selecting an anemone for maroon clown

[vanillaprice]

I was wanting to know all of the best options for an anemone for my maroon clown. I would also like to the the good and bad about each. Do you need to feed each or will the clown do that. If you have had experinces with any anemones please help me out. This is what is in my tank:
75 gallon tank
192 watts power compact
5"-6" sand bed
100 lbs live rock
star polyps and mushrooms
2 1/2" flame angel
3" mimic tang
2" bicolor blenny
1" six line wrass
and my 1 1/2" maroon clown

 

[Anonymous]

The most natural one in this case happens to be pretty much the only one you have a reasonable chance of keeping alive.

Get one or two from Dr. Mac corals (see sponsors of the board) for I believe $15 each. They are captive propagated. With enough light and feeding, they will grow quickly. Mine are huge now.

It is very difficult to keep anemones alive in captivity in general, and often considered ecologically unsound as you deplete the wild population when you keep replacing anemones that live in the wild for many (some say hundreds) of years that die in your tank every few months.

So I cannot emphasize how much of an advantage it is to get a captively propagated anemone of a species that has the best chance. As far as I know, it is the only one that has been propagated with any significant degree of success in captivity.

 

[Anemone]

I believe Anemone of the State meant to tell you to get a Bubble Tip Anemone (BTA), E. quadricolor.

Your lighting is a little underpowered for a 75 gallon tank, so a BTA will probably end up high in your rockwork, and will probably need to be fed a couple of times a week (either target fed, or if you feed meaty foods like ON's Formula 1 and the anemone captures enough of that, then you might not need to target feed).

Ditto AOTS's captive-bred comment.

Kevin

 

[lawndoctor]

If I have a 75 with 570 watts of VHO does that broaden my anemone options to other beyond the Bubble Tip? Is the Magnificent as difficult to keep as some books say?

 

[Dragonlady]

BTA is the only anemone that maroon clowns associate with in the wild. Also, BTA have lower lighting requirements than H. magnifica. You can often find E. quadricolor in the same color combinations as H. magnifica. BTA have a much better record for doing well for long periods in captivity than any other species of anemone. It might be wise to add some more lighting before adding an anemone, if you want a non-bleached anemone. It might be ok otherwise if it finds a rock crevice really close to the lights, with its base under a rock overhang. IMO, anemones should be fed at least occasionally.

[ February 22, 2002: Message edited by: Dragonlady ]</p>

 

[Anemone]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by lawndoctor:
<strong>If I have a 75 with 570 watts of VHO does that broaden my anemone options to other beyond the Bubble Tip? Is the Magnificent as difficult to keep as some books say?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yes, your lighting broadens your options, and yes, Magnificents are as difficult to keep as the books say, primarily (IMO) due to the difficulty in getting a healthy specimen - most are bleached and in poor shape by the time they reach the LFS.

Kevin

 

[lawndoctor]

Hope you guys don't mind me interjecting in someone else's thread just a little here, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can about anemones and clownfish before I decide what to do. I would like to keep Perculas, but it seems they only associate with anemones that are very difficult to keep in an aquarium. Would you recommend a particular anemone species to keep with Perculas? Also, do you recommend buying MO for these anemones? Thanks for your help.

 

[Anonymous]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Anemone:
<strong>I believe Anemone of the State meant to tell you to get a Bubble Tip Anemone (BTA), E. quadricolor.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yes, sorry. That is what I meant. So much for posting stuff before 7 am.

 

[31-2c]

I have seen maroons take nicely to the LTA. My maroon is trying to take residence in a small rock anemone! She is bigger than the anemone. I need to find her a better home. Anyone have one they want to sell?

David

 

[Anonymous]

Dr. Mac. $15 (plus shipping)

I have 2 true perculas that live in a BTA. There is no guarantee, but it can happen.

 

[Henry1]

My maroon clown seem very receptive to both bubble tip and pink tip anemone.
It love to shuttle between both anemones comfortably.

 

[vanillaprice]

Hey Anemone of the State I just went to the Dr. Mac corals web site and the only anemones I see are $40 to $50 a piece. Let me know if it might be somewhere else you are thinking of. I would like to pick up a couple for $15.

 

[phillips]

I would recommend aquacultured ones, over wild caught BTAs.
One of my local LFS got in a few BTAs last week just when my Maroon clown started to harass anything w/ tentacles long enough to call home. I hadn't planned on getting an anemone, but I picked out a healthy one and with the discount from their moving sale only paid $16.99!!

I had checked out the BTAs foot, mouth etc, but it wasn't till I got home and acclimated it that I remembered one should check to see if the nematocysts were still firing, and I hadn't felt anything when I picked it up to place it within the rockwork. I kicked myself for 2 days worrying the thing was going to croak on me, but the 2nd night the little monster grabbed a cube of Brine Shrimp Plus so hard I felt the shockwave outside the tank.

I haven't bought an anemone from Dr. Mac, but I would recommend an aquacultured one over one from the LFS, even with the higher price. You know their living/breeding under reef tank conditions, and you know how long they've been in transit. From the LFS, who knows what they've suffered through??? I was lucky, but if I had remembered to check my anemone's nematocysts, I would have assumed the little guy was going downhill.
And Dr. Macs has great customer service.

 

[iphy]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by lawndoctor:
<strong>I would like to keep Perculas, but it seems they only associate with anemones that are very difficult to keep in an aquarium.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Well, if your goal is the perculas, and not the anemone, then I say don't worry about the anemones. I have an (apparently) extremely happy true percula living in my aquarium. He seems very content to use a corner of the tank next to some live rock for a sleeping spot and bobs all over the tank when he's awake.

I've heard tell of clownfish trying to host in anemone-looking corals if there are no anemones, but so far my percula seems quite content to leave my corals alone.

I'm not an expert on clownfish/anemones, but I thought I'd share the experience. I think the true perculas are very attractive fish, and I knew I should leave anemones alone since I hadn't read much about them when I was buying my percula.

jamie