jamesbond

i think the major issue is food. Most of anemones is able to move around your tank to find suitable place in term of light, flows and food, it will anchor there till there is nothing to eat for over one week, then it start advanture trip again. i have housed more than 10 anemones in my tank and here is some records: 1. When you buy anemone, make sure that it is in good condition (bloom like flower) and there is no "hole" in its body; 2. Suggest to house it to tank during evening or night time at slow water flow area - you can also temporarily use some stone cover around it to keep it stay, next morning, if you see it sink to ground, try not to touch this area for at least one week, otherwise, it keep moving. 3. Some will refuse and just keep "floating around" your tank for over 2 days; you need to take it out to keep in any pot with oxy for one day, then try to re-house it again. 4. if you find it has bad sign of disintergrate, move it out off tank without any second reluctant; 5. Feeding: some anemone is fed by clownfish, however, you need to feed them all every 3 days with clams, dead fish, shrimp ... some will refuse clam and shrimp, but most accept dead fish. If it refuse to take, be patient to repeat every day for at least one week, need to keep watch to remove unused food. Extra care for first month is required, then you can just feed them once a week. 6. carpet anemone has sticky stick, keep and feed easier, and therefore its survival rate is higher. however, it will cause damages to fish(other than clawn fish) if fish touch it by accident - there is alway two sides of the coin.

1st time to see, i would like to try if there is a chance.

wow Jamesbond, this is very interesting. maybe i should add 10 pcs of harlequin at 1 time so that there is no quarrelling among them. where did you get your idea from? Do you mind if i ask you how big your tank is, and what is your estimate flow rate (current flow) of your tank? Thanks for the inspiration!!! ----------------------------- my tank 1.2x0.35x0.6 m, flow rate is about 3500 liler / hour, filter: DIY wet-dry and over flow filter + 1 canister, no skimmer. it run well with 60 fishes and around 40 shrimps + 15 anemous + some button coral. i just test to house many shrimps ... and by luck to get it work. Do keep a watchful eye out for nitrates. Nitrates above 10ppm usually lead to premature death in these shrimp. ---------------------------- thanks. it is about 3 ppm. It will surely be very interesting to see a Harlequin shrimp only tank ---------------------------- regret ... this is stommy season in Vietnam, quite hard to do collection; i only have 16 so far.

it is quite rare to find thorn starfish here, even though we have big issue with this kind of starfish in Nha Trang, and authorized agency has to call for help to kill them, it is too big to house in tank. i only feed them with red starfish. Lemon, you are right, when those fishes grow big, i will exchange with my friend. My plan is to house this tank with more halerquin, around 50-100, and move all fishes to other tank. however, it takes time to do collection. I am not worry about aggressive behavious, from my own experience, when you house just some, it will be kind of territory; when you house more than 10.. it becomes a friendly group.

some shots Halerquin sexy shrimp villiage (on top) close up anemone shrimp

i have no intention to feed them with dead fish, as it means some fish kill other. I am lucky to have year round source of starfish, only limit order for some month Aug-Nov. will take some shot tonight for sharing.

i don't know, till feed them with starfish. At first, i am worry about fish to abuse shrimp, and it is surprising that things is ok. This tank involved 12 harlequin, 6 cleaner shrimp, 8 anemone shrimp, 4 carmel shrimp, 2 banned shrimp, and 22 sexy shrimp. all is ok for one week. Fuel, around 2 hours, and it seems it really enjoy eating ... till cleaner shrimp take over.

recently, i have housed all 12 harlequin shrimp to fish tank, and this is the first time i have seen it eat dead small fish. i also notice that it nip on clam that i cut to small pcs to feed my fish.

I fully agree that we are unsure if fishes get what it needs even we feed them well and regular, there is hundred of food in nature that it eats in the ocean. you will train them to have bad habit by limit feeding, it might copy eating behavious of other fishes, or turn to extremely aggressive. i have one koran angelfish that also look for anemous, corals when it feels empty.

it is hard to say right or wrong ... if you have fish in your reef tank, it will find all their nutritive needs in the aquarium. it can also turn aggressive and learn to pick on corals and eventually feed on them. I till believe that if we feed them less than one time / day, we are just lucky to keep them survival.

agreed with whale shark, feed as many times as possible with little amount, as fishes in ocean hunt for food 24/7; and it will deluge it out after few minutes, feed many times + low nutrion food. Times to feed and amount depend on kind of fishes, number of fishes and tank condition... therefore, there is no optimized figure. As long as your fishes is healthy, active and colorful ... then we are in right track. i feed 3 times / day, floating food, and make sure one fish can eat 3-5 small pellet / time.

i just bought fish breeding box from Qian Hu, Singapore; look like a kreisel box. i think the main issue is suitable enviroment: PH, Salinity, GH, Temp, and gravity.... regret that no diving guys give us such info-where they find the shrimp during their trip. keep searching and will share if there is news. wonder if anyone know how to email/contact Chuck to get his updating on this matter.

I know this system, but not try yet (chuck addition). My case is same, disappear after 4 days. If you have any news, pls share.

Hi FuEI, startfish picture would be great help. would you give more info on two stages of H. Picta larval ? I have just bought Xoophankton, roctifer and phytoplankton (reefmax) and wonder if it would help ? Hi Sea Cucumber: as i have many shrimps, i have to cut arm by arm, i feed once every week than left them hungry enough to finish it soonest. 10% water chance + reefmax super bacteria follow.

If you ask me, i would say no as my one even more. I have 50 liter tank with over 30 fishes, water change 20%/week. However, this is a real problem: 1. you cannot add any new fish in; resident fishes will fight new comer to die. 2. Time by time, it is peaceful when they are small, but change to aggressive when they are big. 3. Most attack happens when you feed them, small one get damage,

2 harlequins consumed one start fish / week (diameter of start fish 5 cm), i feed 1 for 2 shrimps / every 2 weeks. here is its nano tank

Breeding is not an issue if you keep it in private tank, if your tank water is in good condition, you expect to have them breeding every month from 100-2000 eggs. However, here the trouble come: it is extremely hard to keep lavae, and it takes from 6-8 weeks to complete lavae stage. So far, i only heard one guys in Japan success to breed, but with limit survival rate. I have 7 pcs in my nano tank, giving eggs three times .... and nothing left after 4 days. Poor.