This article is pretty old, but is this still true that anemones don't live very long in aquariums? Maybe this topic has been brought up already, and discussed in the past, i didn't find anything in a search. But it never hurts to bring this to light again...



http://www.garf.org/trever/anem/anenome.html




"Recently, Joyce Wilkerson took a survey on captive anemone life span. Only 5 percent of hobbyists with 2-5 years of experience had been able to keep anemones alive for more than two years, and only 1 out of 32 anemones lived for more than 5 years. The anemones simply aren't surviving.

When an anemone dies in an aquarium, it releases massive quantities of toxins that could decimate every animal you have in that aquarium. These anemones are fundamentally unsuited to aquariums.

Despite this, thousands of anemones are raided from the ocean. This is a tragedy, because in the wild, anemones can live for hundreds of years. They also reproduce very slowly. When an anemone with a 60 or 70 years ahead of it is taken from the ocean and left to die in an aquarium in just several months, it is a tragedy.

When an anemone is not given the chance to produce offspring, it is a tragedy. If we keep up these destructive collecting practices, there will be no anemones left in the ocean. They simply do not reproduce quickly enough to keep up with the demand of the pet trade."

I have quite a collection of anemones, none of which has died, but the oldest one I have is a miniature bubble-tip that I've had for 5 years. It's split 3 different times and two of them I sold. The 3rd nearly died in a tank move, but ended up surviving though it threw a couple of tentacles which attached to rock and are now growing themselves.
The original parent.


I've got a flower anemone that has been with me for three years and is very healthy.


Do't get me wrong. I totally agree with you and GARF on the unsuitablity of anemones, especially clwnfish host anemones, to raising in home aquariums. My first order of an anemone was soon (too soon) after I began this hobby. I ordered a small bubble-tip and a huge one arrived DOA. I decided then to never order another. The big carpets and other very hard to raise anemones, it's just sad besides the horrble waste of money to have one die.
My suggestion is if you really feel you have to have one, make sure you put it into a mature tank, at least a year old, and get one that is small. Like coral frags, I think the small ones are more likely to survive than the big ones. Aso understand that they do live a long time, and you have to be in it for the long haul.


A few years later someone offered me the miniature bubbletip for free, due to their's splitting. I've had it ever since. Another time, a local reefer was getting out and offered a bigger bubbletip and I couldn't resist again. This one with it's already resident occellaris. I've had it a year and it is very healthy.

After a trip to the Pacific, during which I saw many anemones with their host fish (not always clowns) I came home with a real desire to emulate a scene I'd witnessed there, and ended up with a sebae. A friend, Chuck, living in the Philippines had a huge one and said that every few years he'd have to put it back in the ocean and get a smaller one, had done it several times, though their reputation for living in aquariums is poor.
well, I should have known better myself by after 9 months, mine is getting pretty big too, and its skunk clowns seem very happy and feed it every day.
I don't have the option of releasing it into the ocean. I suppose it will end up in a speciman tank eventually, which will be okay too.

Five Tips for a Healthy Anemone

Anemones are fascinating creatures, but have a poor survival record in captivity, are difficult to care for, and are not recommended for the beginner. However, for the dedicated aquarist, here are a few tips and tidbits for mastering the care of these amazing creatures!


1. Don't buy an anemone casually. Take the time to research the particular species you're interested in ahead of time, and have an appropriate home prepared. In the wild, anemones do not often occur in the same areas as corals, and need different requirements. The typical garden-reef style reef aquarium is not an ideal home for any anemone, especially in the long term. Anemones can live a long time, and in fact, do not die of 'old age', and can live for hundreds or thousands of years. Remember this when purchasing one of these animals, and do your best to provide an ideal, long term home. I cannot stress enough the importance of setting up a species-specific display aquarium enough, rather than simply adding it to an existing menagerie of coral and/or other reef invertebrates.


2. Ensure no pump intakes, powerheads, or prop-type pumps are left unprotected in your anemone tank. If it takes ten weeks, ten months, or ten years, your anemone will decide to wonder and become shredded if the equipment isn't anemone-proofed with foam or a screen.

3. Purchase a healthy specimen from a reputable source, preferably a quality online vendor. Online vendors often hold their livestock for 1-2 weeks before ever placing it up for sale. Anemones should never be moved more often than every week, as they cannot tolerate the stress. When choosing an anemone, select one with a tight, closed mouth and sticky tentacles that readily react to food. Drip-acclimate your anemone for at least 45 minutes.

4. Avoid purchasing Ritteri anemones, and avoid white or yellow sebae anemones (they are bleached and dyed, respectively). If you are a beginner to anemones, I recommend the bulb-tipped anemone, Entacmae quadricolor.

5. Feed your anemone small pieces of raw seafood minced to the size of its mouth. Anemone size is directly related to the amount it's fed, and they will grow quickly if fed often. Remember, most anemone exceed 12" in diameter.

Copied from Captive-Aquatics.com

Nem's are supposed to live for a LONG time if conditions in capivity are kept high.

My anemone history which is rich in culture diversity and suitable for general audiences.

Purchased bubble tip. Intake ate it even though I took big precautions.

Purchased another BT. It was happy and split. The splitting didn't go well. It rotted at the split and both halves died fast. Weird.

Purchased a third BT. It had wanderlust and wouldnt settle down. It eventually met up with an intake which was right next to the surface of the tank. Very weird

Purchased a green carpet. Did incredibly well for just over a year. Power failure killed the whole system.

Purchased another green carpet. Did even better than the first for three years. Grew like mad. I fed it like a pig. Eventually I sold it to a friend. It is now the biggest green carpet I have ever seen. It easily fills most of a standard thirty gallon tank. I told my friend if she gets tired of it I will buy it back from her.

Dibbs!

Nate, I appreciate your posting this information, though I differ on a few points. One I agree with totally is
#4 - I used to feed mine frozen mysis, and while they'd eat it, it wasn't until I offered them a piece of fresh shrimp that I realized they'd only tolerated the mysis. Something about freezing makes them not as palatable to eat. That issue right there will preclude many from raising them, as fresh shrimp isn't available to everyone.
Totally agree that the bubble-tips are the easiest host anemones. Flower's are even easier, but do not host, except shrimps.

Another thing is that I've heard the point raised that "In the wild, anemones do not often occur in the same areas as corals, and need different requirements. " In my experience they are found anywhere corals are found, often right in amongst them, much to the chagrin of the corals, as the anemones will definitely sting them. That is why I think one should think twice about putting an anemone into a coral reef tank.
Lastly, any color sebae other than white or tan is colored with dye, but white does occur in the wild, though not as commonly as tan. Mine came white, stayed that way for months, though it was eating and growing well enough. now it is tan, but I suspect that my MH bulbs need changing as my corals aren't growing as rapidly and the bulbs are 12 months old.

JPF, I think your experience is typical other than the carpet, but which you had much more experience when you got the second.

yeah i actually have a seabae nem too. thats just MM's suggestions on Nems care and stuffs

This Sebae anemone with the clown peeking out of it is now 19 years old. I purchased it in 1990 from Payless Aquarium Supply here in Phoenix which was later bought out by Petco.



I've had the RBTA in this pic 6 years.



I never spot feed them the clowns take care of that. They both stay put right where you see them, evidently they are content with the flow and lighting as well as attention they receive from their hosting clowns.

That's great information Nate, and some beautiful anemones you got there Yardboy! I'm relatively new to this hobby, only a year, and not looking to get an anemone any time soon. But just hoping that everyone's responsible when they put these creatures in their tanks. Heck, i even feel guilty for getting live rock, because i know all this comes from some poor country like the philippines where the environment is not an issue. Back to the topic, i never realized the damage we can do when harvesting anemones from the sea, so just trying to get the message out there...

When you got the nems from fellow hobbyist where theirs split, then it's cool.

Thanks again guys for your thoughtful input.

Kudos to you guys regarding the long-term success with anemones, but unfortunately you all are the exception to the rule.

Regarding captive life span, the late Joyce Wilkerson's poll is as true now as it ever was - anemone survival rate in captivity even to just the 5 year mark is ridiculously low (Anthony Calfo has put it at 1% several times, and although it's impossible to know, I'd estimate it's lower than that). The claims regarding collection rates are unsubstantiated, simply because not enough data exists regarding the fecundity of anemones in the wild, but this does not mean the decision to purchase an anemone should be made lightly. She is correct about the lifespan: anemones do not age, and exist until something kills them. Anemones have been document that exceed 300 years of age!

Yardboy, ever been to a reef? If so, how many? I've seen an anemone amongst coral once in the wild (and, guess what it was doing? Killing a brain coral), and I've seen hundreds of acres of reefs. The fact that hobbyists assume that they are reef crest invertebrates (they're not) and put them in reef tanks most definitely does not help their lifespan, especially in today's world of koralias and overflows.

JPF: It's pretty sad you made the same mistake three times, killing three anemones in the same way. Incredibly unconscientious and poor husbandry, is what that is.

Orang, the hobby both hurts and helps the environment, depending upon who's doing the collecting, where the rock/animals/what-have-you are collected, and who's educated the collectors. Scleractinian live rock is a renewable resource, and as long as it's harvested responsibly does no harm to the environment, and can provide incentives for native peoples to manage the reef responsibly for continued monetary gains. The problem I have with the hobby is the complete lack of transparency (of information) available to the hobbyist - it's virtually impossible for the hobbyist to obtain any of the above information, mainly due to the fact that most/all hobbyists simply don't care to know. Because no one cares, the demand for the information has never existed, so neither does transparency.

I've maintained carpet anemones for years, but I keep them in species aquariums and take their care very seriously, as we all should!

Joyce Wilkerson took surveys from noobs...

Actually, the survey, while over a decade old, was taken from one of the premier aquarium sites/listservs at the time (run by Albert J. Theil), and one of the very few legitimate sources of information at the time, a listserv I subscribed to for a decade. While the hobby has definitely advanced, anemone success mostly hasn't.

Please refrain from posting unhelpful, and frankly completely incorrect information in the future, as you are only embarrassing yourself and hampering others.

+1000.

While I don't wear my credentials on my sleeve, I do not make rash statements that aren't backed by my own experience. I've logged thousands of dives since 1979, on reefs in the Caribbean and South Pacific. I maintain a home in the Philippines and have dove on many sites in the Visayan Archipeligo, including Apo Island and islands all around the South China Sea. While there are species of anemones found in the grass beds behind the reef edge that occur solitarily, I see the clownfish hosting species on nearly every dive I make onto the reef face. Maybe our idea of "in the same areas" differ, as certainly most corals cannot tolerate direct contact from anemones without suffering, but I consider "within a few feet" to be the same as "in the same areas".
I am relatively new to underwater photography so moslty take macro pictures because the subjects tend not to move as much. I will go in the water and slowly swim along the face of the reef, snapping pictures with the hope that some will turn out okay, and so a set of numerically sorted pictures will show the corals and anemones scattered randomly together. Since they are macro shots the area around them isn't always shown, but here at least are a couple that show corals nearby in the background.







While I'm certainly not defending coolwaters, I do believe that noobs definitely kill anemones, as they do corals and fish, but that experienced aquarists really have no trouble raising them, if shipping hasn't nearly killed them before they arrive. Any good survey is going to take a cross-section of aquarists in the hobby and my perception is that there are far nore noobs than experienced aquarists out there. Otherwise the lfs wouldn't sell out of clownfish as soon as they get them in, as I can't see experienced aquarists constantly buying them.

While on the subject of anemones, another common statement I've heard is that an anemone will not host more than one species at a time. Here is a shot with at least three species of damsels hosting the same anemone, not counting the crabs and shrimps also in residence.

Very nice pics - I have never seen anemones living in such close approximation. You've been diving a lot longer than I have, so I stand corrected, at least at those locales!

The main reason I don't recommend combining anemones with coral in a reef tank is the water flow - an anemone isn't going to last decades in an aquarium filled with koralias and high-rate overflows, and most reef aquarists don't want to wrap these items in bulky sponges.

a decade ago in reefing is like 50 years ago in automobiles tho. think of the leaps forward in reefing that have occured since the turn of the century.

Out of the people you know that have purchased anemones, how many have kept them 5+ years?

you have, mike.

ive had mine 2 years, its split 3 times and my friends have the offspring. the flower nem has grown in Phaellox's tank for a year befor ei got it, so its at least 3....

ill let you know in 2 more years haha

I've had my BTA(s) for two years. I have a total of four. As I was planning a tank upgrade this week the sob decided to split again. I'm taking three to the LFS for credit this week. None of my nems move. I have one small Maroon that host all four. None of mine have ever had bubble tips. When is was in Fiji I would say only 5-10% actually had bubbles.

Here are a few pics from Fiji back in Aug 09. Nems were right next to the coral.

I had kept one of the hardier flower-type anemones in a 20g under two T5 NO bulbs. It was fine for months and began to color up quite nicely until my mantis blasted right through it after burrowing from the backside of the rock it was on. Needless to say, the anemone did not make it...

Thats hilarious and sad at the same time haha

Wow this thread is awesome... yardboy and troll, your pictures rock!!!!

Anyways.... It seems that the consensus seems to be that anemones, in-general, are difficult to keep in an aquarium. I don't think any of us should be contending that fact (even based on personal experiences and/or the experiences of friends). Out of the entire SW hobby, the 45,000 members on NR make up a really small fraction.

Just like everything else in this hobby, however, nothing happens 100% of the time and there exist deviations for both noobs being able to care for anemones long terms and experienced aquarists not being able to...

My opinion? Set up a species tank or at least understand that you may be forced to at some point.

Well put

I'd also like to recommend that if you can always purchase captive bred anemones if you can. You can almost always find a captive bred bubble tip from a friend or local reef club if you look hard enough. I try to buy all captive bred fish and corals so we aren't removing them from the wild and by doing so encourage vendors to start propagating their own fish and corals.

BUMP just to get more people reading...

I'm glad this thread is generating discussion, learning a lot from you guys!

Off topic but Mike's statements have me concerned about my own anemone. She just split and both are healing on track and should be ready to take food in a few more days but... I do run a reef tank with high turbulent flow so perhaps an anemone is not a good choice for me... How do I get them to detach from the rocks safely? When its glass its a snap but one is on a rock in a crevasse that would be hard to get a credit card into. Would ice applied to the foot work?

NO!!! do not use ice. that would be WAY to stressful.

anyways idk why everyones fusing about nems in reef tanks.

i totally agree with mike but i have had my anemone for about 1.5 years now. its a Seabae and has survived thru 2 tank transfers and 3 independent in tank moves (manual moves)

ATM it is doing fine and is expanding to the biggest it has ever.

its just my experience though...

I was reading some reef site last night and had a small article on anemone life spans. Some can live centuries. Hope you keep your tank that long...

Passed from father to son/daughter...

+1
I'm pretty sure all my coral and fish were raised in captivity and as a result I believe they are hardier in addition to having zero impact on the ocean.

Also +1 to species tanks for anemones. Mine did fine and even split while in my main display with all my coral but it did cause havoc and stung a few corals nearly to death. Both nems are now in a viewable sump with nothing but macros and nuisance coral (i.e. GSP, xenia and yellow polyps) and everything looks much happier, plus it's a load off my mind.

I expect to be flamed for this because it sounds like such a stupid question but I have to ask anyway.

If they don't age, and if they can live and have been "known" to live for hundreds of years, where does that data come from?
Reefing has come a long ways in the past 10 years or heck, in the past 5 years, so to say "who has kept one for over 5 years successfully" isn't quite a fair statement since many people in the hobby, haven't been around for 5 years.
I agree too that the ones that do survive several years, people probably pass them on, sell them, etc. Who's to say there aren't some out there that have lived easily 10 years but has been in 4 different reef tanks?

I'm not trying to discredit the information brought here about them being difficult. These are just the thoughts and questions I had while reading this thread. It's a good thread.

I think the more important way to look at the info is the other side. Even if there are say 1000 anemones out there that have lived for 5-10+ years, there are 10000 that have not. It is true that there are alot of people who have been in the hobby less than say 5 years but how many of them have had and killed an anemone in less than 1? I have! I had a Condi anemone for almost 1 year exactly that was thriving. I got him from deathco because I was new and the salesman told me it was a good choice (what a surprise). It was bleached and tiny but I nursed it back to health. It browned up and grew to the size of a small dinner plate only so I could get a koralia without a sponge around it and it got sucked in and shreaded.
My point is and I swear I have one. Until the success rate with them gets a little better, the opinion for a lot of people will remain that they are better suited for the wild or those who have had great success with them. Just my 2 cents!

The reason I tend to make such blanket statements as "anemones do not belong in reef tanks" has to do with the fact that anemones will usually kill coral, and then at some point be sucked into some form of water movement device. This doesn't mean an anemone can't be kept in a 'reef garden' type of aquarium, but for most aquarists, it simply isn't a good idea.

There was a paper published a while back about ritteri anemone aging. Google's Scholar search should bring up at least a few publications regarding this topic.

Matty0206 makes a good point. Not all of the time, but the vast majority of the time, an anemone is usually placed in an ill-suited home, and does not survive for any significant length of time.

Marteen makes a good point, as well - captive bred BTA's and RBTAs can usually be found with a little looking. Although wild collecting is both good and bad, depending on how it's done, and from where.

I am generally opposed to the large scale importation of species that have little-to-none known fecundity and population information, and when coupled with a generally abysmal survival rate, I encourage everyone to not purchase anemones lightly.

I do think these points are good points, but the next question then, is how to prevent the problem? I know it's difficult and widespread but there has to be a way. Best I could come up with is maybe there should be an agency that is responsible for making sure anenomes that pet stores sell, come with paperwork to prove their origination?

Just wanted to add my experience. I bought a bleached sebae 1.5inches in diameter from petco none the less. In 6 months it was about 10inches in diameter, to big for my tank so I gave him to someone with a bigger tank. I had to use 2 gallons of water in a huge bag inside a styrofoam box to move him. He was a a pretty golden brown when he got moved to a 90gal.

This was my first ever anemone by the way, when I just got into the hobby. The main problem with anemones dying is 75% of the people that buy them do no research and just want "nemo to have a home".

The reality is, it won't happen - there's no incentive financially, and no outcry from hobbyists to do so.

Nemmy, grats on your success! I spent nearly a year nursing a bleached bta back to health, and succeeded..only to have it die during hurricane Ike, another anemone lost...

Rising fuel prices and increased legislation will eventually force the hobby to move towards what can be propagated 'en masse' in facilities state-side. I would venture to say the currently common practice of importing mass amounts of wild caught livestock is going to cease within five years, for better or for worse, and these animals will no longer be collected/available.

Hummm... Sorry Mike but I have to disagree.

I have been looking quite a bit into the CITES treaty and the statement that there is no point of origin/collection paperwork is not true.

If any sea life comes into the US or other countries who are signatories without the appropriate Customs forms including CITES paperwork then it considered smuggled/contraband goods and gets confiscated and everyone up and down the line faces fines, loss of license, etc. Then the animal is donated to a local aquarium.

For example the coral display at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach Ca is all from colonies seized by Customs at LAX and San Diego International. The colonies in the display's have reached sizes that are only found in the wild with colors only found in our tanks.

My point is that each animal is tracked if it is brought here legally and the best way to stop the wild anemone trade is to have them made a protected species under CITES. The process and procedure is already in place. There is no need to invent something new.

i agree with mike in that we have already seen Congress propose a bill to eliminate and make illegal all possessions of pets. who knows what they will do next? i also think that countries that importers are getting their coral from will eventually realize what has happened to their beautiful reefs ( just as Tonga has) and will ban all export of live corals and such. i mean even the Philippines only allows fish and dead rock to be exported.

I got my baby RBTA from a NR member. It was about the size of a quater, and my tank is less than perfect. It's now about 5 inches long in less than 5 months.

+1 to buying tank raised, helps environment, and the specimens are hardy.

Not sure what you meant by "even the Philippines" but they do allow the export of fish and inverts, including anemones. Interesting too that I see many anemones on every dive I make there.
In my opinion the biggest risk to the reefs there is fish collection for food (the number of fish caught and eaten is orders of magnitude greater than the live ones shipped out) and coral reefs damaged from cucumber hunters, again for export to other asian countries for food.
Remember that the vast majority of corals on a reef are either brown, or too large for use in an aquarium.
Also, while I'm at it, I've heard many statements about since anemones "live forever" (don't ask a butterflyfish about that) so we shouldn't collect them, but no one seems to think it's wrong to collect a Porites or Favites, which huge specimens can be cored and aged at over a thousand years old, , while the confirmation of age in an anemone is pretty thin.

Don't misunderstand me, I have a lot of respect for CITES and feel the organization works very well. In fact, I know all about CITES - I directly import livestock from collection locales, and have to have the applicable permits and ensure the paperwork is in proper order to bring the livestock into the states. What I meant was that this information rarely (if ever) finds its way to the hobbyist, who is real decision-maker in the supply chain in terms of what's collected and what's not! Plus, CITES lists are often 'behind the times' and tend to change slowly (bluefin & yellow tuna come to mind...).

Not sure what you mean by "inventing something new"?

I've long thought anemone species should be made illegal to import/sell commercially by CITES, but no luck yet (but they're finally considering adding Tuna!). As I said, I think it will be fuel prices that will really change this hobby in the next few years, especially combined with the increased CITES and Fish & Wildlife tariffs on imported livestock. Shipping and tariffs are already 75% of livestock prices, imagine what it will be when gas hits $5/gallon sometime in the next year or two!

Ah. I see what you mean. Yes it does change slowly. But thats more a function of bureaucracy than anything else. Getting all the votes, building the coalitions, doing the studies, covering one's arse etc.

My point about CITES is that when a creature is placed on the list for non-export the supply dries up completely. Anyone caught importing it gets major fines and the like. There is no need to create another bureaucracy to put out warnings on what is and isn't endangered or what comes from where and how. It is a matter of better publishing that information.

Since you do direct import from collection stations then you know that in order to get a shipment from say Bali you have to have Customs clearance here in the US as well as CITES documentation so everything you need to give the retail customer information on the item purchased is right there at your fingertips.

That is what I mean by something new. Again its already in place the data just needs to be published. We don't need a Department of Publishing Sea Dwelling Creatures Collection Point Consumer Information Service to do it.



Heheh. Yeah. Thats very true. The thing is there is CITES is in a difficult position. On the one hand the UN wants to see the economies of "third world" nations improve so that all the associated health and human services factors improve (infant mortality, lack of education, disease, poverty, etc) but on the other they have a responsibility to safeguard species and habitats that are threatened with extinction. How do you look a Collection Station employee in the eye and tell him that his whole village is going without food because he can no longer collect Carpet Anemone's and charge $200 US for them? It doesn't play well locally or internationally except in the small segment of population in first world countries who are "environmentally conscious" and care enough to protest.

Ultimately I would like to see allot more sustainable aquaculture of fish, invertebrate, and coral species than wild collection. Along the lines of what was done with giant clams back in the 80's. Back then it was all wild caught clams (mostly used as a food source and still is) and the wild population was being decimated. Then (I don't remember the branch) of the UN put out a paper outlining how local commercial farming of the clams could be conducted coupled with grants for setting up the farms. This took substantial pressure off the wild population and provided a source of income. This, to me, seems very simple in application to do with other forms of wildlife if the time and resources were dedicated to it. The old give a man a fish vs. teach a man to fish.

The key is to avoid what happens now where there is a concentration of pollutants due to fish farming in one location. Looking specifically at Anemones I believe the statistics show that one can create some 2,000 anemones yearly or 5 anemones a day from a single parent via splitting and cutting. More than enough when scaled up slightly to cover the demand in the world for these animals.

LONG REPLIES HURT MY BRAIN.

^^^^ Sigh... The Flower of the United States ladies and gentlemen...

LOL. i read the whole thing actually. thats why it hurt my brain. especially cuz im sick.
but yeah this is an iteresting debate on opinions.

this also seems to have triggered mike to write this article.

Why you Shouldn't Release Your Aquarium Fish

GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! *THAT* really narks me off! Idiots!

same here.
stupid people who release captive animals.

I didn't write that - Merritt did, my better half!

Good post, Urchin, and I definitely agree - it's not a black and white issue, that's for sure.

The CITES information is usually available to the importer, but (usually) never makes it past that stage. I don't sell to the public, in fact, I only import for my own and my clients needs, and more so that I know exactly where everything is coming from than any other reason. My point is that the info usually doesn't even make it to the wholesalers, much less to the store owners or to the hobbyist. If hobbyists were to present a demand for the information, it would start to be passed along, but such isn't the case (at least presently).

Oh, and collectors get a few dollars for blue/purple/red carpet anemones, the importer sells them for $25 to the wholesaler, the wholesaler charges $75-125, the retailer $200-500. Keep in mind, each group is having to recoup shipping and other fees, as well as make a profit.

To keep things on topic, anemones don't make up the bulk of animals collected, luckily, so I don't think prohibiting the collection would change a lot in terms of reducing a collectors' income.

Thank you. And you as well.



Humm... I believe that the folks on 104th street all have to have corresponding CITES paperwork on file for the shipments they get. Those folks being the wholesalers. Have to in case they either get something in shipment that wasn't on the forms and/or are inspected.



I *WISH* it were that cheap. I got to sneak a peek at a Collection Station's price list and a red carpet was going for $200 on top of the shipping, box, Customs, CITES, etc fees. Perhaps that was because it was a supply constrained item and they were marking up accordingly or they were aware of trends and it was unusual but I don't know since I have no way to baseline it against more samples.

And I have found that the typical LFS markup is about 100-200% on an item so if local LFS's were asking $600+ for a good sized one it tracks that if the CA was $200 at the collection station. The actual collector working for the station of course is paid substantially less but at the same time the fee paid for it would be better than dirt farming.



I agree. But ultimately the damage done by collecting a wild one isn't just limited in scope to the anemone itself. Odds are there is a clownfish pair that is now without a home, the filtration feeding done by that anemone will unbalance the rest of the food web, etc.