anemones HELP!!!

i 100% agree!!! your right they can sustain alot, and thats kind of the point, if she sustains one for 6 months or more then her tank would be more than ready to hold another type of nem...theres more than one way to skin a cat...

 

No, because they'll withstand anything, even if it's not conducive towards keeping an anemone as thought in the hobby. For example, you can have aiptasia in SG 1.020 water, with 100 ppm nitrates and 3ppm phosphates. That's an environment a condy (probably the easiest common nem) wouldn't even survive, but an aiptasia will thrive there. You put a condy in there thinking "oh, the aiptasia survived, so this will do well!", which couldn't be farther from the truth.

What you need to do to test if you can hold an anemone is keep an actual hard to keep species, like an acro. That way, you know your parameters are actually even in the ballpark of correct for an anemone, rather than correct for algae growth.

Let me explain it this way: Imagine you start your tank with an occelaris clownfish. You go "Hey, I can keep the clownfish just fine; I guess it's time for a Mandarin!". That's totally ignorant, because keeping the clownfish is so completely different, and much easier, than keeping the mandarin. A better way would be to keep a canary blenny in the tank, while not feeding, and see if it gets thin. That way, you actually know you can support a mandarin, rather than judging your probability of success based on keeping a much easier animal, and if it gets thin, it's a fish that you can feed and get back to health rather easily.

Besides, introducing aiptasia to a tank purposely is just plain dumb to begin with. You don't introduce pest creatures to your tank, period.

 

i guess i was looking at it wrong, i can see where your coming from, guess its always good to see it from another point of view...and some people like em(not me theyre the reason i have pep's)

 

I’ll disagree another way – you don’t actually “test” to see if your tank can sustain an anemone. You cycle your tank and then go another 6 months without issue – once you have 6 months of stability then you start your homework and go from there. Other wise you waste your money and kill a living animal.

 

im keeping the anenome and ill let you know how it is doing in 6 months if its dead then fine all you guys ganging up on me win. i have a totally different question on a totally different matter and a totally different type of tank. i have a (working on) brackish tank with a green spotted puffer in it but can only get him to eat live food. i have tried feeder fish but they were too big so the only thing he is eating at the moment is tiny snails. the salinity in the tank is only allowed to be increased by .002 every week and i am looking for different food alternatives for him. he is only about 1/2"in length so any idea what other live foods i can feed this guy

 

Speaking for myself I do not think for a moment anyone was ganging up on you to win.

Weather you beat the odds or not please document or start a thread on your anemone's care. If you want to take the risk at least let others learn from your experience.

Try feeding sm. pieces of raw seafood you can get from the supermarket. Only feed weekly to bi-monthly and SMALL piece and remove any uneaten food. If the anemone does not want to eat just give it more time.

Good Luck.

 

have you tried brine shrimp?

 

Jammers I promise you that everyoneon this forum only wants to be helpful. Maybe every now and again we could use an extra cup of coffee (or one less!) ;D

On to the Puffer, I suggest that you try freeze dried blood worms - they love them. Find a food that he likes and start to mix it with another and add more and more of the other as time goes by and eventually you will be sucessful.

Raw food, as suggested, should work - once you find what he likes, clams, shrimp, scallops, mussels etc, buy some from the butcher and freeze it in a baggie....works great and its easy. Good Luck and keep us posted !!

As for other live food as you asked, crickets, meal worms, spagehetti worms, grass shrimp, gammerus and amphipods and I think tiny brittle stars.

 

please dont feel its an attack on you. it just people in this hobby are very passionate about it. they know how difficult it is to keep an anemone even for someone with a lot of experience. i hope your anemone does well for you they are beautiful creatures. i have found LTA's a bit tricky to keep. and bubbles to be the easiest anemone. especially one that comes from a bubble anemone that split from another's tank.

 

hey speaking of aiptasia i have a few in my tank that are getting so large i think they need a clown fish ...lol kidding!

really working on the aiptasia's demise now. they are a pain to get rid of!