first got it I fed it shrimp. It would lazily eat the shrimp. But, one day, I decided to try feeding it a piece of red snapper I had bought for myself at the supermarket .... ever since then I have not been able to get this carpet to eat shrimp anymore. Basically I feed it cod, snapper, sometimes silversides (although I find my water gets an oil slick for a day or two after feeding silversides). Bottom line, it will ONLY eat fish now, now that it knows it can hold out for some. (Who says these things are dumb? I don't!) If I try to feed it shrimp, the shrimp will just sit there on the tentacles and perhaps even float away (or get stolen by an opportunistic hermit). But fish ... what is that movie title "Gone in 8 seconds" ... (or something like that?).

And, I should mention, it is a very voracious eater compared to other anemones. If I don't feed it 2, 3 times a week it will, literally, throw a tantrum on me. Either by wandering or physically shifting rocks around. It is VERY capable of doing such things and creating havoc in the tank.

I also used to occasionally lose snails to this anemone. Every once in a while it would spit out a perfectly clean shell. Stomatella sp. snails were particularly screwed since they don't have much of a shell to protect themselves. Although ... this hasn't been much of a problem anymore now that I feed it fish.

So ... I'm not saying "don't get it" I am saying though that it should be a decision based on an appropriate commitment to the animal, and go in with eyes open.