Hardy Anemone Advice

[hurrifan]

I have had bad luck with 2 Haddoni Capret anemones. They both died with in a week of purchasing. I now have 2 clowns with no home. I purchased a book on the care of anemones (based on recommendations from this site). I need to start with a hardy, easier to keep anemone than the Haddoni. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[Anonymous]

my sabea has made a good home for one of my 2 clarkiis (they don't share). considering the poor anemone has endured through my learning curve, i'm gonna say he's hardy. i'm expecting an entamacea quadricolor from marine depot tommorrow morning for the homeless clown. i've heard these bubble tips are the hardiest.

good luck in the future,
pj

 

[Rich-n-poor]

condi anenome are dirt cheap about $7 at my LFS and I have had clarki's host in them and a porcelin crab. Mine has survived over a year including a complete tank teardown
_________________
debt settlement

 

[newreefman1]

Before anyone gives you advice on why this may be happening, why don't you describe your system in detail including params and time the tank has been setup etc.
Just to preface what you will reply, I have found haddonis(had mine 2.5 yrs) love intense lighting, I have a 150 HQI that gives it enough but thats alot of light for an 18 gallon tank

They require good water quality and they love to be fed. I feed mine prime reef(well actually my maroon clown does).
Ill reply when you do.

Jason

[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: newreefman1 ]</p>

 

[maroon clown]

jason- i had a question regarding the temps, i read that you keep your tank at 85? is that ok for anemones? i live in a rather warm area and when i keep my lights on my water is around 85. its now getting cooler with fall, but i could keep the temps up- they sometimes fall to 76 at night though... i really would like to add a anemone for my gold band maroon clown to live in but i dont want to buy it and have it end up dying cuz of temperature

 

[hurrifan]

Newreefman, tank has been up for about 6 months. Nitrates, nitrites and ammonia are all at 0, ph at 8.4, SG at 1.026, temp 78-81, 3 X 400 W MH, powerheads for circ. The 1st died b/c he was 1/2 half dead when I bought him. The 2nd was beautiful and full when I bought him. He stayed puffed up and great for a week, but would not eat or attach. He may have been getting food from the clowns, but he would continually spit up the silverside i gave gim. Everyday I would get up and see him blown into a different location of the tank by current. I tried clearing spots in the sand down to the glass (as recommended by my LFS) to no avail. Eventually he began to delfate and died after about 2 weeks. He was a huge, gorgoeus blue and it killed me, b/c this time I knew it was my fault. I just bought a book on anemones and clowns and will read it prior to buying another. I really want another Hadonni b/c they are just so beautiful. Any advice would be great.

 

[newreefman1]

How many gallons is your tank. Sounds like you have sufficient lighting indeed, but you could have a 1000 gallon aquarium. Who knows at this point

ALl I can tell you is wait a while before you get another, let your tank settle and mature a bit and when you do decide to get a haddoni, study the specimin in the LFS around ya and watch it for a few days if they will hold it. Otherwise, they generally don't sell very quickly so a hold might not be neccessary. Anemones cant heal their pedal disk(foot) if I recall correctly so watch for cuts and watch for expelled insides(a sign of heavy stress and generally soon to be dead).
Make sure your anemone has a place to dig into, Mine loves to dig down deep and attaches itself to the bottom glass. It moves a few inches here or there from time to time but generally stays still.
I let my clown do the feeding so the anemone gets some prime reef every day, albeit smaller portions. WIth the intense lighting that my anemone is getting right now, the neon greens are emerging once again as they faded a bit over the last few years.
Hope some of this helps. I think your salinity is a bit high but I wont want to start a salinity debate. I keep mine around 1.024 and my tank temp high at about 84-85. My tank has actually never been better. Its almost a shame im moving to a 60 and disrupting the spreading that is going on.

Jason