Anemone Help...PLEASE

sberto

Member
Hey All....well I am posting this to the new hobbyist page because I am definitely far from the experienced! A little background, I set up my salt water tank about 3 years ago...its a 90g tank, no sump. Two power heads (patiently awaiting my Gyre to arrive). Orbit Marine PRO LED light fixture, Fish are:
  • 1 true perc clown
  • 1 Yellow tang
  • 1 file fish
  • 1 fire fin golby (i think thats what it is called)
  • a wrasse (not s 6 line...this one is just pink)
For coral:
  • lots of Green Star Polyps
  • pink montipora
  • various mushrooms
  • various polyps
  • Xenia
  • Green Torch
and my parameters are 78 degrees, all 0's for nitrite, nitrate and ammonia, salinity is 1.025.

So, here is my issue. About 3 weeks ago, I finally bought a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone. Super excited. Looked at it in the store, looked really good. Got it home, placed it in the tank and it still looked really good. Full bubble tips. It moved around for a few days (not a far distance, but back and forth), but eventually wedged into a rock at the back of the tank :-( So I slowly got it off the rock, and moved it to the front of the tank. It moved to another spot, still at the front. But I don't know if this little fella is healthy or not. I don't know if its angry, hungry, too much flow, not enough flow..etc. Here are two pictures of it. I will gladly take any advise. BTW, my clown wants nothing to do with it either. I have heard that putting it in a fish trap (breeder) will help. any advice??
 

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lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Looks good to me. They will find the place they like. Usually not where you want them. The clowns may or may not take to the nem. It can take a while. Mine ignored the nem for a long time then one day moved into it. Now my nem moved a couple days ago and I have no idea where it went.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Also, don't try to move it around...this can cause stress and even diseases. Anemones are animals and are going to move where is best for them.
 

sberto

Member
OK ill let it be for a bit then. Was really concerned because the tentacles were small and not "bubbled", hopefully that changes too instead of the little "nubs" that it has now. These things are nuts I tell ya. I looked at it two minutes ago, and its moth was wide open....now its all closed up. Must have grabbed something to eat? On the bright side, just picked up an aquamaxx HOB skimmer....working great!
 

Shilpan

Member
Hey sberto quick question, what reactors or filtration media do you use to maintain your water parameters so well?

I'm a newb so wanted advice
 

sberto

Member
All I have is a aqamaxx skimmer on my unit. I used to have a canister filter but it started to leak. But no reactors. Just regular water changes. I don't know if Im the best person to take advice from though (as I can't get an anemone to survive)...poor guy looks worse today
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
If it keeps moving around then it's probably irritated and or stressed.

If water conditions are decent you may want to try turning down the flow until it finds a good spot and firmly attaches it's foot.

And or perhaps ease off of the lighting a little bit.

I'm not an expert with them. I've lost a few. Just throwing some suggestions out there.
 

sberto

Member
That s what I'm super confused about....it has barely moved at all from its spot (maybe 1/4 inch). Ill try turning off a power head...
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
They'll still attach even if things aren't quite right.

One thing I do see though is a issue that I didn't catch at first is your light fixture. They aren't recommended for high light demanding livestock. On shallow tanks they may work for some LPS and a few other things. But probably not so much for your rose bubble in a 90g.

Otherwise those fixtures are for lower light demanding livestock.
 
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sberto

Member
oh crap really? I was under the impression that the PRO version was good , but not the regular version. crap.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
They've gotten better at least in regards to being full spectrum but they still use cheaper leds that only put out 1/10th - 1/4th of the power the higher end leds do.

Manufacturers can have a tendency to be misleading. But I've seen their reps get called out or questioned about the subject on other forums and they've flat out admitted they aren't recommended for high light demanding situations.

Their intensity drops far to quickly on anything below 12" deep in the water column due to using the lesser powered diodes.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
I'm concerned that attempting to move it just makes it worse. But ideally that's probably where it needs to be if it's gonna have any chance at all to survive.

You may wish to consider supplementing the light source you have.

Or I know this sounds crazy but even running carbon (GAC) on the system can help improve PAR values in the tank by upwards of 30% by making your water crystal clear. Wouldn't hurt to consider.
 

sberto

Member
ok sounds like a plan. ill try and nurse this thing back to health, then look at some of those options....likely a supplemental light
 

deejeff0442

Active Member
Better keep a good eye. If the thing dies it will nuke the whole tank. I had one years ago get caught in a power head. Killed half the tank . Luckily I had another tank going to get the live fish in while I cleaned the nuked one.
I will never mess with another anemone. Not worth the head ache
 

Jack and casey

New Member
Ours did the same thing, we lost it. Once it comes unattached from the rock we took it out. I believe our light was to much and I also thing our shrimp took food out of its mouth and may have hurt the mouth. Needless to say we are taking a break on anemones and shrimp, neither want to survive for us. We have 7 fish that are doing excellent only lost one in our 7 months.
 

tyburger

New Member
My bubble-tip was swell for a good week... until it committed suicide by powerhead. :(
If you have any powerheads in the tank, be sure the inlets are small enough that the foot/tentacles of the anemone can't get into. Some powerheads come with foam guards to attach over top to help prevent an incursion (albeit the foam didn't stop my anemone from pulling it off before taking the dive!).
 
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