Carpet Anemone?

[metalhead]

Does anyone have any experience keeping a large carpet anemone in a reef tank? Seems like I've heard that some have been able to keep them with some degree of success. Saw a big green beauty at the LFS the other day and it got me thinking.

[reefplayground]

Not that difficult if you have a well maintained system.

[Ninong]

Make sure you have adequate lighting and enough space for the anemone to spread out so that it receives light across its surface. S. haddoni is the easiest to keep.

Check out this video.

[metalhead]

Thanks guys... Awesome video too, looks like that cleaner shrimp knew better than to test its luck.

The one I'm looking at is a little larger than the one in the vid... Still haven't made up my mind though.

[Ninong]

The one I'm looking at is a little larger than the one in the vid...

Larger??? The one in the video appears to be at least 24" across. That's a 92-gal bowfront aquarium. It's 48" across. The anemone appears to be taking up more than half the distance across the front of that tank.

[metalhead]

Larger??? The one in the video appears to be at least 24" across. That's a 92-gal bowfront aquarium. It's 48" across. The anemone appears to be taking up more than half the distance across the front of that tank.

Yes, it's massive... Still hesitant as I'm guessing that one that large ended up back at the store for a reason. Maybe by consuming all or most of the inhabitants of its former residence? Just a hunch, but another possibility could certainly be that it simply outgrew its former accomodations. I'll have to get "the rest of the story" the next time I'm up that way. ;)

Anyway, I'll probably hold off for now... There's a CBB and several peppermint shrimp that are in the process of eradicating my ongoing aiptasia problem in that tank at the moment so I will probably wait until that's all settled before I consider the possibility of adding more livestock further.

Sometimes it sucks to make the right decision but like that cleaner shrimp in the video, I don't really want to push my luck.