Anemone in a new tank?

[Hannahhhh]

Hey guys. I’m wondering what are your thoughts on adding an anemone to a newish tank? How do they tend to do in new tanks? My tank is fully cycled but only a month and a bit old. I’ve got mushrooms and Xenia doing really well, but I’m not sure about adding an anemone in such a young tank (especially one kinda pricy). What do you suggest? The store selling the anemone says they’re very hardy and should be fine, but not sure if that’s totally true. 

[ReeferWade]

26 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

Hey guys. I’m wondering what are your thoughts on adding an anemone to a newish tank? How do they tend to do in new tanks? My tank is fully cycled but only a month and a bit old. I’ve got mushrooms and Xenia doing really well, but I’m not sure about adding an anemone in such a young tank (especially one kinda pricy). What do you suggest? The store selling the anemone says they’re very hardy and should be fine, but not sure if that’s totally true. 

I'm in no means even close to being an expert but I have my own experience. I have a fairly established tank and a newish tank and both have bubble tip anemones in them and are doing well. Most people will tell you to wait a year before getting one and that is definitely sound advice. I definitely wouldn't put anything too expensive in there but the heartier species would probably be alright. That said your parameters would need to be stable. 

[Sancho]

BTAs can be super hardy and also finicky...I think the reason most say to wait a 6 months to a year is just due to a new reefer getting into a routine and maintaining stable parameters. If your tank is stable, youhave a good maintenance routine and you have decent lighting I’d say go for it...maybe start with something a little cheaper 

[billygoat]

Waiting for an animal you really want and know for sure you're eventually going to have is a brutal process, but... I nevertheless recommend that you wait! 😅 If I recall correctly from one of your other threads, you are in the process of switching over from LFS water to home-mixed saltwater, which will result in some inevitable instability as your tank adjusts to the new mix. You'll at least want to wait a few weeks until your tank has adjusted before adding a sensitive invertebrate like an anemone.

 

You could test the waters with a cheaper specimen, but personally I'd rather wait until I know things are going to be right and then just get the pricier one that you've got your eye on. You'll probably end up saving some money that way down the line.

[Clown79]

I'd suggest waiting.

 

Stable parameters are important for anemone's. Once you are testing regularly, see the system stabilize, become familiar with how parameters effect eachother, it will be easier caring tor an anemone.

 

Do lots of research on them, they move frequently so being prepared for that is important.

[jeffmr4]

Hi,

  Anemones are a beautiful organism.  Its even more fun when you see clownfish hosting in them.  You can get one but like Clown79 says they can move around your tank.  One common problem is that they can move onto a pump and get distributed throughout the tank.  If this happens they are poisonous and can kill everything in your tank.  This can also happen if they die and you don't remove them soon enough.  Additionally, they grow very quickly so be prepared to sell it or give it away at some point.  For the pump problem, oftentimes pumps have mesh covers that prevent things like anemones getting cut up.  You might want to add one.

  I had one for a while and ended up giving it away when it got too big.  It also walked into my gyre a few times.  Good luck!

[Tamberav]

On 4/7/2019 at 12:26 PM, Hannahhhh said:

Hey guys. I’m wondering what are your thoughts on adding an anemone to a newish tank? How do they tend to do in new tanks? My tank is fully cycled but only a month and a bit old. I’ve got mushrooms and Xenia doing really well, but I’m not sure about adding an anemone in such a young tank (especially one kinda pricy). What do you suggest? The store selling the anemone says they’re very hardy and should be fine, but not sure if that’s totally true. 

What kind of anenome and what size tank?

[Hannahhhh]

On 4/9/2019 at 2:46 AM, Tamberav said:

What kind of anenome and what size tank?

13.5 gallon, and whatever an easy and small anemone would be

[Clown79]

6 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

13.5 gallon, and whatever an easy and small anemone would be

Anemones don't stay small. Even rfa's can grow to 8". 

 

 

[jservedio]

3 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Anemones don't stay small. Even rfa's can grow to 8". 

 

 

Mini-Maxis are very tolerant of crap conditions, algae, dinos, and low light, stay relatively small, and don't grow absurdly fast if you feed them reasonably and aren't jamming mysis down their throat more than once every couple weeks. Both mine I've had for about 4 years and they are still under 4-5" when spread out, but under really high lighting, they are normally about 3-3.5" across. They also don't constantly split and get enormous like RBTAs.

 

That said, I would still encourage a new reefer to wait a few months until they had a schedule down.

 

Small, very colorful, relatively cheap (roughly $30/ea., but the one was a steal) and been in my tank forever:

[Clown79]

4 hours ago, jservedio said:

Mini-Maxis are very tolerant of crap conditions, algae, dinos, and low light, stay relatively small, and don't grow absurdly fast if you feed them reasonably and aren't jamming mysis down their throat more than once every couple weeks. Both mine I've had for about 4 years and they are still under 4-5" when spread out, but under really high lighting, they are normally about 3-3.5" across. They also don't constantly split and get enormous like RBTAs.

 

That said, I would still encourage a new reefer to wait a few months until they had a schedule down.

 

Small, very colorful, relatively cheap (roughly $30/ea., but the one was a steal) and been in my tank forever:

They are gorgeous...maybe I should add 1 to my anemone tank😁

[billygoat]

Those maxi-minis are definitely super beautiful! The only caveat with them (and other more experienced reefers can correct me here if I am wrong) is that I do not believe that clownfish have much interest in hosting them. Still, they're a gorgeous animal to have in your system, and very hardy based on what I have read.

[jservedio]

1 hour ago, billygoat said:

Those maxi-minis are definitely super beautiful! The only caveat with them (and other more experienced reefers can correct me here if I am wrong) is that I do not believe that clownfish have much interest in hosting them. Still, they're a gorgeous animal to have in your system, and very hardy based on what I have read.

They are fish eaters - they can eat a really small clownfish. The yellow one ate a yellow clown goby when it was in my 2g. Clowns stay away.

 

Sexy shrimp and anemone crabs can be hosted by them though.

[Paddy42]

Hi

On 4/11/2019 at 9:04 AM, Hannahhhh said:

13.5 gallon, and whatever an easy and small anemone would be

Hi Hannahhhh

 

I am not an expert either, just recently started adventure with reef tank.

I also have bought Bubble Tip anonemy.

I have added mine just after 3 months and it was doing well for first month and a half.

Afterwards I had cleaned the tank and move some rocks around and most likely disturbed all the balance in my tank by killing some of the bacteria.

 

Water was cloudy for 2 days, oh was going mad. Seriously mad. 7.4-8.2

Not sure what have caused it but my anonemy didn't like it at all.

 

He closed up for few days. I thought it would be a bad sign and indeed it was.

Be started twisting his tentacles. Some of them fallen off. Horrible feeling that you might loose something so beulifull and innocent. But there I was. Ready for him to commit suicide any time. Waiting for all the signs that would tell has dying.

Therefore when I noticed he lost a few tentacles it even went through my head to take him out and maybe take him to LFS and they might be able to help him out.

 

But he started moving. I thought good sign, even thou he looked like zombie anonemy.

He eventually wondered into little cafe, so he was hanging upside down on the rock.

No signs of life for 2-3 days. Then he opened a bit but there was maybe 3-4 normal-ish tentacles. All the other twisted and skinny.

 

I was really worried. But I let him do whatever he though was good for him.

I didn't feed him directly but I am pretty sure he fought a few little bits while I was feeding fish.

 

He stayed poorly for over a week. In the same position and with twisted tentacles.

 

Only 2 days ago he started to opening properly. But still looking poorly.

Yesterday some of his tentacles started looking like they should. There it was! Hope!

 

He crawled out today. All looking miracleusly alive!

Since he went out for a little walk and got some LED lights I used the opportunity and gave him tiny portion of reefroids paste. He took it straight away. Now he is chilling on the side. See pics below.

 

One conclusion.. If i knew what I know now, I wouldn't buy him so early if that means saving him all this stress and near death experience.

 

And one advice.. once he start looking very good.. don't think anonemy is indestructible. They are very delicate creatures. Be carefully with them and if he want to go undernith rock and hang there around.. let him. Don't force him to stay on top. Don't try to remove him from rock. If he looks poorly, ask people here if they can help and advice. But most importantly do not take him off the rock and place in position where you think might be better. He knows better what's good for him!

 

 

Good luck and be careful!

[Afropenguin]

On 4/7/2019 at 10:26 AM, Hannahhhh said:

Hey guys. I’m wondering what are your thoughts on adding an anemone to a newish tank? How do they tend to do in new tanks? My tank is fully cycled but only a month and a bit old. I’ve got mushrooms and Xenia doing really well, but I’m not sure about adding an anemone in such a young tank (especially one kinda pricy). What do you suggest? The store selling the anemone says they’re very hardy and should be fine, but not sure if that’s totally true. 

Hi! I have an anemone tank (50g system) and have kept bubble tip, rock flowers and condys in my 5 gallon before (the anemones are now in my 50 gal).

 

Your 13 gallon tank should be fine for an anemone but take your time in buying them 🙂 they are more difficult to take care of than the current 2 corals you have in your tank and would want to make sure you have the lighting and stability that would work for lps corals. Since your tank is only a month old I would recommend waiting a bit longer for a bubble tip anemone just because your tank could still go through some mini cycles that would cause your anemone to melt.

 

For me, I waited about 3 months before putting in my first anemone and have had no problems with them since. If you really wanted to try a type of anemone I would go with a rock flower since those seem to be more Hardy than the bubble tips. 

 

I love anemones and if you got any questions about the anemones I keep feel free to message me.