looking for a suitable anemone for clowns!

[FelixSu]

Hi all,

Am setting up a tank mainly of clownfishes and simple corals like mushrooms and polyps. have hammerhead (branching) too.

would be getting a pair of each species,

true percular, false percula, clarkii and black and white percular.

i was thinking of also maybe one tomato and one maroon. is that pushing it? would there be like war in the tank? my tank is 2.5 x 1.5 x 1.5. and T5 lighting.

What sort of anemone is suitable? and i think i would be getting only one, after so many horror stories of it getting sucked into power heads.

was thinking maybe a medium sized bubble tipped. carpet is too aggressive isn't it?

i currently have 1 blue damsel and 1 purple pseudochromis.

[kueytoc]

Bubble-tip should be fine & you can get some nice fijian specimens from Reef en Nature...

[FelixSu]

where abouts is that?

[kueytoc]

Located at No 1 Pasir Ris Farmway 1, Blk C, Pasir Ris Dr 12 (next to Mainland Tropical Farm).

Sometimes you can find some real coral/invert 'GEMS' there...& the ever-friendly folks !

Enjoy the 'GEMS' but prepare to impart $$$...!

[Flame-Tail]

Hi all,

Am setting up a tank mainly of clownfishes and simple corals like mushrooms and polyps. have hammerhead (branching) too.

would be getting a pair of each species,

true percular, false percula, clarkii and black and white percular.

i was thinking of also maybe one tomato and one maroon. is that pushing it? would there be like war in the tank? my tank is 2.5 x 1.5 x 1.5. and T5 lighting.

What sort of anemone is suitable? and i think i would be getting only one, after so many horror stories of it getting sucked into power heads.

was thinking maybe a medium sized bubble tipped. carpet is too aggressive isn't it?

i currently have 1 blue damsel and 1 purple pseudochromis.

Imo, most clown fish generally prefer the "running around" kind of anemone..I hv one green bubble tip and one white anemone. They moved arn for a while and both ironically situated themselves in almost the same location in my tank.The water flow is moderate to strong current.My golden maroon just loves the green bubble tip.

A friendly word of advice though is that clownfish are quie territorial.Especially the Tomato clown.A friend of mine had one and it bullied all the fish in his tank,even killing a golden maroon that was a half size bigger.

Anyway hope I have been of some help to you.

Hv fun setting up your clown enclosure

[FelixSu]

hi flametail,

thanks for the advice. recently got a purpletipped anemone. so for its been quite stable, staying near my water outlet (rainpipe). BUT it had to sit on my zoos...

I then moved the entire colony of zoos with the anemone on top, to the sandbed. sure enough, the bugger crawled back up to the same spot. but now on a rock instead of my zoos. phew*

In the day, its guarded by my pair of true perculas, occasionally visited by my common clown. however, in the night, the true percs, common clown and clarkii sleep in it.

have a skunk and a tomato clown. skunk too afraid to go near due to the other clowns, but my tomato just cant be bothered by it. strange!

[Flame-Tail]

Wow, lucky u.so many of them sleep tog..Just be on the lookout for potential bullies to prevent stress to fish.

Cheers.

[Kelmen]

Your anemone must be quite big for the big clown family!

picture.... picture... picture...

[FelixSu]

picture? hang on ahh. give me a bit of time.

anemone is running around the tank. even onto my polyps again...

does anyone who has an anemone who is permanently on a coral? does this happen?

[Dazza]

I hv 3 carpet anemones in the tank but my tomato clown prefers my hammer coral...

[hotlemond]

Hi all,

Am setting up a tank mainly of clownfishes and simple corals like mushrooms and polyps. have hammerhead (branching) too.

would be getting a pair of each species,

true percular, false percula, clarkii and black and white percular.

i was thinking of also maybe one tomato and one maroon. is that pushing it? would there be like war in the tank? my tank is 2.5 x 1.5 x 1.5. and T5 lighting.

What sort of anemone is suitable? and i think i would be getting only one, after so many horror stories of it getting sucked into power heads.

was thinking maybe a medium sized bubble tipped. carpet is too aggressive isn't it?

i currently have 1 blue damsel and 1 purple pseudochromis.

try here:

http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/ma...ymbioticMap.htm

[FelixSu]

thanks! that was useful.

[Maverick77]

picture? hang on ahh. give me a bit of time.

anemone is running around the tank. even onto my polyps again...

does anyone who has an anemone who is permanently on a coral? does this happen?

Agree with Kelmen... Picture pls... Wanna see too cos wanna keep nemos for my daughter and my wife says must have anemones!!!

[iantoh]

hi there felixsu,

hope my two cents worth helps.

i think you ought not to have so many pairs of clownfish within your tank. its not so much a concern regarding bioload as clownfish remain typically small even through time and your 2.5 feet tank should house four fish of adult clownfish size reasonably well, but its more of a concern regarding conspecific agression. certain clownfish dont get along with others- this is most apparent for tomato, sebae, and maroon clowns. pls avoid housing perculas with maroons especially as invariably, with the passing of time, the maroon will bully and often intimidate and fight the less agressive perculas. also, the clowns are likely to fight over an anemone if there is insufficient space on it for all of them. and the more fish, the higher your tank's bioload and the more likely nitrates will accumlate with time without nutrient export which will threaten both the clowns and anemones.

if youre just beginning with the reefing hobby, pls do try a pair of false clowns first. they are the exact species of clowns that "nemo" is modelled after, and are alot more hardy than the true clowns. they can also accept poorer water parameters, allowing you time to learn the different aspects of the hobby before adding another pair of true perculas or something.

a pair of true perculas and a pair of ocellaris (false) perculas should do fine, or perhaps a pair of true perculas of normal colouration and a pair of black colouration will be a good mix? but do try the false clowns before you try the true perculas as they are easier to keep and acclimate. and you might decide to ad other fishes than clown fishes after youve been in the hobby a while. overcrowding the tank with too many pairs will also prohibit spawning on the part of the clownfishes due to agression.

as for an anemone, if you definitely wish to keep one, i'd recommend the rose blub anemone- glad youre deciding on bubble tipped anemones. they might cost slightly more- about $20 each at the pasir ris farms, but they are far more hardier than other species of anemones and typically host most clownfish. they are also beautifully red in colour. a green bubble anemone will also be a good choice. these two anemones are the best suited for captivity as they are comfortable on hard surfaces and often attach to live rocks instead of soft silty sand, and they will receive sufficient lightings from your HO T5 lights. if you have two tubes, id recommend one 10000k and one actinic blue bulb as anemones typically require more UV-A and UV-C light.

i'm not trying to negative but do consider getting an alternative choice of host for your clownfishes as anemones have a dismal record of survival in captivity. clownfish do not require anemones to flourish, and alot of other more hardy, and less potentially dangerous corals will host clownfish well. anemones can and will sting other corals and may get caught in suction areas as well as pollute the tank if they die.

the sarcophyton family of corals (leather/toadstool) corals are easy to keep and host clowns well. i say this because when i began this hobby, there were many lfs owners who would recommend all manners of anemones and downplaying their poor survival rates in captivity to sell them. keeping an anemone alive for a manner of six months or so shouldnt be seen as success too if one considers that anemones are almost immortal in the wild.

there are lots of reefers on src that have had great success keeping the rose bubble anemone for years like bro bob and all so you can try messaging them for advice on care too.

heres some articles regarding anemones that i have found helpful and which i hope will aid your husbandry of them. and some photos too.

1) superb article on anemones with pictures for most of the anemones available, and a guide to anemone compatibility with various clownfish species.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/...oa/anemones.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/anempt2.htm

some more photos of the rose bulb anemone- the green coloured bubble anemones are good too and are similar in looks just green in colour.

cheers,

ian

[slcw]

1st let me begin:

anemones dun need clowns and clowns dun need anemones in captivity.

The odds of keeping anemones are low. Know them and increase awareness.

There are many anemones, of the recommended are BTA.

Carpets are aggressive and very sticky compared to BTA.

There numerous articles of anemones.

http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/intro.html

and this

http://store.yahoo.com/marinedepotlive/403634.html

below is my haddon anemone. removed it as it was a threat to my tangs. see pic later to see why.

[slcw]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=282136

pizza anemone. also mine. quite hardy but highly sticky

[slcw]

dangerous carpet took my 5inch foxface down

[slcw]

here is my latest addition

[FelixSu]

wow!

thanks for the advice everyone.

evantually got a true perc, tomato, clarkii, false and a maroon and a purple tip anemone.

however the maroon has since passed on due to aggression from the true perc. strange, thought maroons were the real gangster. the tomato seems peaceful.

[FelixSu]

oh and not forgetting a skunk clown too.

anyways, the white anemone to my knowledge does not host clowns right if i am not wrong?

[WEE2000]

i've had problems wit mine movin around though. so i settled him in QT when it goes near my powerhead... if u usin powerhead oso, i wud advise u setup QT if anytin goes wrong. as 4 powerhead, try 2 cover the suction inlet with sumtin (eg:like an inverted bucket) 2 prevent any bad incident occurs. i hav numerous wakes in a nite dat make me couldn't slep when it starts 2 mov. scared it wud b sucked. it now however sit stil in its place n reliefs me alot..

[Bob]

oh and not forgetting a skunk clown too.

anyways, the white anemone to my knowledge does not host clowns right if i am not wrong?

Bro .I think you're wrong.