[TheApprentice707]

I have heard that Atlantic Anemone don't have a lighting requirement. Do you think this is true? I will get a nice light soon, but I won't be able to for a while.

Are there any other corals ( I guess that is what you call them) that don't have a lighting requirement?

[Ninong]

When you say "Atlantic anemone," I assume you mean Condylactis gigantea, right? It contains zooxanthellae, just like the host sea anemones from the Indo-Pacific that associate naturally with clownfish. Condylactis gigantea is a risky choice as a surrogate host for clownfish because it will sometimes eat your clownfish, especially the smaller species.

All azooxanthellate corals do not have a "light requirement." These corals are also more difficult to maintain in an aquarium because it is often difficult to replicate their natural diet.

[TheApprentice707]

Well the ones that I have been seeing look like this:

http://www.hankinslawrenceimages.com/uw/hli_uw8_std.jpg

What are these ones called?

Do you have any suggestions on something to get that I don't need to upgrade my lights to have?

thanks!

[Ninong]

The anemone in the photo you linked is Condylactis gigantea.

You haven't said what sort of lighting you have right now, so it's hard to recommend anything without knowing what sort of lighting we're talking about.

In general, soft corals can get by with less light than hard corals.

P.S. -- What size is your tank? In particular, how tall is your tank? What lighting do you have right now?

[TheApprentice707]

I have a ten gallon tank that is being filtered by a biowheel, 15 pounds of live rock, and a remora protein skimmer ( that i will use in the future on a bigger tank).

It is about a foot tall and I have a 15watt crap light that beginners get right now.

if I had this...

18 inch Current USA Nova Extreme 2x20 watt T5 HO 10K/460nm (<20in Units )

what do you think I could have?

[My2heartboys]

Not sure what Ninong's opinion is, but I would think that a 10 gallon would be quite small for that size of anemone. I will admit that my experience is very limited, though.

Anne

[Ninong]

Yes, a 10-gal tank is too small for an anemone. As far as the lighting goes, you would be able to keep mushrooms with the lighting you linked.

[TheApprentice707]

that should be nice. any specific types you would recommend?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by TheApprentice707

that should be nice. any specific types you would recommend?

I'm not a fan of mushrooms at all except for Ricordea florida and R. yuma, if you want to count those as mushrooms. R. florida is a lot easier to keep than R. yuma, so maybe you could try a few of those?

[tvan]

TheApprentice707,
You may also need to keep an eye on your water temp.
Every time the wattage of your lights grows so does your water temp. For those of us with smaller tanks anyway.
Tom

[TheApprentice707]

Oh good thought! thanks for that it would have totally slipped my mind.

[dendro982]

Anemone:
I had condy anemone in 10g tank for maybe 1.5 yrs, then moved it to 20g tank. It didn't grow too much, but still occupies the full corner of the tank.

It feels much better at at least 70W for 10g tank, 90W will be better.

Note, that it may change color with time, from snow-white with purple tips to tan.

There are anemone-like creatures, that do not require light - tube anemones, Cerianthus. You can check web for the name and Toonen, it will point you to the article about them.

You may buy the really small and make the tube with fine sand for him, to bury the body. They grow eventually big, but have no information about rate of the growth. When it grows too big, maybe it will be possible to trade it in LFS for a smaller one, but it depends on the store.

Grape-colored with neon green center are usually smaller, than the peach-pink C. orientalis. I bought the last one for a big tank, palm-sized in the store. It became 2.5x larger in the same evening in my tank, occupying 2/3 the tank depth. Beware .

Hardy, gorgeous and easy to feed. If the light is not too bright, it stays open most of the day.

I'm not advocating its buying, just listing the options .

Next, low light tolerant corals, these from 6g tank with the same depth, as yours and half of your light, 18W 50-50 PC:
White xenia:

Pardon the mess, left to right:

branching frogspawn, neon-green candycane, white lemnalia, hammer, green star polyps and xenia at the top, green hairy mushroom (grows big, but can be fragged), red mushrooms require more light.

Closeups:

Candycane, best of them:

Hairy mushroom, next by light tolerance:

Frogspawn. hammers and red mushrooms - in another tank:


No light at all, non-photosynthetic corals:

Will require a lot of feedings, proper filtration and preferably skimming. Just for reference and recognition, here they are, some of them:
Sun coral (could be different color):

Red finger gorgonian (could be yellow with red dots):

Swiftia, gorgonian too:

Also thin branched NPS gorgonians:

HTH