What Anemone Do you all recommend?

Hello Fellow Reefers,

I have a 20 gal thank that I love because it is easy to maintain and take care of. I presently have two oscillaris clowns that beautiful. I want to buy an anemone that they can enjoy. What do you all recommend. I love the carpet anemone, but I am told by the LFS that the carpet grows to fast and would get to big for my tank. Any truth in this? I just feel like this guy is always BSing me. Only reason I keep going to him is because he gets great looking fish and is not expensive. Besides the clowns I have a shrimp. That is the king of the roost, or in this case the king of the tank. Attached is a picture of my tank.

Thank you in advance for your help

Gus Gonzalez

 

Nope, no BS; I've seen some gigantic carpet nems (several feet in diameter!). The most popular are bubble-tip nems (bta). They're fairly hardy, and accepted by a variety of clownfish. Be advised, however, that adding any anemone will not guarantee that the clowns will ever reside in it; in a controlled environment that lacks the threat of predation, some just won't bother.

 

Carpets do get huge, I have one in my 20 knowing though that the tank needs to revolve around the anemone. They are fish eaters and will quickly devour anything other then a resident clown, in a small tank there is no room for fish error.

I agree with Mr.Bill a BTA (Entacmaea quadricolor) is your best bet. A hardy anemone that acclimates fairly easily. It will move around initially but they seem to settle into one spot eventually moving only occasionally. Try to get a BTA larger then your clown fish.

 

Can't really say it any better than the previous posters. Haddonni, gig, merts, etc (all "carpet" anemones) can be very efficient at making your fish stocking list go in the negative direction in short order. They're very particular about water/light quality and they're notoriously bad shippers meaning the chance needed to treat for bacterial infections is quite high when you initially receive it. If anemones are new to you and your tank has seen a proper cycle and has aged a bit (think ~1 year), a quadricolor (bubble tip) will be your best bet.

 

Your clowns are just as likely to host some xenia or a torch coral.
What kind of lights do you have?

 

I have a wave point 24" 4 bulb unit. Two white bulbs and two blue bulbs. Thanks

 

I agree with others, I'd recommend a bubble tipped anemone. I've actually found the rose colored to be a tad hardier than the green. There are also some other types out there of the the bubble tip that are quite gorgeous such as a starburst but they usually have some pretty high price tags, I'd probably not pick something like that for my first anemone in a fairly new setup. As already stated, it might take some time for the nem to host your clowns but so don't get discouraged if it takes some time for them to reside in the nem.

 

Agreed.
@ Sea Monster-The anemone/coral/ph/heater are the hosts.Not the clown.

 

BTA. Try to get one that is already attached to a rock. Your lighting is prob good, I would recommend changing your bulbs to ATI. How old is the tank, generally I recommend at least a year so your parameters are consistant.

 

Gus,
If your LFS is thinking about the animals welfare instead of just taking your money I would continue to support his store as it is somewhat rare unfortunately.
Usually we here stories of "bs" involving the sale of something inappropriate.