[BlueWater]

Well.... after 5 rockin' months...
I came home today to find my BTA trapped underneath about 2 lbs
of LR. When I took the rocks off it, the thing looked like melted Flan.

Anyway, I am going to do some low intensity soft corals instead. At
leat I dont have to worry about it moving around as much.

My question.......

Whats the hardiest low light SoftCoral you recommend for a
GoldStripe Maroon Clown to have a host/symbiotic relationship with?

R.I.P. BTA

[Wind]

Yeah I agree that going away from Anemone will be a good choice.

My suggestion is that, clowns will take a variety or surrogates. I've seen 1 that has taken a duster. So it depends. I would go with leathers, hairy shrooms. Anything with tentacles.. but it depends on what type of light you have.. Tell the board what light and they can give you suggestions accordingly.

GOOD LUCK.

[BlueWater]

My lighting is a dualPC 18Watt and a 15Watt 50/50.
I just put in a 2inch LSB today. Tank is 9 inches high. So whatever I
put in there, it is at max, 7 inches from the light. I would go with
getting another BTA. But I bought it when I didnt know they had a
low survival rate. At least I know it died due to falling rocks, and not
water conditions.

Just want something hardy. Never had corals in my tank. Just the BTA
.

[Wind]

Wait. How big is the tank itself? What size is it? So 18x2 + 15 = 51

I think real low-light corals might work ok...
Thats not enough for an ANEMONE, in terms of lighting.. Lighting is like food for those animal..

[BlueWater]

The lighting for my anemone was definetly enough
He was 4 inches from the light. 7 max. And it grew a few inches in
the 5 months I had it. Besides, it liked to hang out in the tank where
there was less light.

I would do BTA again, but I'm afraid rocks might clobber it again.
I'll look into leathers.

thnx.

[Wind]

I dont' know about the lighting, although there might be enough wattage, there might not have been enough intensity. Water chemistry is also important for anemones. I think unless you have a bigger system, dont' try the BTA again.

Leathers are cool. Get more pics of your tank..

[Rin]

RC has a forum dedicated to anemone keeping. It's very informative. Some of the best success stories are not with people who kept their anemone (anemones...anemoni?) under intense lighting, but rather those that maintained strict water parameters (esp. salinity & alk) and feed them on a regular basis (2 or more times/week).

As for finding sorrogates for the Maroon, you might find the Maroon to be a little pickier than the average clown. I had a percula that would hang out in my frogspawn and then later in my bubble (which actually ate the percula). My maroons won't give either of those corals a second glance.

BTW, nice pics. Your yellowstripe is very handsome.

[VAFLYER]

Hey Bluewater if your still looking for a good host coral, how about a bubble? I introdeced these maroons the my tank and they took to the bubble in about 2 days. It's been about 7 months since the attached pic and the coral is doing great and has even grown considerably. These clowns VIGOROUSLY protect this coral... HTH

[VAFLYER]

oops, how about I attach that pic this time... it was taken last May.

[BlueWater]

That bubble looks awesome. But where ist he mouth?
I fed my anemone everyday, and it grew pretty huge. So I'd probably
be doing that with the coral too. I'm going to the fish warehouse by
my house to check out their goods.

Thanks for the imput!

[Tank]

Ok guys back to the stupid wattage disscussion....I firmly beleive that dictating what is and is not enough wattage is such a waste of time.Its not much watts/gallon that matters is all about distance and dispersement from the light and of the light.At 4 inches away from the light that BTA was probly getting more than enough ....Probably Alot more than it received in nature.Seems like my few and far between posts start much debate lately so shoot.BTW I am the guy with the now almost 1 year old 75 gal reef with no skimmer that rarely feeds anything in the tank that was basicaly told It wouldnt work.LOL all in fun guys....

[ravenmore]

Ok - first of all let me start this by saying I am not advocating that optimal conditions for keeping an anemone are in low or no light.

Having said that - according to Dr. Shimek anemones don't need light as much as they need to feed. Photosynthesis provides short term energy supplies. I distinctly remeber him refering to the energy stores produced from photosynthesis from the zoox as being akin to "junk food".

Anemones (and corals, I suspect) need food to survive. Nitrogen compounds, proteins, ect.... are required to provide the materials and energy necessary for repairing injuries, new tissue growth, and reproduction. These can only be acquired from feeding. In fact, the zoox present in the tissues of the anemone ALSO required nitrogen compounds from the host anemone! One theory I have on bleaching is that the zoox isn't getting it's nutritional needs met in the host so that bail.....

I kinda suspect that most anemones die because of lack of proper nutrition/feeding and not from lack of light. You can't stick an anemone under 250 watts of MH light and expect it to survive.

That's the theoretical argument but I do have some anecdotal evidence as well. I have a LTA that I've had for quite a while in a 20 gal tank. I kept him under a singe 65watt PC for a long time - he's almost outgrown the tank. I feed him heavily 3 times a week (he'll eat anything and is a pig) and this tank somehow produces these swarms of very tiny crustaceans in the water column every once in a while. I've noticed it even feeds on these.

-Mike

[BlueWater]

I think my lighting was enough for my anemone. Most people who have "The perfect" lighting MH VHO blahblahblah seem to
be the ones who say they can't keep an anemone alive for more than
2-3 months. And get smaller once they put it in the tank. As for mine,
it actually grew more than twice the size.

I looked into Bubble Corals, but they told me those are hard-corals.
Anyone else recommend something "soft?"

thnx again

[VAFLYER]

Hey Blue, actually the bubble is a Large Polyp Stoney, the "stoney" part is small. Is there a reason why you can't have LPS? You may have posted it in earlier posts but I don't recall.

His mouth is in the center, hard to see unless he is fully open. When I first introduced the clowns and they went for the bubble he didnt open quite all the way for a couple of days.

[ravenmore]

"hairy" mushrooms would probably work.

[thezookeeper]

Just keep in mind that no matter what you end up with, there is no guarentee that your maroon will take to it as a surrogate. If kept close to the top, you shouldn't have any problem keeping a bubble coral, but you must maintain good calcium at 400-450 ppm since it is a stony. HTH and good luck!


Joanne