coral and anemone

[jpond83]

i have a 26 gallon bowfront with some zoanthids,gsp,ricordea,and xenia, is safe for my coral to put a anemone in it? i dont want my clown to be lonely. if not is there any coral that would put up with a clown loving it? i would realy like a rbta

[marshall.read]

this is possible, but i wouldn't recommend it. before anyone could say one way or the other we'd need to know more about your lighting and filtration. you will need good lights and, in a system of that size, a very robust filtration system. also, assuming your environment would support a rbta, they tend to get pretty large over time. i've heard of clowns 'hosting' in large euphylia... but never observed it personally.

[jpond83]

lighting is not a problem im about to upgrade, i just want to know what are the chances of it killing my coral

[Joshua]

BTA's have a very weak sting, I wouldn't worry about it at all. Also IME once they find a place they like they stay there, my RBTA has had it's foot planted in the same rock for over 5 years now through a whole bunch of different tanks. It doesn't matter where I put that rock the thing will not move (I tried).

[marshall.read]

i couldn't say for certain who would win regarding your current coral and the rbta, but you can bet if the rbta moves to within striking distance of the coral someone will lose. this is the risk that must be assumed when mixing coral with anemones. however, rbta seem disinclined to move once they have found a spot that is to their liking. if your corals are relatively small and on frag rocks or plugs, then i wouldn't worry about it too much, you could easily just move the coral around until the rbta settles in. but if your coral are all attached to large rocks then you may have trouble since you won't be able to move them away from the anemone.

[Bill S]

As long as you can move your coral, the anemone won't bother it. But, if the anemone decides it likes a spot right next to one of your corals, it will hurt it or kill it.

[Joshua]

I've seen BTA's walk right through patches of zoas and over SPS frags with no noticeable damage but only when they didn't sit there for long.

[jpond83]

thanks for the help, also would a hammer coral be a god host or no?

[Troutmasters02]

I had a grape coral get "hosted" to death by my clowns before I got my BTA. After adding the bubble tip, it walked around/over other corals for several days without harm to either, or. This is not to say it wouldn't happen, thats just my experience. But of course, as mentioned above, it would be nice to know your water stats.

[msmith619]

I have had BTA before with soft corals and never had a problem. It doesn't matter where YOU place the BTA, it is going to move until it finds a place it likes. Be sure it cannot get into your intakes on your sump or power heads or you might wake up to a real mess if it does, and need a complete water change.
Mike