sort of lengthy but here is a part of an article:
Many hobbyist's first attempt at keeping marine fish involves the keeping of clownfish. Most are colorful, they have an
interesting swimming motion, they are inexpensive and they are relatively hardy. Soon after the purchase of their clownfish many
of those same people decide that their clownfish need an anemone. This is where many aquarist meet with their first failure.
They find that even given good water conditions and good lighting their anemone still dies six to eight months later for no
apparent reason. If the anemone does live, they may find they have a healthy clownfish and a beautiful anemone and neither one
will have anything to do with the other. In this article I hope to give you some information that will help you to avoid these
problems.
This information was gathered from over 30 aquarists like yourselves (some of them relatively famous) who have responded to
my questions via the Internet (a worldwide computer network which has bulletin board services where aquarium related
questions can by posted and answered), every clownfish host anemone book or scientific article I could get my hands on (and
there aren't very many on keeping anemones out there), and Aquarists in charge of the tropical tanks at several public
aquariums. When discussing the anemones I will give the scientific name first and then as many common names as I can before
the information. (please understand that until recently not even the scientific names had been standardized) I don't mean to imply
that my information is highly scientific; 30 people is hardly a good sampling. Hopefully those of you reading this article will be
inspired to send me your experiences even if to tell me that you have had the same experiences.
First let me offer you some general anemone keeping tips:
General
The degree to which you are successful in keeping anemones may depend a great deal on your ability to chose a healthy one
from the dealers tank. This is easier said than done. Some things are pretty obvious. Anemones with open, loose mouths,
deflated tentacles, or torn bases should be avoided. Other things may be less obvious. White transparent color in an otherwise
healthy anemone may mean that it has expelled all its zooxanthellae and that it may be perfectly fine for up to 9 months before it
gradually starts to waste away. Short stubby tentacles on an anemone that is supposed to have long thin tentacles, even though
it looks healthy otherwise, may mean it has already started to decline. If the anemone is not attached to anything in the dealers
tank, it may have difficulty attaching to something in your tank and probably won't survive long. Watch as the dealer removes
your anemone from his tank. If the anemone doesn't contract a little or react in some way, it is not a robust anemone. Lastly, if
the anemones is not at least a little sticky to the touch, it may have lost the ability to fire its stinging cells (nematocysts), which
means it will be difficult, if not impossible, to feed.
One of the unfortunate things about many of the hard to keep anemones especially, is that they seem to have a very slow
metabolism. They are very slow to let us know that they are unhappy and by the time we notice, they may already be too far
gone to help them since they are slow to react to beneficial changes too.
Clownfish host anemones all need lots of light to do well. They obtain most their nutrition from a symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae)
that lives inside their tissues. Lots of light means from 3 to 6 watts of bulb per gallon of a standard depth aquarium. That means
you need at least 4 of the longest bulbs that you can fit over your tank, usually in a ratio of 50% actinic and 50% full spectrum
bulbs.
Anemones prefer water free of organic wastes, which in most cases means you need to have an efficient protein skimmer.
Maintaining the levels of trace elements in the water by performing regular water changes or the addition of commercially
available supplements also seems to be important. Charles Delbeek mentioned that iron supplements could benefit the
zooxanthellae in the anemones. I found that the addition of CombiSan (which contains iron) seemed to help my sebae anemone
regain its color. Moderate current, in addition to clean water, helps exchange needed elements and rid the anemone of waste
products. Some of the more delicate anemones seem to prefer higher temperatures in the range of 78-80 F and pH in a
consistent range of 8.2-8.4.
Feeding your anemone
Feeding can range from 3 times a week to once every 2 weeks. Some aquarists have had success not directly feeding their
anemones at all, although I suspect their anemones are capturing food that is meant for the fish. Food usually consists of a piece
of raw shrimp about the size of the anemone's mouth. Lance fish, silversides, clams, scallops and other frozen marine organisms
can also be used, but I find them more messy. A large bag of peeled and deveined shrimp can be obtained from one of the
local discount supermarkets and may last many, many months and has the added advantage of being fit for human consumption.
Liquid foods and Target foods may actually be harmful to your anemones directly (several aquarists stated that their anemones
started to die as soon as they began to use liquid target foods) and indirectly though degradation of your water quality.
The jury is still out on vitamins. I could not find any common thread in my data that would point towards them being helpful or
harmful. My suggestion would be to use them sparingly, or not at all.
