Beginner's Guide to Keeping Anemones

[Harlequinmania]

This is short beginners guide on how chose and keep anemones , which i hope it is helpful for reefer here.

Anemones are as individual as you or I, and invertebrates which can tolerate high water flow, another of same will not - it's just the way they are.

Remember that you are taking a creature/ Invertebrates, which in general opinion of many reefer is hard to keep it , out of the wild, and out of the ocean. If you desire to keep one of these creatures you will need to find out as much as you can about them. If you find yourself that you just can't keep these creatures - STOP. They are not an inexhaustible commodity; they are ancient animals which may live for hundreds of years in the wild, sustaining many generations of clownfish families. That is until a keen reef keeper comes along, and kills it within a matter of weeks!!

There is no shame in not being able to keep anemones - some, even Advance Reefer who can maintain the most exotic of SPS corals, cannot keep anemones.

Before you buy an anemone, please do as much research as you can on the creature / Invertebrates in general, and the species you want to keep. Most aquarist use the "12 month rule" when considering if their tank is matured enough to keep anemones.

This 12 month rule allows:

a ) the tank to mature and become less susceptible to condition swings, &

b ) the aquarist to gather enough knowledge on water conditions, parameters and correction techniques, so that they will be able to give anemone keeping their best shot.

[DUCADOS]

Well said. Upz for u.

Saving Gaia!

[makeupartisteileen]

up too

[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.

[Jasondonovan]

Very useful information there. My anemone has been constantly moving around for the past 2 weeks and not able to stay put!

[wearenotmonkey]

is that possible carpet anemone eat damsel if they rest on them?

[artxakis]

hi bros

does anemones has self healing properties? i bought one from iwarna for $5 its abt two palm size. look nice yellow in colour. bought it solely for my pair nemo pair. i place it on my sand bed but it juz curls into a ball then it lodges itself my the side glass wall. irritating sia...need to reposition my wavemaker. i think my water condition turns dirty during cleaning then it juz shrinks n its mouth looks like being torned. but after a day it looks like normal but it mouth doesnt close yet. anyone git similar experience?

[iskay]

hi bros

does anemones has self healing properties? i bought one from iwarna for $5 its abt two palm size. look nice yellow in colour. bought it solely for my pair nemo pair. i place it on my sand bed but it juz curls into a ball then it lodges itself my the side glass wall. irritating sia...need to reposition my wavemaker. i think my water condition turns dirty during cleaning then it juz shrinks n its mouth looks like being torned. but after a day it looks like normal but it mouth doesnt close yet. anyone git similar experience?

The "nice yellow" colour is likely dyed. Buy only specimens with mouth tightly shut. Loose mouth is a sign of bad health. If you feed it and it still can capture and ingest, there might be a chance for recovery. Feeding max twice a week.

Wave makers are anemones nemesis. If your specimen moves about, there real chance of it getting too close to the wave maker and turn your tank into anemone shake.

[nicreef]

Readin the above I am worried lol one of my anemone moved fr centre of tank to behind rocks just 4 inches away from wave maker... Hope he don't do the stupid move...

[cheemi]

I have 3 anemones. Every day I am worrying for them . Haha

[cheemi]

I have 3 anemones. Every day I am worrying for them . Haha

[cheemi]

I have 3 anemones. Every day I am worrying for them . Haha

[blusafe]

Here is a great guide:

http://www.carlosreef.com/AnemoneFAQ.pdf

My favorite part is when it breaks down three anemone categories in terms of difficulty: "Difficult...More Difficult...Most Difficult"

Anemones are NOT for the inexperienced or lazy. I suspect they require the MOST STABLE and EXCELLENT conditions to SURVIVE, not to mention grow and thrive.

"they are ancient animals which may live for hundreds of years in the wild, sustaining many generations of clownfish families. That is until a keen reef keeper comes along, and kills it within a matter of weeks!!"

-A most beautiful and humbling truth. I'll come back to nems after waiting a few years and reading a few books.

[Sea hare]

I have three anemone as well. Two BT and one carpet. The carpet has not moved even a mm from where I placed it and seems fine. The green BT was doing exceedingly well and had opened up perfect.. Now for the past two days he has shrunk and is anchored upside down on a rock. The clowns love this one and are even now frolicking in it. The other BT is now doing exceedingly ok and is in full bloom now- he was initially shy and was hidden but no issues now. Any idea why the green BT has shrunk and is hanging upside down.. He is in a medium flow area and actually moved there on his own. He did perfect fine for some a month in the spot but now he's shrunk. Any advise will help

[Sea hare]

I know they do this in 3 situations Pooping Splitting Or when hungry How do u determine what the situation is

[oqs]

i had a green bta and it just float itself into the rocks and died of starvation there. is there any surefire way to get them to stay at one location? planning to get a rbta but just afraid it will end up the same way as the green bta.

[tofubox]

i had a green bta and it just float itself into the rocks and died of starvation there. is there any surefire way to get them to stay at one location? planning to get a rbta but just afraid it will end up the same way as the green bta.

There isn't a surefire way from what i understand. But what you can do is guide them to where u want I.e by placing the rocks and wavemakers in a suitable area. They hate direct flow from wavemakers.

[diki88]

I have three anemone as well. Two BT and one carpet. The carpet has not moved even a mm from where I placed it and seems fine. The green BT was doing exceedingly well and had opened up perfect.. Now for the past two days he has shrunk and is anchored upside down on a rock. The clowns love this one and are even now frolicking in it. The other BT is now doing exceedingly ok and is in full bloom now- he was initially shy and was hidden but no issues now. Any idea why the green BT has shrunk and is hanging upside down.. He is in a medium flow area and actually moved there on his own. He did perfect fine for some a month in the spot but now he's shrunk. Any advise will help

If hanging upside down, means gona die soon. The clownfishes are not helping as well by "loving" it to death, forgive the pun.

[joby553]

Little help please, mine not eating for 2 weeks already, keep spitting out whatever I try to feed, however size I cut it.

This 2 days it curled up into a ball clown can't even go in

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NubReefer]

Hi, as my name suggest, i am still beginner to this hobby but i would like to share my experience with anemones.

To my list currently, anemones that can be kept alive quite easily by anyone is sand anemone and rock anemone.

I kept two white sand anemones (which cost me around $10 at iwarna) in my 2 week old 10 gal tank. One died due to a britsle worm/fire worm,the other one have been transfered to my pico reef. NOTE: sand anemone and rock anemone does not host clownfish but quite popular with sexy and anemone shrimp