New Anemone

[akm]

so i am going to be getting a tomato clown fish soon, and i would like to get an anemone for it. i am a little hesitant because of stories i've heard bout them moving around and killing lots of things. is there any way to keep them from doing this?

Aaron

[cailan]

depends on what is in your tank. do you have alot of corals?

[::pete::]

Typically an anemone will find a place it likes and stay put. They can move about the tank, but usually if the lighting and flow is right and it is happy it will not move.

[akm]

im to sure about what corals im have in my tank, beacuse i dont have it yet. im getting a FREE 75 gallon with everything in a couple weeks :-D :-D :-D

[GaryP]

You are going to have plenty of time to research this kind of stuff before you are ready to start adding corals.

Gary

[akm]

i know that there are alot of mushrooms, a few kinds of zoos,a clam, and a couple soft corals. i dont know any of the details about what kinds.

[::pete::]

Akm
You will be getting the whole tank and not just adding an anemone later?

[akm]

im getting the tank and it has a clownfish but no anemone.

[Ram_Puppy]

akm, sounds like you are inheriting a full setup. What you are going to want to do, is get everything moved in and setup, and then let it settle in for a few weeks to a month, maybe more, because your moving things, you may experience a mini-cycle. Get some high quality test kits like Salifert (What is your location?) and monitor amonia, nitrate, nitrite, when that little spike is over, you can consider adding things.

OK, we know your getting a 75 gallon tank, but what is the lighting and filtration? I am curious because the critters you listed are all low to moderate light except for the clam, which may be too young to be photosynthetic if it is really young. If your light is not up to the task, your anemone will roam, and it will sting and damage if not kill what is in it's path.

definately do some reasearch, you will probably want to get a bubble tip anemone, as it hosts the most clownfish of any anemone in nature, and I believe that includes tomatoes (not sure). Do some research at places like www.wetwebmedia.com and maybe buy a book (Modern one) and do some research. Also remember clownfish do NOT need an anemone in captivity, i am not discouraging you from getting one, but realize that many people experience a high mortality rate for a creature that is basically ageless (anemones do not age like we do, and one harvested for your tank could be very old, or have a very long potential life span.) it's our responsibility to provide the best home we can for these creatures.

Pristine water quality
Turbulent water movement (not laminar flow)
Protective screening on all powerheads in the tank

[Ram_Puppy]

Glad to hear she is doing fine Cailan. If you put an anemone in there, she will probably host to it immediately as she has had one before.

[cvonseggern]

Another thing about BTAs is they have far and away the *best* captive survival rate of any known clownfish-hosting anemone. Joyce Wilkerson's Clownfishes has some great information about these relationships, as well as about clowns in general. I'd consider it a must for anyone keeping clownfish.

Chris

[Ram_Puppy]

Chris, I got that book for christmas, it is a GREAT resource.

[cvonseggern]

Absolutely. It floors me that something that good was written by someone who isn't a marine biologist by profession.

Chris

[akm]

i havent heard about that book, but ill have to chenk it out.

aaron