Trading anemones!

Hi, I've recently decided to trade in my giant carpet anemone for two smaller anemones. But I haven't traded it in yet and I need some help.
The two anemones (of two different species) that I'm looking for need to be hostable for my tomato and percula clowns, relatively good looking, and their price range combined needs to be around the price of a large green carpet anemone (approx 80$ im guessing?). The carpet anemone is at least a foot long diagonally when expanded. My LFS has agreed to trade, but i want to get as much as possible from this.
I'm thinking maybe getting a purple sebae and an LTA? definetly don't want a condy...haha. I was also considering a ritteri, although I heard they are extremely hard to care for. BUT my setup is great and I might be able to handle one.
Oh yeah and this is my setup:
80 gallon matured aquarium; no ammonia or nitrite, nitrates are at 5 ppm, a little bit too much calcium though (550 ppm), a little under the recommended kH (7 degrees*), pH is 8, and phosphates are at 0.5 ppm.
Two 250 watt 10,000K metal halide bulbs + 4 actinic PC bulbs + 4 blue LED lights
4 powerheads, a large corallife (65? i don't really remember) skimmer, an aquaclear 110 filter with 12 small mangroves growing in it, and a microfilter.
2-3 inch deep aragonite sand bed
around 60 pounds live rock
lots of different types of coral and hermits
The only two surviving fish inhabitants are my tomato and percula clowns. All the others were consumed by the carpet anemone, hence why I wanna get rid of it.
Any input on what I should get?

And one last question. Is this really an LTA?
Green Long tentacle anemone - YouTube
I'm pretty sure it's not, but what is it? I've seen one at petland once and love the red foot and greenish tentacles. Thanks.

 

dont do a ritteri, everyone thinks theyre ready for one but you dont understand how hard they really are to care for until youve had one. hardest anemone ever! i would do the sebae and lta. both good for moderately experienced aquarists.

 

I would say skip anemone altogether. They aren't nearly as cool as a nice frogspawn or hammer coral, and 100 times harder to care for... even the hardiest specimens.

That's just my opinion, and I give it to everyone who says anything about anemone.


While we are on the subject... Clown fish are not really good reef neighbors either. With clowns and nems you have an extremely aggressive fish tank. It is my opinion that peaceful tanks are always better. I know you don't have a "reef" tank, but I am suggesting that maybe you would happier if you did. They are easier to care for, but more importantly they are easier to look at as well. And isn't the whole point of having a fish tank, so that you can admire it?

Please don't take my criticism the wrong way, I only think that sometimes we need inspiration to come to certain conclusions. Conclusions that we might not come to on our own, but clearly benefit us after we've come to them.

 

A+ my sentiment exactly and very well put

 

bta s are the way to go they dont get to big but the color never fails

 

i disagree, there is a reason i believe why nearly every hobbyist wants to purchase an anemone at some point, you dont see people getting all excited about purchasing a frag of frogspawn. anemones are just awesome creatures.

also id say some anemones are about the same if not easier to care for. i have had a bta in a tank with only standard fluorescent lighting and shrimp feedings every other day and it did fantastic. whereas a frogspawn or any other comparable coral will need fairly strong lighting even to survive. also its not the best thing for a clown to host an lps as it is not used to the unusual sweeper tentacles that they possess and it will eventually get large markings on its side with burn marks.

its obvious he is capable of handing an anemone if he has had a carpet anemone established in his tank for a long time so i dont see why he would not get an anemone for fear of it being too difficult to maintain.

i say get one! or two like you said.

 

That's the beauty of opinion... everyone is allowed to have their own. ;D

I never questioned the OPs ability to maintain a nem. I'm saying that regardless of you skill level, there are more rewarding options, in my opinion.

I'd like to also respond to your comment about nems being so popular. I think that most people who are new to saltwater, because of pop-culture, usually go straight to the clown/nem combo. It is appealing because of the striking appearance of the nem and the cool interaction between them and clownfish.

"there is a reason i believe why nearly every hobbyist wants to purchase an anemone at some point" - I completely agree with you. I wanted a nem when I first started out as well. I think most people that are just starting in saltwater automatically go to the clown/nem combo, because of pop-culture. I'm not saying that the OP is new, I'm simply giving my opinion on why I think most reefers want a nem at some point. I argue that a vast majority of the "at some point" really means "when they are new to the hobby". I also argue that most experienced reefers with relatively small tanks would opt against having a nem.

I guess others will have to chime in. :-/

 

i agree many are not well aware of how to even care for one when first starting this hobby. but ill also have to say that there is a reason that clowns dont host lps in the wild, because the anemones are the only things they are accustomed to host with long term, even with condy anemones the clowns eventually get sting marks on their sides and may eventually die. same goes for galaxia or frogspawn or any other coral of the sort.

 

Funny thing is i already have more than enough frogspawn and hammer. 4 heads of hammer and close to 30 heads of frogspawn. Yes, the 0 wasn't a slip of the key.

And ive had the carpet nem for 3 years.