New Atlantic Anemone - Does he sting?

johnny5

Member
2x96w csl pc, 46 bow (1x10k/1x03 actinic, not the crappy 7k blue blub). Some people would even say that what I have is not sufficent. Both of my anemones were bleached when I got them and both have made a full turn around and are very dark in color now (my LTA was very close to death, it took about a month for the zooxanthellae to start growing back). Both of them like it near the bottom (lta's like the sand) and now eat like pigs. Without zooxanthellae anemones will starve to death.
Its a coin toss as to if a maroon will host it. The condy will probably accept it even tho its not natural (there are no clownfish in the atlantic). Its up to the maroon if it takes interest or not. I think your chances of getting a maroon to host it are pretty good tho.
My tomatos were hosting it the first day I put them in. Now the clowns and 3dots share the condy during the day, then at night the female kicks everyone out. And the male tomato sleeps in the lta (the lta gets no love during the day).
Just a tip, try feeding your anemone every day (very small amounts) until it gets some color back. I started feeding with frozen brine plus at first, thats seemed to kick start my lta's appetite. It would not eat anything else at first and with a baster I could put the brine right near its mouth. Squid is another type of food that is easier for them to eat initally... Siversides and krill are good, but make sure you cut up the pieces well and remove the clear shell from the krill... Good luck, condys are very hardy so I dont think you will have many problems. Just keep it eating and let it find its own spot, if its not happy it will start to roam.
Lastly, not to jump on the bandwagon but I do agree that your hippo tang is going to start getting stressed more the larger that it gets. They are a fish that needs a lot of space to swim, in the ocean they roam for very long distances. I think swimming space is more of a problem than bioload.. The longer the tank the better with tangs.
sorry for such a long post...
 

viper_930

Active Member
Do not feed every day. Just feed the anemone every other day. Over feeding will lead to bad water quality.
 

marvida

Member
In reference to the condy stinging: I don't know what the deal is but when I had one I touched it several times when cleaning the glass without any problems and then once when doing some basic maintainence instead of just sticking to my arm it stung. Red lines appeared almost immediately where the tentacles touched. The iching was fairly interesting & lasted 2 or 3 days and the red lines stayed for a couple of weeks. I may have developed an allergy or something, I don't know, but I didn't touch it again after that.
 
Z

zandriab

Guest
As to keeping my whale clean, I pull it out every month and bleach it. Before I put it in the tank I coated the whole thing with apoxy so it doesn't effect the paint at all.
As to getting rid of fish, I don't think (no, I know I couldn't) get rid of them. My butterfly and flame eat right out of my hand with even the smallest piece of food! They aren't afraid of me at all. When I put my hand in my tank, the butterfly is always swimming around it in a little circle checking to see if I have any food. And all my fish come right to the front when I walk in the room. If I look at the side of my tank, they all are plastered about 2 inches from the glass right in front of my face. If I move to the front they follow me there too!
I will take the advice to future purchases though. (I'll cut future inhabitants) But just curious, If my amonia, nitrite/nitrate levels are always fine, how am I overtaxing the system? All my fish seem to get along great, no territorial problems or anything!
Thanks for all the help.
 

johnny5

Member
Viper, I didn't say to feed everyday forever lol. I usually only feed my anemones once or twice a week tops. I was just talking about initally, it seemed to help that I fed my lta very small amounts everyday for about a week.. until it started getting sticky and responsive again. Obviously overfeeding will cause problems.. It was just a suggestion. One thing to note: the condy never had a problem eating, its a fricking pig.
Marvida, you right. Its probably a small alergic reation to the sting. I have touched my condy many times, I have never experienced redness or anything. I could see the small transparent quills so it was infact stinging me, just no reaction from it.
If your levels are find, then your system is able to absorb the bioload of your fish. So bioload isn't the problem.. Its more of the fact that a tang will not get enough excercise and will eventually start wasting away when it gets larger. Of course there are exceptions.. but if statistics say that some fish do better in larger tanks, you have to take that into consideration.
Im not the tang police and im not even telling you to get rid of anything either, everyone has to make their own decisions. Being an informed hobbist is a responsibility tho.
Good luck! :happyfish
 
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