Anenomes...good enough lighting?

C

Chunksta1985

AC Members
Feb 24, 2005
9
0
0
Hi I have a 25 gallon salt water tank with two small pieces of live rock, one white sabae anenome and one long tentacle anenome which both host my 4 clownfish, I also have a recently purchased trigger and one damsel. I recently purchased an 110-watt light for the aquarium with 2 white light bulbs and 2 blue light bulbs. I'm wondering if this is enough lighting for my anenomes. I'm also having some trouble with brown algae and my trigger may have ich. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-Molly
Chunksta1985@comcast.net
 
Unfortunately, there have been studies on the lifespan of anenomes in captivity, and they generally don't fair well in the long term. They do need brighter light than you have. The brown algae can be due to the low light level and duration of lighting, as well as chemical/mineral/nutrient imbalances as well as stocking levels. It seems you might be overcrowding a bit - you can't get away with overcrowding with salt water as well as you can with fresh water from time to time. And a trigger, any kind, needs a larger tank. Check out nanoreef.com for a lot of good info on smaller salt water tanks. Good luck!
 
That tabj is way over crowded, both with fish and aneomones. 2 in that size tank, especially a long tenticled one, is asking for trouble.

How old is the tank setup? How are you caring for the anemones? What are you feeding them?
 
I agree with TKOS and just to add a bit. What sort of trigger do you have it will very likely not only outgrow that tank but, eat pretty much everything else in it to. Also damsels and clowns often times really have issues with each other . The damsel will really need to come out if your clowns ," the big female prbly", start a fight. They are closely related and usually don't get along at all. 100 wat lights are they halides? and what is their out put 6500, 10000 k? If so yes that's enough light but, no it's not enough tank. They will need IMO at least a 40 gallon that is well established from 8 mnths to a year with a nice sandy bottom for them to sink their feet into.
hth
Chris
 
Ok, the trigger part's been covered, but for the anemones, its usually not a good idea to have more than one kind in a tank, especially a smaller tank like that. Also more lighting would be better for them too. Also, I don't think 4 clowns will do too well together. Usually they pair off w/ one dominant female and one male. I know 3 together is definitely bad, 4...not sure but personally I wouldnt chance it.
 
The lighting output for the white light is 10,000K. So far the clowns and damsel have been fine together because whenever the damsel chases the clown he just goes off and hides in the anenome and is fine. The trigger is a fairly inexpensive one, so nothing too fancy. This is actually my boyfriend's tank, and he got really excited about saltwater and I think jumped in a bit quickly to this whole deal. Should I tell him to let go of the damsel and trigger? Also at specialty store we went to they told us to use a crushed coral bottom. Then we later found out that may not be the best route. I currently have a 55 gallon freshwater tank with just goldfish and we're looking into switching that over to a saltwater in the next year. I'm worried though about his tank from all your comments which I really appreciate by the way :-). What should we do about the tank right now?
 
I would get rid of the trigger as it will be quite aggressive. The damsels will be hard to catch. The clowns will fight or spend all of their time in the anemone which may make the anemone mad. And the tank is far too small for anemones anyway. I would get rid of some fish and then geta bigger tank setup properly with sand bottom and lots of live rock. Also keep the water quality stabile and good. Do weekly water changes. Feed the anemones, there is plenty of info how, just do a forum search.
 
hmmm... turn the 55 to a reef tank... turn the 25 to a sump for the 55 reef tank... lose the trigger (needs roughly 70 gallons) loose the damsel... (you will hate it before long) Put each anemone on seperate ends of the tank... Keep the lighting for your sump and grow macro algea in it.... Do not use crushed coral.. just use sand.
Buy 50-70 pounds of base rock or so.. lace it with 25-40 pounds of live rock... get a skimmer.. ask questions.. lots and lots of questions...

DO NOT take the advice of your LFS without questioning unbiased opinions of the people here... we do not stand to make money on your errors or from you not knowing any better.. we will try to giv eyou sound advice...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom