[dobz55]

Hi all have recently set up my tank and just yesterday introduced my first fish a couple of tomatoe clowns going well, today I put a bubble aneome in and the clowns are all over him , he appears to be trying to get away from them????????? is this normal

[wozza]

this is just from what i have read not experanced my self.
But sometimes the aneome need time to get its self comfortable in the rock work/your tank before being hosted by a clown fish.
its as if the aneome is saying "bloody hell guys give me a chance! ive just got in here and your all over me i need time to settle in!"
well in my mind anyway

cheers james

[dobz55]

thanks for that by the way how do I know when he is hungry and how do I feed him, I have some fish for him but am unsure when to offer it to him and how??????

[mistermikev]

Bubble anemonie? Does it look like balloons? Then it is probably a bubble coral... beutiful, and clowns will use them, but very different from an anemonie. If it is a bubble coral you feed it with light - and in my experiece a lot of it. (6watts per gallon or so). If it is a bubble tip anemonie(pink or purple tips with white "tubes") then it is easy to feed. take some tank water and put some frozen brine shrimp or mysid and pour the water back into the tank over the anemonie. Little pieces will stick to the anemonie's arms and it will cary them to it's mouth(center).

[Reefland]

Hi dobz55,

I would not have added the anemone at this point in your tanks maturity. Clownfish do not need anemones and your tank is not stable enough (in my opinion) to have purchased one.

Anyhow, don't do anything else for the anemone, let it move to it's own spot and the clowns will live with it's choice.

[mistermikev]

Cmon scott, give the guy a break... we've all done it(haven't we?). I remember when I first started... couldn't help but learn the hard way. Luckily there were several "mentors" out there to help me keep everything alive... the juggling part isn't much fun. I don't suppose it is fair to the livestock either. Perhaps a few words about why you feel that way would help drive the point home. It is hard to appreciate how easy it is to "tip the boat over" as a beginer.

[Reefland]

Hi mistermikev,

Not trying to give him a hard time at all, just trying to continue providing the advice already given:
More pics, how am I doing so far

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by dobz55

Hi all have recently set up my tank and just yesterday introduced my first fish a couple of tomatoe clowns going well, today I put a bubble aneome in and the clowns are all over him , he appears to be trying to get away from them????????? is this normal

Hi dobz55,

I assume this is your 55-gal tank that you just put the uncured live rock in on November 13th, correct?

If so, you really jumped the gun in putting in any fish or anemones this soon. You should wait at least a month before putting any fish in and at least six months before putting in a bubble tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor).

I suggest you read this excellent article by Dr. Ron Shimek on the care of host sea anemones. It should answer all of your questions about these animals.

If you have any specific questions about bubble tip anemones that are not answered in that article, we have a resident BTA expert on the board. His name is zhenya and here is a photograph of his 110-gal tank that used to be a reef tank. He started out with a single BTA but it cloned itself several times. In spite of the fact that he keeps giving away the clones, the anemones ended up taking over his entire 110-gal tank! At last count, there were approximately three dozen individuals in his tank.

Rose BTA that ate zhenya's reef tank!

How large are your clownfish and how large is your anemone? If the anemone is small relative to the size of the clownfish, it will find them bothersome.

I see no life whatsoever in your sand bed but that's to be expected if the tank was just set up a week ago. It would be a good idea to add a little live sand from an established reef aquarium to help get your sand bed started. Also, see if you can find any sources of beneficial polychaete worms to add to your system. You should also consider adding a few beneficial grazing snails.

Good luck!

[mistermikev]

Maybe that came out a little "harsher" than I intended. No dought you give good advice scott. I just meant that the poor guy is going to have a nervous breakdown! LOL

[dobz55]

Hi guys the fist lot of uncured rock was placed in my tank early October anoth 20 kg was added early November, I do very much appreciate your advise so far the Clowns and Anemonie are still well water conditions are very stable (luckily) It is a bubble tip has purple tips and I fed him today with some frozen/defrosted fish he sucked it right up , but you are all correct I should not have fallen for the trap of buying him so soon,but know I have him I am responsable to ensure he is kept safe and well and shall take all of your advise and help that I can get, both clown fish and Anemone are vsmall Clowns maybe 1 inch in length Anemone maybe 7 inches when open

[dobz55]

Oh Ninong in regards to my live rock the pics do it no justice it is full of crabs, wormy things 2 x star fish, and other creatures that just amaze us to watch, some wormy things have started to bury into the sand bed,it has an amazing growth of like green grass growing all around it , little white fluff tip things all over it, red type grass, and even some green eggs ? something has layed on some of the rocks , but I agree i moved to fast got over excited

[Minh Nguyen]

Now that they are in your tank, you just need to keep it stable. Temp ~78-82 but should not vary more than a degree or two, salinity stable, and keep water clean. Don't over feed, especially the anemone should not be over fed. Once or twice a week should do. Give it adequate light. What size tank do you have, and how much light?
FWIW, BTA is the easiest of all clownfish hosting anemone to keep. When to add an anemone in your tank is really a function of how much you know about them (knowledge also keep one from adding an anemone too early) rather than how long the tank have been up. I added a H. malu and S. haddoni in my tank when it was about 4 weeks old. Both are doing well as I expected them too. There are tanks that being up for years that should not have anemone added into it. I keep anemones for about 10 years now.
Good luck.

[dobz55]

TRhanks Minh, I have been verty lucky with my water conditions so far, for the last 3 weeks it has been

Temp 26 celsius,
salinity/sg 1.25
Alkaline- 1.7 (normal zone)
Nitrite 0.2
Nitrate between 5 and 10 ppm
Phosphate 0.1 or less
Ammonia 0
Carbonate Hardnes over 180
I am new to Marine fish having kept African Cyclids which I still have in my 6 ft Tank, and Trops ,

so far the Tomato Clowns (2) and the Anemone seem okay although one of the clowns has claimed the Anome and the othjer just play in it for short periods, I fed it a Fish yesterday and it was fasanating to watch it suck it down. I have been doing 10% water changes every 5 days,
I have a marine blue 30 watt light and a 10000 k 30 watt white marine fluro over my tank, the Tank is 3ft x 18in x 18 in,there is 27 kg of live rock, a power head with 1000 lires per hour out put and a canister filter with 1200 litres per hour flow, I am going to add another power head today just to ensure adequate water circulation (is this the right thing to do )

[Minh Nguyen]

You don't have adequate light for the anemone and most coral. If I were you, I would add more light. At least triple the amount of light you have before you can keep this anemone long term. The amount of light you have is enough for fish only. Anemone, and corals gain the majority of there energy budget by photosynthesis, thus require much brighter light.

[dobz55]

okay I am in australia so am unsure if we have the same brands as you but do you have a reccomendation as to the power / type of light I require

[dobz55]

wow just had a look at your tank,amazing is all I can say

[Reefland]

Originally Posted by dobz55

okay I am in australia so am unsure if we have the same brands as you but do you have a reccomendation as to the power / type of light I require

See if you can find a nice T5 setup or a 250w metal halide around you.

[Minh Nguyen]

You should get at least VHO (very high output) or Metal halide. T5 light is OK also. Check some of the online vendor for some idea about light.

[dobz55]

Thanks guys I shall check out the T5

[dabossinokc]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and would like any experienced advice I can get on the this subject. I have a 150 gal 6ft tank with 240 lbs live rock and 450wts of MH with 40k of Blue Ac., I keep my water temp at 76 as I just installed a 1/3 hp dual thermo chiller and my salinity is 1.24 with KH at 16 and PH 8.4, CALC 450 and Nitrate 25, Nitrite 0-.1 .I add strontium and iodine weekly. I have a sump which contains about 20 gallons and have bio balls which were well established for about a 1 month cycle because the rock was totally raw and had sat in boxes for about 3 days before I got it in the tank. The DOB for the tank was 10-1-06 and I currently have in the tank-Med african mappa puffer, Sm Linara Wrasse, 1 Med Clown Trigger, 1 Md Green Bird Wrasse, and a Small BV. Lion Fish. I recently got a Green Carpet anemone from my reef shop and it has been in someone elses tank for about a year. When I first got it in the tank it opened up about 16 inches in diamater and was BEAUTIFUL, Since putting it in the tank I have had a nitire spike to .3 due to my GF overfeeding while I was away, Now the Carpet is closed up and it is not happy. I have since stabilized the water and its back to under .1 nitrite and everything else is spot on!. My question is....Can I do anything else to ensure that I will not lose this wonderful specimen and what I can do in the future to maintain its health? I do not want to lose it.......