I am running a nanocube 12 with stock lighting, questions, i want to house an anemone, will stock lighting be sufficient?
prefered anemone: green bubble tip

will i need to run my skimmer or not?

how old is your tank?
almost all stock lighting are insufficient enough for housing anemones. they require much better lights than those PCs and also low bio load.
apart from the lights, anemones need experienced hobbiest. not recommended at all for new reef keepers.
dont do my mistake, i have been there myself.

get a softy should do well under your stock lights...

Wrong Forum. Moving.

the tank is 8 months old.
I had an anemone before but it died, due to overheating during the summer, and i never got a chance to test whether or not they will actually thrive under PC. so i want to test it out again.

"thrive" - no.

You do realize it's a living animal you are 'testing" on?

Have you resolved the overheating issue? What happens next summer if you did manage to keep it alive until then?

The death of the first one should have been a clue...

I would also like to add that a 12gal tank is to small for a Anemone... With proper lighting and water conditions it would out grow the tank fast...

My opinion may change in another 6 months.. but I acquired my nem back in early May and have seen remarkable improvement in this animal. I've had no trouble bringing him back from near death under stock biocube lighting. I can correlate this with plenty of research. Here's the before and now.

First obtained:


Current:

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME

This is an Aquapod 24 gal, with 24 watt PC's. I have had alot of experience with Anemones and sell off the clones. You need the experience under your belt to do it successfully, so the Anemones' THRIVE.

is your tank getting any other source of light?
WOW (in a good way)

What kind of anemone is that? (Also doesn't it look like its stretching up because it needs more light?)

No the only light they get is the PC's. I usually replace bulbs about every six months. I have a GRBTA and carpet anemones' under Mh in my JBJ and they really do not look any different. My carpet anemone is splitting, I think the reasons why my anemones ' do well is because they have excellent water condition, and I feed mysis or other mixtures everyother day and I target feed so the anemone gets all of it, to keep waste from accumulating. Oh and thank you for the compliment.

I'm going to ge eaten alive for this post I can feel it already.
Anemone can survive under no lighting with constant feeding. Yes I know sounds crazy. Have I tried it? No

from doing extensive reading it seems the photosynthetic algae on the anemone only gives it supplimental food (consider this as just getting a snack between meals). The real nutrition is in the feedings. Can anemones survive on light alone? Yes but you won't see as good of growth.
My first nem was a sebae in a 24g nanocube with stock lighting. Not only was it bleach white but was 1.5 inches in diameter. In 6 months of 3x a week feeding it was fully colored up and took over my entire tank.

While I still do recommend t5 and mh for anemone, they can live in less then adiquate environments when they get enough food. I would still only recommend them to people with experience in the hobby and a tank with pristine water quality.

don't anemones split when they are stressed and trying to survive??? isn't splitting a bad thing? it's a sign of poor water quality of lighting issues

Your absolutely right it's self preservation. But as you can see my anemones nether look sick, bleached, shrunken or about to die from neglect. Nice try. NOOB

that's a very debatable topic. Yes spliting is a sign of stress from bad water, light, temperature, or getting annoyed by a fish or coral. But then again it can be considered a sign of good health.
In the end, if they look healthy, act healthy, eat, and poop I wouldn't worry about it splitting and thinking it's in bad health. It just wanted to split!

Now if it won't open won't eat and keeps moving around and then splits I would worry about stress.

i have a feeling she won't be on here for very long.....and it was just a question......no need to insult me with BS....no need at all

How big are they when they split? They look small.
My rose is freaking huge and just will not split. I'm not going to force it to, i just wish it would.

I read about somebody using a screw driver in their tank and accidentally hitting their anemone. It split into 3

Haha as i said im not going to force it, or take a butchers knife/screwdriver to it :-p
Its just weird that they split so early for cheryl and mine just keeps getting bigger.

You can actually force it but, I think the idea of putting a rubber band in the middle or cutting it is animal abuse. I can usually tell when they are going to split, they move to a area of lower light and current and it takes approximately one to two days. That being said I have had them split in a couple hours without any change in placement. I think the key is high quality feedings every other day. I use mysis or prime reef or cyclops and I add amino acids and I target feed and turn off the pump and put in a filter pad and remove after feeding is done and rinse it. I also use chempure and purgen to keep the water good as well as weekly H2o changes. The weird thing is I hear all the time about anemone moving about, my BTA once they find a spot thats where they stay if I sent you pic's today they are in the same spot. My carpet anemones move but they are smaller so no big deal. I have pic of splitting RBTA's if your interested. I have no doubt that yours will split, another thing is that all my anemones that split are hosted, with the exception of the carpets.

I know you can force it, cut them, screw with water chemistry im totally against that. I just think its weird that yours split at such a small size. I feed silversides often (every day if im rescuing a bleached nem). My rose is like the size of a freaking dinner plate.

My GBTA split the other day, it was 2-3 inches in diameter. The only reason it did was because i had to take the tank down to put it on a new stand and the water was a few degrees shy of normal when i put that one back in.

The original and the clone are doing great though. (green with purple dots on the tips)

So does that mean i can keep a green bubble tip? My PC light is 7 month old\.. should i change bulbs before getting the nem? or will pc last up to 1 year? also with previous experience, my clownfish didnt host my nem. any method to make my false percula host my future nem?

TELL ME YOUR TRICKS IF THERE ARE ANY!! haha

please do not get a nem if you have a PC bulb UNLESS you have experience in keeping them.......you will have more success with them with higher lighting......not trying to preach here just trying to save some animals lives here that in the wild have an open ended life life span.....there are studies that have been done that suggest that b/c of an anemones' simple make-up and the fact they don't have any type of traditional digestive system or other organs that under the right conditions they can technically live forever......now wouldn't it be a pity for that guy who's on the right path to immortality to be plucked out of the ocean for you to buy in a pet store and die in a year or so b/c of stress from lack of proper lighting.......again i'm not saying it can't be done but i am saying unless you have GOOD experience in doing it......DON'T

what happened to this nem?

if u must get a nem try to find one thats a split of a mother thats been in captivity for a while.

I agree if you don't have experience with anemones I would not go out and purchase one, without significant lighting. As I stated earlier I change out my PC routinly and the anemone's rock work should be no more than 24 inches, away from the PCs. I provide target feedings everyother day with an array of different foods soaked in amino acids. And most importantly I have excellent water parameters, water changes every week and my tanks are stable. I have included pic of this am not everything is awake yet. Now a days it's so easy to upgrade your lights if can do so.

+1 this could be the start of a beautiful relationship cheryl.......no hard feelings........

HAHA i am going to prove u wrong.(hopefully) the last time anemone died because i was away from home but this time i'll be on guard.

nice looking nem.

OK so after having him under the LEDs for a few weeks.. he was still stretching upwards.. so I don't think it's the lighting. I think it's more so he could expand. I've since gone a new direction with the tank.. cut him into quarters and now have 4 happy GBTAs.. 3 will be traded or what not.. I may keep 1..still interested in seeing what the final coloration will be..especially now that it's receiving all the light it could ever want.

Mine nem doont stretch like urs. stretching is a sign of lacking light? mine just expands like crazy. When i got it from the LFS it was only a quarter wide, now its more like 6 inches wide. does that mean the nem likes the lighting?

stretching can be a sign of lacking light. So can expansion of the nem. Imagine the anemone as a solar panel collecting light making energy. if the anemone expands himself to be big as possible he can catch more sun to make more energy. So your nem could be stertching outwards to collect what little light he can, or he's just a big sucker.

Same wih stretching toward the light, the closer to te source the stronger the light.

I know im new to this but i dont understand the comment about not using PC lighting unless you have experience. I know there is more that goes into it. But experience doesnt change the type of lighting.....

I have made a mistake and the advice I gave was bad. If I had known then what I know now about this particular post. I would have recommended that you re-evaluate your level of experience, do alot more research and stick with easy to care for animals like zoas, mushrooms and some soft corals. I can not redo what I adviced in the previous post, but I can recommend that unless you have advanced experience, that means years and years that you do not attempt to keep BTA under PC's. The new hobbyist usually have stock PC's with a AIO tanks. The problem aries in that Nano reefs can be unforgiving, water changes are a most and room for error is very narrow. There are so many varibles that go into keep any anemone thriving that only experience can provide. Cheryl

My anemone is spawning! i can see the split and it's pretty big. I just fed it scallops. Why do anemone spawn!?????

Not spawning, cloning two completely different means of reproduction. Please do your research.

They also split as a means of self preservation.

why do they clone? is my tank bad? or good?

They reproduce that way.. you should know if your tank is bad or good.. Santa uses crappy test kits IME.

so stick a nem 3 inches under PC lighting(hypothetically it doesnt move), and target feed every other day... hypothetically of course, it would thrive?

i wish i could show this thread to my LFS, they keep everything under PC

my nem is 2 inches below the water surface. an its loving it. my youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14XhxcD_X5U. just imagine my nem tobe 2-3 times bigger than what it was 1 week ago. it grow super fast when i fed it fresh scallop. whn i feed it shrimp, not much response but they reach for scallops. and finsh it in less than 5 seconds. shrimp take 3-5 minutes to eat.

so you have how many watts of PC over your tank? and are you running with a skimmer?

I ran skimmerless on a BC14 with stock lighting and brought mine from bleached to healthy in 5 months. I had only 5 months worth of experience when I got it. But I'm so addicted to this hobby that I did as much research as could possibly be done.

Only fed 1 silverside every Sunday.

oh.. as you can see, the date I joined NR is about 4 days after I brought it home lol.

thats so interesting to hear success stories with nems and PC lighting. people are so always so adamant about not keeping them in anything under T5s.. it is just better PC bulbs or more knowledgeable people in the hobby?

well the biocube has pretty powerful lighting, even if they are PC bulbs. I wrote down the par numbers in my tank before I did the switch.. i'll have to post them. Also BTAs are the hardiest little bastards you can get for nems.. I did just have this one cut into 4 pieces.

I wouldn't attempt any other kind besides a BTA though under PCs.

Heres a noob question for ya-
Im setting up a 10g soon, its not an all in one. But anyway... I was thinking about getting http://www.reefhotspot.com/store/product_i...roducts_id=1838 when the tank was mature. Will this outgrow my tank?


callmesaul8889 -
LFS desert! Haha, I feel the same way.

I have personally had good luck with nems under PC lighting. The last one I had I kept in a 15g tall tank when I first purchased it under a 96w PC fixture.

It was about 3" in width, and was fed 3 times a week. I noticed it growing larger, and later ended up moving it to my 55g tank under MH lighting. That is when I noticed the best results. Though it was kept well under PC lighting (even kept most of it's color and had a "happy spot" that it found) It was still the more intense lighting that seemed to make it happier.

On the subject at hand: I do think that with proper knowledge and care an anemone can be kept well under PC lighting, but would not suggest any or everyone to do so.

Even though mine had grown to about 10" in width, it looked the happiest under MH lighting, and after being in my 55g for almost a year it then began to clone.

If you are not planning on target feeding and closely watching water quality it will depend more on the light for survival. If you keep them under PC lighting they depend more on perfect water conditions and target feeding.

Also, I saw the post about feeding a nem some scallops... make sure if feeding them table seafoods you rinse them VERY well in RO water first.... I even rinse the shrimp that I feed my pom pom crab. It is good practice.

Best of luck on the nem!

lol yeah, i ended up driving 3 hours to find a LFS with tank raised clowns.

btw, that a cool nem.

Yeah, I lucked out. My lfs is only an hour away.
Thanks! I wanna get one but im afraid it will out grow the tank... 10g.