Anemone research help quickly

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racerX

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Anemone research help

I'm about to go to the LFS and i want to get two clowns and an anemone to host in. I would like to know of a hardy anemone that will be a good beginner anemone and will also not eat my other fish. Or which fish i can't put in with an anemone. A quick response would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Shane
 
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Don't get the anemone. Please. The clowns don't need a host. If you want to try later, after you have more experience, then they will figure it out. Too many anemones die because people think they need one for their clowns and put it into a tank that's not ready. I would have done the same, years ago, and I am so glad I didn't.
 
I am also a newbie and did what the previous poster said not to do. I bought a Haitian Condy anemone when I bought my 2 clowns. It's been about a month, and I think I have been "lucky." One of the clowns is hosting in the anenome which wasn't likely to happen with this type of anenome by all accounts. That's my 2 cents, maybe only a penny.
 
went to the lfs and didn't get anything.
they have some clown pairs there that are already hosting.
about ten to fifteen happy little trios. I went ahead and had them tell me all about them and what they needed and i have a few books to read. I have been reading on here and on the net for about 5 months now and an anemone is where i want to end up with the current tank. My roomate is a chemistry major so we have had everything absolutely perfect in the tank since about two weeks after the initial set up. I bought a tank from some friends that is 10gl and its a nano that has been up for about three years so i know i would have a good home for it now for the three to four weeks while i quarintine all three house mates. I mean yeah I could wait and let the tank run for a year and keep reading and researching and still not be ready. I know that marine depot has a compainion chart for clowns and their host but i would rather trust the experience of this board. So i will wait but i would still like to know which is my better choice. I want just regular false percs. And I asked so that when i do decide to get one I don't get a delicate anemone and not be experiened enough to give it exactly what it needs and I do end up being souly responsible for its death. I know clowns don't need a host but from most of what i read the host does better with the clowns. I did have an ich outbreak due to the patio door being left open and the cold air blowing across the tank but I followed the exact directions that were given to me in my post on that. my tank has now been running without fish in it for three weeks, the first of which i continued to medicate while i medicated the surviving fish in the QT. And the second week the carbon filtration was back in place to remove the meds. so according to this board the cycle should be broken for the parasite. I have upgraded my lighting and will be installing them long before the introduction of these three. I'm not trying to go on a fit trip but experience comes from doing, not reading and i have more then research things. I just really trust alot of you on this board and your advice is very important to me. so once again i will wait, but seriously how long do you think i should wait? Sorry if i come off sounding like I'm mad, im really not, i just wanted to know what a hardy specimen was to start gaining experience with. for instance I have found that Entacmaea quadricolor or bulb is possibly the best choice so far. does anyone out there disagree.
 
Well at least you're researching up front. Just know your responsibilities.
HarryPotter - you won'y know how your anemone is doing for at least some more months - it take a while for them to effectively starve to death under poor conditions
 
The only people that have ever really been successful that I have come across keeping anemones are the ones whose tanks have been running for years and are large tanks with massive lights. The reason the older reef tanks work best is due to the fact that they are so well established and have lots of life diversity in them. It is something that just can't happen in a 5 month old tank, no matter how good you are with tank upkeep.

There just isn't enough knowledge of these guys yet to successfully keep them in aquariums. Most die in months, some live years, but in the wild they live hundreds of years and are very slow breeders. Pretty much all aneomes sold are wild caught and are slowly disapeaering from the oceans.

How big is your tank anway? And how much live rock and live sand is in your tank?
 
Just noticed your Topic heading. If you put the word "quickly" in an anemone heading then chances are you are not ready to handle one yet.
 
experience comes from doing, not reading
Click to expand...
I agree. Run a reef tank with some "easy" corals for several months at least, then you will know the routine. You don't need to "do" an anemone to get hands-in experience.

As far as your roommate being a chem major, that helps a bit, but a reef tank is where chemistry intersects with biology. I have a degree in physiology as well as a PhD, in addition to having taught chemistry and biochemistry at the college level, and still had a steep learning curve when I started keeping marine invertebrates.

Anyway, it looks like you're trying to do your homework, so keep it up. There are tank-raised clones of E. quadricolor available, and I would push for one of those when you go for the anemone. False percs don't use them as a host in the wild, but the natural hosts of ocellaris clowns have dismal survival records. Clowns will often take unnatural hosts in the aquarium.

I hope what you're hearing here doesn't just sound like a lot of negativism, but many of us have gone through posts about dying anemones too many times.
 
I jumped into an anemone... might not have been a good idea, but the maroon clown I bought was already with the long tenticle, it was also the nicest looking one I have seen in the year prior to starting my tank. It's a 29gallon with two maroon clowns (soon to be a mated pair!?!?!) and a handfull of snails. I'm not getting anything else for the tank and I paid alot of money to get great lights and a few books to keep the anemone. I post things about it almost everyday to see if its ok (sorry haha) and Im always at my lfs to see what they're anemones are doing. It's gets to your nerves when you jump into something, expecially if you care about it and wan't it to live in your tank. If I went back in time I'd wait... but now that my fighting maroons aren't fighting and they are playing in the anemone, I can't really say I'd want to go back? Hope it helps... you will probably worry about your anemone if you put it in your tank (did you say it was a 10gallon?!). But hey, I don't know alot.
 
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