BTA, mini maxi, or rock flower nems?

[12scanlon]

Hey everyone! Recently I’ve been thinking about getting a nem for my 16 gallon biocube. Now most of y’all would say this is a bad idea (don’t do it) from other forums and posts I’ve read. On this note, I know the risks and I may have to upgrade if it outgrows my tank which I am planning on doing in the next year or so. I would like to know yalls experiences with mini maxi nems, rock flower nems, and BTAs and which one you would recommend. 

 

Thanks

[seabass]

Mini Maxi's and Rock Flower Nems are both excellent choices.  Extremely hardy and will stay small enough for a 16 gallon tank.  Neither are host anemones.

[A Little Blue]

RFA have some amazing colors, won’t outgrow your tank. They still might go for a walk like BTA but their sting isn’t as potent. 

 

One of my walkers

[Lawnman]

Mini maxi nems and bubble tips get my vote. I can’t keep RFA happy. 

[12scanlon]

1 minute ago, Lawnman said:

Mini maxi nems and bubble tips get my vote. I can’t keep RFA happy. 

I really want a bubble tip but afraid it will kill some of my coral. What do you think. 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

49 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

RFA have some amazing colors, won’t outgrow your tank. They still might go for a walk like BTA but their sting isn’t as potent. 

 

One of my walkers

Omg that's awesome 👍 mine just stay in the same and they are awesome. My wife got me hooked on the RFA

[Lawnman]

3 minutes ago, 12scanlon said:

I really want a bubble tip but afraid it will kill some of my coral. What do you think. 

I’ve had them right in the middle of my tank touching corals for years and no problem. 

[Sharbuckle]

All three! 🤤

[A Little Blue]

52 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Omg that's awesome 👍 mine just stay in the same and they are awesome. My wife got me hooked on the RFA

Yeah, I got some serious walkers. I just got them like a week ago but they don’t seem to find the right spot yet. And when It looks like they settled down, I find them on the other side of the tank next morning. Lol 

I would like BTA for my Clowns but I’m not willing to take a chance with my other corals to get murdered in the process.

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, Lawnman said:

I’ve had them right in the middle of my tank touching corals for years and no problem. 

Gorgeous shot, @Lawnman. Is that a rainbow BTA, or something else? Incredible to see it living in harmony with your corals like that. Has it grown a lot?

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

9 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

Yeah, I got some serious walkers. I just got them like a week ago but they don’t seem to find the right spot yet. And when It looks like they settled down, I find them on the other side of the tank next morning. Lol 

I would like BTA for my Clowns but I’m not willing to take a chance with my other corals to get murdered in the process.

I have two so far..I got one the other day for my birthday and I got the first one about a month ago at a coral expo. They have been awesome additions to my tank. When i rescape my tank i wanna have a garden 

[thebunb]

I've got 2 rfas anemones in an IM 25G.  They actually get to a decent size. One of mine is close to the size of a DVD when it decides to flatten itself out.  

 

I bought them pretty small but I think I went too crazy with the silverslide feedings and they grew really fast.

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

5 minutes ago, thebunb said:

I've got 2 rfas anemones in an IM 25G.  They actually get to a decent size. One of mine is close to the size of a DVD when it decides to flatten itself out.  

 

I bought them pretty small but I think I went too crazy with the silverslide feedings and they grew really fast.

LOL yeah mine only get mysis shrimp once a week

[NanoreefingMP]

I say RFAs. But that’s mainly because I’m a rfa freak. I have a crap ton in a 13g so definitely can do it 

[12scanlon]

I may try a bta and a Rock Flower anemone. 

[A Little Blue]

11 hours ago, thebunb said:

I've got 2 rfas anemones in an IM 25G.  They actually get to a decent size. One of mine is close to the size of a DVD when it decides to flatten itself out.  

 

I bought them pretty small but I think I went too crazy with the silverslide feedings and they grew really fast.

One of aquaculture distributors said exactly that. Feed heavy and they will grow. Don’t feed at all and they will stay small. However, I never had RFA till now so I honestly don’t have any experience with these guys.  

[Lawnman]

20 hours ago, banasophia said:

Gorgeous shot, @Lawnman. Is that a rainbow BTA, or something else? Incredible to see it living in harmony with your corals like that. Has it grown a lot?

It’s a quad color bta. It’s grown a little but not a lot. They don’t grow as fast as people say they do. 

[banasophia]

2 hours ago, Lawnman said:

It’s a quad color bta. It’s grown a little but not a lot. They don’t grow as fast as people say they do. 

Wow, love it!! Can’t fit one in my current 16 G tank, but that may be “the one” for my new clown and BTA only tank. That will be pretty crazy if you are the main inspiration for both of my tanks! Love your style!!!

[Sancho]

1 minute ago, banasophia said:

Wow, love it!! Can’t fit one in my current 16 G tank, but that may be “the one” for my new clown and BTA only tank. That will be pretty crazy if you are the main inspiration for both of my tanks! Love your style!!!

I kept a bta in a CAD 8. If your tank is stable your good for a bta

[Sancho]

My pics are not as sexy as the lawnman but it played well with other soft corals, zoas and mushrooms. The only things my bta's ever had issues with were any SPS, frogspawn, lobos and acans.....yep the bta would wage war on that stuff and win with the exception of the lobo....the lobo is not to be messed with

[banasophia]

4 minutes ago, Sancho said:

My pics are not as sexy as the lawnman but it played well with other soft corals, zoas and mushrooms. The only things my bta's ever had issues with were any SPS, frogspawn, lobos and acans.....yep the bta would wage war on that stuff and win with the exception of the lobo....the lobo is not to be messed with

Well, for my tank, I think my Biocube 16 is just too full of other stuff already (at 3 months) for a BTA to find a big enough spot it likes, so luckily I seem to have persuaded the hubby that we “need” another tank. 

 

For @12scanlon, there may still be plenty of room, if planning ahead. I think one important thing is planning for a smaller tank so you still have enough room left for a BTA later on if you think you will want one, since they need a more stable tank and shouldn’t be added right away. For my current tank, I think I’m maxed out for BTAs, but still have room for rock flower anemones and I love those too. 💙

[Pjanssen]

My bta has killed all of the lower heads of my hammer, and the rhodactis mushrooms won't spread to the lower part of that rock, but other than that everything seems to be fine with the bta.

 

[12scanlon]

On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 7:21 AM, Pjanssen said:

My bta has killed all of the lower heads of my hammer, and the rhodactis mushrooms won't spread to the lower part of that rock, but other than that everything seems to be fine with the bta.

 

I had a bad drop in alkalinity and ph { 7 and 7.6 } so I will probably hold out on getting a anemone until my levels are stable. My monti now has a big hole in the middle of it from where its dying. Now ph is 8.1 and going up. I wasn't able to test my alk so idk. when my lvls are backs to normal I'm probably going to go with a small maxi mini and rockflower to start. My LFS doesn't sell very cool BTAs or get a lot of them in so I don't want to sacrifice the space and money for one of those. Srry I haven't responded, I haven't had access to a computer or phone for a week. Thanks for all the replys and wish me luck. I will for sure give an update of what ends up happening. thx 😃

[shoonjai]

I vote RFAs as that's what I have recently fell in love with

[A Little Blue]

23 hours ago, 12scanlon said:

I had a bad drop in alkalinity and ph { 7 and 7.6 } so I will probably hold out on getting a anemone until my levels are stable. My monti now has a big hole in the middle of it from where its dying. Now ph is 8.1 and going up. I wasn't able to test my alk so idk. when my lvls are backs to normal I'm probably going to go with a small maxi mini and rockflower to start. My LFS doesn't sell very cool BTAs or get a lot of them in so I don't want to sacrifice the space and money for one of those. Srry I haven't responded, I haven't had access to a computer or phone for a week. Thanks for all the replys and wish me luck. I will for sure give an update of what ends up happening. thx 😃

Don’t go crazy chasing PH. Keep your Alk/Ca relatively stady and everything should stabilize over time. Also, I would not try to change your parameters/flow/lighting etc. to suit specific species. Keep what works in your tank. If it doesn’t work, just move on to what works and keep animals that seem to thrive in your tank.