[eses]

I have tried keeping an anemone before, when I was new to the hobby (huge mistake..horrible ending.) but now that I've got a few years of experience, and have managed to keep mushrooms and my xenia is weed-like I would love to add an anemone to the tank.

Are there any of moderate size that are "easy" to keep. Ones that can really be kept in an aquarium and aren't just going to slowly die - even if it takes a year or so end up dead in the end. I want to have one that I can theoretically keep for its whole lifespan (or mine.)

Nothing I've read so far has been positive...so I figured that maybe if I turned to you all that someone may know of one, or have kept one for multiple years with success. Any thoughts would be great.

[vtec si]

I had alot of problems when I first started with anemones. Mostly due to that I did not know much about them. i would recomendthe book of CLOWNFISHES by Joyce D. Wilkerson. This book has good infomation on sea anemones.

About four years ago I bought a green carpet anemone that was about 6-8 inches big. Now he is 10-12 inches when fully open and can be a pain some times.

Somethings to think about!

Tank lighting?
Is your tank the right size?
Make sure the anemone you are buying is healthy!
Ask your LFS to feed it when you are there!
Do not buy one that is clearish white, it will be doomed if not already.
FEED IT!

Good luck,

VTEC SI

[eses]

Forgot about mentioning lighting. My tank is 29 gallon, so it is small, and the lights are four 32watt flourecent PC's. 128 watts total, half daylight, half actinic.

10-12" of size would be large. I would have the room, if it stayed in one place, but a roaming anemone of that girth would end up getting in the way. I should probably just stick with the soft corals and wait on an anemone for when I upsize this tank.

[thezookeeper]

BTA's are the hardiest anemones. Bubble Tipped Anemone, that is. I'd recommend excellent water quality, lighting you have should be sufficient, IMO. Feeding it 3 times a week. That's about all I know.


Joanne

[BlueWater]

High survival Rate??? I think not...
Ive had mine for 2 months and he's still opening.
But I hardly doubt it will be the luck few to reach 2 years.

http://trickstr.tripod.com/survey_r.htm
_____________________________________

So for those who maintained an anemone for
over 2 years, congradulations and give
yourself a pat on the back. Over, I guess
you have bragging rights on your expert
caretaking

I recommend everyone considering to get an
anemone to read this. Especially newbies
like me. That way you don't feel bad if
yours dies within a few months too jk.
No but seriously, it's a valid paper. As
for the anemone I posted awhile back, it
actually did "not" die, and it is opened
up and looking great. Just hope it lasts
longer than just a few months.
______________________________________


Those hobbyists with 2-5 years experience were not a lot more successful with 30% of the anemones dying in an average of 7 months. Only 5% of those surveyed with 2-5 years experience had kept their anemone for two years or more.

Even among hobbyists with more than 5 years experience 36% of anemones kept were dead after an average of 8 months.

One in 6 anemones in the survey reached the 24 months in captivity milestone. Only one out of every 13 anemones in the survey had been in captivity for 3 years or more. One in every 32 reached 5 years in captivity.

[Joaco]

You will find a lot of very good reading about anemones here:

http://www.wyx.com/iheo/tank/anemones.htm

Joaco

[SurfsUP]

I've also had problems with anemones. I've kept all the different types of anemones and to this date, only been able to keep a bubble tipped for over a year and still going. All the carpets just slowly shrink and die away. I don't know why but this small bubble tipped I got last year was about 2"-3" and a year later now it is about 6". I almost lost it when it got sucked half way through the overflow and was ripped into a smaller piece but it just came back again and recovered and grew to it's current size of 6". It's currently living in a 12g half back hex with 2-28w pc's. I only feed it a couple of times a week and only give it whatever my pair of perculas eat. The female percula lives it in and almost never leaves it but the smaller male only goes into it once in awhile. I was going to move it to my larger 46g reef but since it was doing so well, I just left it where it was happy in my 12g.

Maybe you can try a bubble tip too. Good Luck!

[icemark]

The big key that seems to keep coming up is feeding. Most anemones seem to do much better with high (some cases daily) feedings of silversides, krill and shrimp rather than making sure there is sufficent light.

The right lighting is just extra, iceing on the cake to what most anemones seem to need for intake.

Dr Ron seems also to agree with this approach to anemone husbandry.

[karun]

I had 3 anemones in my tank since January 2001. A bubble tip, a H. Magnifica and a green carpet. All of them were doing well. I even had a pair of ocellaris clowns living and spawning in the H. Magnifica. About 2 months ago I added a lion fish. Within a month after that the bubble tip shrank and died and the H. Magnifica too. The carpet got much bigger. It grew from 6 inches to 10-12 inches in the same time.
I could not find any problem with the water. I thought the lion may have produced too much waste and the nitrates had gone up but that was not the case. Everyone seems to suggest a bubble tip as the hardiest anemone but I have had much greater success with the carpet. Kept it about 9 months and it has grown from 5 inches to 10-12 inches.

Possibly these anemones are hardier since they are caught off the Indian coast and the bubble tips came from Singapore.

Karun

[chromis]

karun, it is never a good idea to keep 3 anemones in one tank, especially of 3 different species. Most anemones(except bubbletip) require a dedicated tank with nothing but their clownfish and some live rock. Having 3 anemones in one tank is a really bad idea, they will eventually kill each other through stinging, chemical means etc.




IMO
Andrew