have question about buying anemone

[babs]

MY questin is does it hurt anemone's to feel air. I bought 2 last week and the lady at the lfs took them out of tank and put them in bag, so they were exposed to air. i had them about 3 days and they both died. one was condi and the other was a sabea. i was so upset, and the lfs said they won't guarentee, so i thought i'd take this as a learning experience and get your advise.
thanks

 

[viper_930]

The air wasn't what killed them. Could be due to stress, bad water conditions, copper in your water, or they might have been unhealthy and already on the brink of death when you bought them.
Or just another thought, they might have stung each other to death. Mixing different species of anemones in a single tank is generally not a good idea.

 

[thomas712]

Your LFS didn't put them in the same bag did they?

 

[babs]

thanks for the replies,
they were put in separate bags, i acclimated them over 2 hours. I test water and do water changes so i'm not sure. I do have another questin, the only reason i got the sabea was for my percula clowns, I have a b t a for my maroon, why shouldn't i have different ones? the perc. don't like the lta and if they did the maroon wouldn't let them share anyway.they never touched each other that i know of, the one at the lfs was stuck on the glass and she pried it off, there was stuff on the glass from it, she said she didn't hurt it.??
and the sabea floated into the pencil urchin so i'm wondering if that hurt it??
thanks for the help..

 

[broncofish]

Different kinds of anemones can have little chemical wars just like corals. Although i have never heard of them stinging each other to death(usually one moves before they kill each other).
It sounds like the lfs person probably tore the foor of the condi, and I doubt your urchin killed your anemone. The could have been dying well before you brought them home.
As far as your percs go, the best true host for them is a ritteri. Unfortunately most people kill ritts with in a few weeks of buying them so i would not recomend that. They have been known to take to sabea's but I would not recomend getting one of those either. My percs eventually took to a BTA I had after a little while. It actually helped having the base of the anemone exposed, as that was the first place they started nipping.

 

[babs]

thanks,
i think i'll stick with what i have for now. i have alot of problems with anemones. my bta isn't acting right aat the time, he wants to sink in and just barely come into the light, he is staying under rock, he is still getting flow of water just not alot of light, he moved there so i'm not sure what he's doing.i'll watch him a few days and i will have water test for the other things that was on the board. I am going tomorrow to get a different wter tester kit.
thank you

 

[mombostic]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of lighting do you have?

 

[22caddy]

This isn't in the 20 you have listed is it?

 

[babs]

yes it is y 20 gallon, it's been set up since the first of the year.
my lights are my lighs are aqualight 65 watt 50/50
the lfs said this was all i needed for a 20 long tank.
i hope this is right.

 

[broncofish]

your lighting seems OK, it's the fact that you are trying to introduce different kinds of anemones and have more than one kind of clown in a tank that small. You should stick to one species of clown, and not add anymore anemones imo.

 

[babs]

i have a question. the guy at the lfs store knew i had the 2 perc. clowns when he sold me the maroon and the anemone, why wouldn't 2 different anemones make it in this tank? there seems to be plenty of room in there for them.i only have 5 fish all together.
I'm learning and the lfs store is only trying to sell me stuff i'm sure, that's why i like this message board, you guys advise people on your own personal time, so i know your telling me the truth.
thanks

 

[viper_930]

Your lighting is far from enough, less than half of what my recommended minimum is. I'd suggest you just do not try buying anymore anemones, because of the lighting and tank size. 20 gallons is small, and the water parameters in smaller tanks fluctuate much more than larger tanks, and a stable environment is crucial for anemones. And even if the anemones may be able to all fit in the tank without touching each other, they may not necessarily want to and can fight.

 

[broncofish]

Hey Viper, could you e-mail me - brix2876atyahoodotcom
I have a couple questions for you, thanks

 

[broncofish]

Hey Babs I am going to repsond to this and your anemone splitting question in the same thread. I re read your post, and if that is a single 65w than that is to little light, if it is 2X65watts than that is cool. Also your sytem sounds way to young to be housing any anemones.
As far as the splitting goes. The picture you e-mailed me looks like you anemone is actually bleached, and maybe dying, none of my anemones have ever split quite like that, and believe me I have seen quite a few anemones split. I will see if I have any pictures of a healthy split.

 

[broncofish]

Here is a picture of an anemone mid tear. They usualy don't linger, and it rarely takes more than a couple of hours.

 

[babs]

thanks for all you guys help. i'll just hae to wait it out and see what it does. He is still surrounding the rock this morning, his tenicles are still out though,
he may be bleached, i'll study buying anemones before i think about one again.I think i'll give up on them for a long time.
thanks for all the help and advise.
the box for my lights say 24 inch/65 watt
50/50 compact florescent lighting. So now i'm not sure about them either. i just got them a little over a month ago and lfs specifiaclly sold them to me for my tank, he said that i had a 20 long that my tank was short and that's all the lights i needed, if i got more it would e to much. It makes me so mad it it's not enough, i had the money that day to buy what i needed, now i'm out money and may still need more.
thanks for helping
barb

 

[broncofish]

Originally posted by babs
and lfs specifiaclly sold them to me for my tank, he said that i had a 20 long that my tank was short and that's all the lights i needed, if i got more it would e to much.
The thing about LFS's is you never know if they are giving you sound advice. For all you know this guy might not even have a saltwaterfish tank, and he is just familiar with keeping things alive for a couple days, and then selling it. You've learned a good lesson, double check everything you hear, it does not matter the source. If it comes from a board, a book, or a store, get double advice. Even moderators and members(myself included) on forums are usually just hobbyist, so double check triple check, adnquadruple check everything you can.