Clownfish harassing Anemone.

[raviverman2]

I have a fairly new tank, 6 months, with two ocellaris clownfish and a few hermit crabs. I recently got a bubble tip anemone a week ago. It settled well in the rock after just one day and has not moved much since.

The female clown took to the anemone immediately and it is constantly rubbing off and nipping at the anemone. The BTA doesn't seem happy anymore and it steadily losing color. It's tentacles are always stringy and not bubbly anymore.

Is this normal during the hosting process or should I be concerned? Will the anemone ever get used to the fish? It's always clammed and not relaxing around the fish at all.

I'm feeding the anemone every other day with bits of silver side and mysis shrimp. The water parameters are pretty stable.

 

[lmforbis]

What kind of lighting do you have.

 

[raviverman2]

What kind of lighting do you have.

Fluval aquasky led. It has 3000 - 25000K leds with automatic day-night cycle and actinic lights in the evening. It's fairly bright so that the anemone was hiding under rocks till I dialed it down in intensity.

 

[lmforbis]

That light is not going to give you enough light intensity for an anemone. This is what I was afraid of. Anemones losing color (bleaching) is a classic sign of not enough light. Anemones Require more light than almost any other ocean creature. You might be able to make it work with a Chinese black box light (google Mars aqua) but typically you need pretty high end lighting to keep an anemone. You could also supplement with 4 T5 bulbs a mix of actinic and daylight. You do need to change those bulbs every 6 months and the good bulbs cost around $20 each.

 

[raviverman2]

That light is not going to give you enough light intensity for an anemone. This is what I was afraid of. Anemones losing color (bleaching) is a classic sign of not enough light. Anemones Require more light than almost any other ocean creature. You might be able to make it work with a Chinese black box light (google Mars aqua) but typically you need pretty high end lighting to keep an anemone. You could also supplement with 4 T5 bulbs a mix of actinic and daylight. You do need to change those bulbs every 6 months and the good bulbs cost around $20 each.

I saw on the aquasky box that it is meant for planted fresh water and 'fish only' marine aquariums. I've ordered the Mars aqua 160w.

However, I'm a bit confused about the intensity requirement. Everywhere I read it's mentioned that anemone need intense light. However I tried placing my BTA near the top on one of my rocks, closer to the LEDs and everytime it crawls under shade when I come back from work. I tried turning the rock to place it closer to the lights, about 6 inches from top, a couple times and every time it ended up hiding in shade. Does it mean the light is already very intense? Will I do more harm by installing the 160W lights?

Also, my main concern is the clownfish constantly harassing the anemone, making it stay shrunken most of the time.

 

[lmforbis]

I wouldn’t worry about the clown
You need to slowly ramp up the intensity of the light. The anemone will find a place it likes. It isn’t just light but other factors influence its choice of locations.