Anomone specialty tank

[AllenF]

Hi,

I need suggestions as to what the idea tank makes for florida pink tip anomones and which clowns fish pair best with these and what other tank mates would be acceptable.

Possiblilites include:

Fish:
Clarks clown or tomatoe clown
Neon Goby
Royal Gramma
Firefish
Fairy wrasse
Midas Blenny
Foxface
Yellow or Kole Tang

Inverts:
1 additional pink tipped anoomone?
feather dusters
cleaner shrimp
brittle starfish


I believe the Peppermint shrimp eat anomones?


Are any of these in bad combinations with any other fish?


Are there any other well/better suited tank mates that I have obviously overlooked?

 

[teevee]

as i recall, there are no naturally occuring clowns in florida waters. therefore, someone else may be able to confirm that you will have difficulty finding animals that will readily host in your anemone.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Atlantic anemonies are non hosting anemones in nature. I have heard of some clown fish living in them in aquarium. It happen but few and far in between.
Minh Nguyen

 

[mickadee]

you have to watch my condy eat my clown after a few weeks of it hosting in it.. really sucked.
Mike

 

[AllenF]

"A number of hardy choices come from the aquarium, and a hands-down favorite of many is the inexpensive and readily available condylactis gigantea, variously known as the Florida pink-tipped, Haitian pink-tipped, atlantic, or caribbean anemone, or simply as the "condy". Under good conditions, these can display tentacle tips ranging in color from pink to magenta and purple, and tentacles that may be brown, cream, greenish, whith, or even beaded and mottled. They can reach truly impressive sizes and can become a suitable host for large species of clownfishes, notably the tomato clownfish (amphiprion frenatus) and clark's clownfish (A. clarkii)."


Is this source wrong then?

 

[Anonymous]

Not necessarily. Clowns will host or attempt to host in all kinds of surrogates if their appropriate / preferred anemone is not there. It's obviously not a natural pairing with most clowns being topical pacific and the condy's being a tropical atlantic species (I believe there actually may be a pacific species too?). Just because it can occur would not be license to assume it will happen in your aquarium and personally I wouldn't try it with that as your desired end result.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

AllenF,
Yes that source is wrong. There are no Clown Fish in the Atlantic. There are some Custaseans that may reside in some anemone, but not fish. All fish hosting anemmonies are in the Pacific/Indian Ocean/Red Sea (all are the same body of water anyway)
Minh Nguyen

 

[Anonymous]

Out of ignorance, I purchased a Pink Tipped over a year and a half ago. Doing great. My Tomato Clown hangs nearby and I have seen tentacles brush against him with no noticable harm to the clown. But he doesn't really host in the anemone.

He also ignors a small brown anemone that was a hitchhiker on a piece of live rock.

When I get the lighting done on my 75gal I will get a proper variety, probably a long tentacled.

 

[AllenF]

oK MOVING on to some more questions.

1) What would be some good examples of some appropriate combinations?

2) Any problems, comments with the rest of the listed livestock?

 

[LFS42]

What size is the tank and what kind of lighting do you have?
How long has the tank been runnig.

IMO, I would wait at least 6 months before attemping an anemone.

tomatoes can get aggresive overnight, so I would probable go with the clarki. A sebae or bubble tipped anemone would make good host.
Neon gobies make great additions, might have a conflict with the cleaner shrimp.
Royal grammas can "take over" a tank from the start, but with other "semi-aggresive" fish will do fine.
Fire-fish and fairy wrasse may be too similar in shape for each other to get along, also the royal gramma may have a problem too.
Foxface and both tangs needs alot of room.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[AllenF]

65 Gal (36x18x22)

4 30 watt full spectrum floursent-The tank only has around 50-55Gal of water so that figures in at just over 2watts per gallon. (not enough?)

Coming up on the 5th Month.

Ive decided against the cleaner shrimp.

Ok Royal Gramma goes in last...got it.

Im going to skip the Wrasse.

I think if I were to go with a Tang, it would be a small yellow or a Kole.

So where does that leave us?

 

[LFS42]

You'll need more light IMO for an anemone.

What kind of filter system so you have?
IMO, I would go for the wrasse and not hte royal gramma or the firefish.
I would get a Cinnimon or black ocelaris clown's fro ORA
(can't plug them enough today, got 1 of there T-shirts on right now)
I would add the clowns first.
wait at least 2 weeks
Then I would set my eyes on a pygmy angel
(flame, bi-color, coral beauty, or "sigh" golden)
Only one, they don't like each other too much.
and get the Neon Goby
wait at least 4 weeks
Get the wrasse, (get the one you want, not what the LFS has)
Wait at least 4 weeks
Then I would wait some more and figure what you want that last fish to be.
IMO, the tank is too small for a tang to be happy.

 

[AllenF]

Filter system:
4 inch DSB
30 Lbs live rock (nice pink and red coralline on 70% of it)
I piece of fake LARGE fake coral-now completely covered in pink and red corraline, and one piece of coral skeleton-(I cant tell if its read corraline on it or brown algae).
Fluval 404 with all of the biomedia removed-running charcoal (on a timer for a few hours a day off about 6 times a day to simulate random currents).
Prism Pro (300gal) Protein skimmer on 24/7.
2 MaxiJet 1200s at the surface level (opposite ends of the tank) on 24/7.


Well I think If I were going to go by your choices, Id get the Midas Blenny and move the Dwarf Angel to last place and get a Bi-color or Flame.

However, I have read that dwarf angels can and will eat feather dusters and possibly anemones so I had discounted them from the selection?

As far as the wrasse, id go wtih a fairy or flasher. Intresting you dont think it should go in with a firefish....I had my hopes up for both...


Thanks for the advice! Keep it coming this is useful stuff.

 

[LFS42]

I havn't run into a Bi-Color or a Flame Angel that ate corals.
(knock on wood) I have a Flame now with no problems.

I had a pepermint shrimp devour down all polyps in my tank though.

As for the firefish, they do better in groups and if you add them before the wrasse, you may get away with it.

The main thing to remember is to be patient.
Add fish slowly, and make sure it's the one you want.

How about inverts?
waht your choices there?

 

[Minh Nguyen]

....
As for the firefish, they do better in groups and if you add them before the wrasse, you may get away with it.

.....

IME, Firefish will not do well in-group. As a juvenile, they can be in group but as they mature, two will pair up and kill the rest or chase them out of the tank on to the carpet. That is the reason why many people think that Firefish need cover on top of the tank. They don't if you don't keep them in-group. Invariably, if you keep a group you will end up with one or two after a year or two.
Minh Nguyen

 

[Anonymous]

i'll offer a slightly different opinion/view:

the true royal gramma-'gramma loreto' is not aggressive at all-in fact, it's quite shy-there is a dottyback similiarly colored, that can be very aggresive.

firefish in a group may very well bicker and fight with each other, unless you have a big tank, with plenty of caves/hiding holes in the rock, and i would only recommend you try one, at first-they also can jump, and often do, during the first few weeks in a tank

fairy/flasher wrasses are abit on the delicate 'wussy' side, and are also excellent jumpers-i would not recommend placing them in a smaller, or relatively new, tank

bicolor angels have a poor rate of survival in captivity, and probably require some sponge additive to their diet to do well-most that i've seen come in and get purchased don't do well at all

nice peaceful clowns would be the ocellaris, percula, skunk, and the false/pink skunk

a coral beauty or flame angel will do well-though either may decide to munch on polyp structured inverts

the gramma should be fine with the c.b., or flame , and any of those clowns

another excellent and hardy fish, though quite shy, initially, is the comet grouper, also known as the marine betta

hth

 

[LFS42]

Well put Vitz.
I agree with most of that.
I've seen some monster Marine Betta's that will eat almost anything.

Yes, the Firefish can be a bit nippy towards each other.
I would go with the flame or CB angel as well. (or a golden)
But I've seen countless royal gramma's returned to the store because they were destroying the tank. So on that, my opinion would be not to get one.(that's just my opinion)

 

[AllenF]

Wow,

Great Replies.

I have personally seen peppermint shrimp also eat anemones so they are out. As a matter of fact, I just recently moved mine to the quarantine tank (its not copper tx, just quarantine) for just this reason.

What about the blood red or fire cleaner shrimp that are so popular?

Marine Betas? Are you serious? Are they very predacious and eat other smaller fish?

Ive been told to try and just get a "matched pair" of firefish and be done with it. I "think" my tank is pretty well sealed.

Intresting problem with the Royal gramma, Ive heard it described as a "near perfect specimen for all marine systems"...could the problem really be the dotty back imposters?


Getting back to the Inverts, for now all Im thinking is the feather dusters, brittle star, anemone, and possible the fire cleaner shrimp (lysumata? ((spelling)) or somthing like that?).

This plan is to take me from 6months post set up to about 1-1.5years. During this time I will probably put in another 30lbs of liver rock (at around 5lbs a time).

After this is (if all is going well) I will invest in a metal hallide and begin bugging you guys for "beginner coral" questions.

Thanks again!
Allen

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Marine Betas? Are you serious? Are they very predacious and eat other smaller fish?

Marine Betta are very peaceful but may eat your shrimps when they molt. I have my MB for 6 years now and have not lost any shrimp because of him. I have a CBS and two cleanner shrimps in the tank with my MB pair. They don't go after any of my tiny fishes (several clown gobies, firefish)

Ive been told to try and just get a "matched pair" of firefish and be done with it. I "think" my tank is pretty well sealed.

I agree with this

Intresting problem with the Royal gramma, Ive heard it described as a "near perfect specimen for all marine systems"...could the problem really be the dotty back imposters?

I have 5 Royal Grammas in my 450 g tank and have had 5 RG in my 90 g tank before. They are very peaceful, not bother anybody. There are several fishes taht can be mistaken with Royal Gramma that can be very aggressive

Getting back to the Inverts, for now all Im thinking is the feather dusters, brittle star, anemone, and possible the fire cleaner shrimp (lysumata? ((spelling)) or somthing like that?).

I think all those are OK, except the anemone. You need to check on these and set-up your tank accordingly. Some of these are not that hard but they do need some one who know what they are doing and need specific condition. If they don't get it, they will move around and kill your corals and then die. I would wait on the Anemone especially if you don't ahve adequate ligh for them. They are harder than corals to keep alive and doing well IMO.

This plan is to take me from 6months post set up to about 1-1.5years. During this time I will probably put in another 30lbs of liver rock (at around 5lbs a time).
After this is (if all is going well) I will invest in a metal hallide and begin bugging you guys for "beginner coral" questions.

I would not waite on adequate light. Buy what you need the first time is the way to go. In the long run it is much cheaper. You don't have to have MH. IMO, MH is the cheapest to maintain for the amount of light you get. You can grow lots of solf corlas with PC and VHO. If you only have NO light only, then you will have a hard time with corals.

Minh