Anemone question

wla1610

wla1610

Member
If you have too large of a clownfish in your anemone will it cause him to not inflate his tentacles as much?
I have had the anemonee for a while now and started with 2 true percs. It always looked plump until I got 2 gold stripe maroon clowns. Now it doesn't appear that the tentacles are fully inflated.
I'm hoping the anemone is not going down hill. It did get caught in a powerhead a few weeks ago.
Any ideas? Would a picture help?
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Question here.
Do you have 2 different species of clown fish in the tank right now?
The anemone should (if possible) be larger than the clown fish, or it might get Loved to death.
 
wla1610

wla1610

Member
Thomas, no I don't have 2 different types now. I got rid of the true percs and got a pair of gold stripe maroons.
Also, there was a post you had about choosing a healthy anemone. In what way will it react to food?
Here is a picture.
 
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thomas712

Guest
Anemones may do different things after they take food in. With my BTA's they usually shrink a bit when they are taking the food in, then they usually puff up hours afterwards.
 
wla1610

wla1610

Member
Mine has not puffed up much more than what you see since I got the 2 maroons. The LFS that I've been going to is going to try to get a me a bigger GBTA. Do you think that could help the issue?
Water:
0 Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites.
8.2 ph
0 phosphate
8.2dkh alk
450ppm cal
temp 78
384 PC lighting. Bulbs are 4 months old
 
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thomas712

Guest
Not really, then you would just be acclimating all over again and putting both anemones at risk of stress.
Stick with the one you have and go from there.
Stats look good.
how long have you had this anemone?
 
unleashed

unleashed

Active Member
you realy need MH to keep this thing alive.i reccomend getting some ASAP
what type of water flow.anenomes do like water flow but not constant pounding on them if its in a very low flow area he wont puff as much either.its not the clowns making it shrink its unfortunatly insuffiant enviroment. i have personally killed enough anenomes to know you need MH along with other important factors such as feeding water flow ect.
 
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thomas712

Guest
I thing his PC lighting would be enough for a simple Bubble tip anemone, unless of course his tank is much larger than I think it is.
 
wla1610

wla1610

Member
Its a standard bow front 46 gal tank. Let me look at how deep it is. Draw a picture here.
At the 0 inch mark is the bottom of the light.
2.5 inches down is the top of the tank.
The depth of the tank is 21 inches total
The anemone is 14 inches deep or 16.5 inches from the light.
As to the water flow, I'm doing about 700gph with a rotating powerhead that ends up pushing a bit of waterflow towards the anemone. Its not a direct blast but its enough to get movement when the powerhead gets to the end of its rotation.
All the research I've done seems to show this should be fine. I know metal halides would be a better solution. Right now I'm trying to figure a few solutions to deal with the heat of metal halides and not use a chiller.
One option I've thought about doing is making some sort of half canopy that allows a MH fixture to sit 8 inches above the tank with some fans mounted to the lil stand that will blow cooler air under the lights. I have a pair of 3 inch fans to use.
As far as the lights, I'm looking at buying 2 175W 14,000k coralife aqualight hang on MH fixtures. The other option involves the use of the canopy and I'm not sure what I'd get. Maybe a Current USA sunpod that has 2 150W 14,000k MH bulbs. If anyone has a good suggestions or comments here I'm all ears, but I'm not hanging anything from the ceiling, and I'm not certain as to how I'd do a half canopy yet. :)
Thanks
 
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thomas712

Guest
That PC lighting alone should be ample for a BTA in a 46 gallon tank. Just make sure that he can climb at least 2/3 of the way up the water column if he wants to.
Thomas
 
wla1610

wla1610

Member
It can if I put some extra rock on that side of the tank. So far I have the anemone somewhat separated from the tank to keep it from floating into the corals. I've been debating on MH because I'd like to have some more intense corals.
What do you think of the stuff I posted before?
 
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thomas712

Guest
Water flow looks good. But those bow fronts stump me unless you can build a custom canopy they simply become limited which is a bummer for such nice looking tanks. I'm sure if there is away then you would find it and the 175 should be plenty of light.
Thomas
 
romeo

romeo

Member
Looks just about like mine. Sometimes he swells up, then shrinks up, (think he's pooping) Have GSM myself and he takes good care of it. Feeds it for me! Don't panick if he needs more light he will move.
 
wla1610

wla1610

Member
I'm not too concerned. I just want to upgrade and do it right. I wish I would have gotten a MH fixture to begin with. I spent $450 on PC before and I can spend $450 on a MH fixture with 2 150W 14k bulbs. Oh well, it's the learning experience in the hobby. :)
 
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thomas712

Guest
Originally Posted by WLA1610
Would 300 - 350W be overkill?
What? 350mh watts over a 46, that would give you 7.6 but the 384PC give you more 8.3.
Either would be fine if you like.
Personally I have 940watts VHO/MH combo on my 90.
 
wla1610

wla1610

Member
Thanks for the help Thomas. On a side note I've increased giving the anemone food and it has begin to puff up a bit more. I've been feeding it once a week. This past week I've fed it 3 times and it's looking much much better.
Is it possible to overfeed? I thought that if it didn't want food, the stuff would not stick to the tentacles. Am I incorrect in this?
 
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thomas712

Guest
Originally Posted by WLA1610
Is it possible to overfeed? I thought that if it didn't want food, the stuff would not stick to the tentacles. Am I incorrect in this?
Well it simply might not be able to accept the food, because it's lost its stickiness. Hmm Perhaps Unleashed may have something here., sorry side thought!
Yes it is possible to overfeed, when this happens the anemone has to excrete the unused portion or simply allows the food to fall from its tentacles. The wasted food could become a water quality problem.
As long as its got the ability to stick don't question it.
Thomas
 
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