Please help with anenome question

[camillo]

i got a bta about 4 months ago for my clowns. they still havnt taken to it, and i know that can take a while and may not ever happen, but thats not my problem. my problem is that i dont think it looks healthy. i feed it about once a week with small pieces of frozen shrimp. it moved around alot during the early days i got it, but it has really settled down in the spot that its in now, so i dont know what else i can do to help it, or even if it is unhealthy, thats why i got some pics, like i just think it should look less 'sloppy' the tenticles seem to be long and thin, and it dosnt seem to have any bubbles on its tips, and it is a bta, sometimes i even wonder if the lfs sold me the right anenome and if it even is a bta or something else. any help would be much appreciated.

 

[kjohansen]

What kind of lighting are you using? Are all your readings on the tank good?
Anemones are hard to keep, not impossible. If you could post a little more info that would be great. I agree your inverte is not looking the best.

 

[camillo]

im not really an expert on lighting, but i noe my lights are called t5's, i really cant be anymore specific cause thats all i know about em. as for my water paremeters, which i do know alot more about, everything is perfect, i do regular water checks and its all fine. i really want to seek advice from here before i go back to my lfs because quite frankly i dont think they got very smart people working there and you guys here seem abit more knowledgable.

 

[kjohansen]

That anemone really need MH (metal Halide) lights to be healthy. T5's just don't have enough of a light spectrum to provide what the animal needs.
How big of a tank??

 

[camillo]

its only a nano tank 24 gallons, see i thought being a bta it would abit hardier and go pretty good wit t5s

 

[kjohansen]

BTA's love lots of light!
Do you have a lot of fish in the tank?
BTA's love a good flow of water over them too. If it is not moving it might like where it is, at least for now.
I am going to setup a nano tank soon. I am leaning towards the Aquapod 24 with 150wt MH light.

 

[camillo]

i got 2 clowns a sixline wrasse and a coral beauty, but as for water flow, i dont have much, maybe that could be one of my problems, u rekon a power head could help abit.

 

[kjohansen]

It would not hurt. Water movement in a reef tank is essential.

 

[murph]

Anemone looks like a condalactys (sp?) not a BTA to me. clowns will rarely host in it. Also a less expensive species than a BTA so if you were sold as such and paid more you may want to start asking some questions down at the LFS.

 

[camillo]

the thing is that btas are readily available in australia and very cheap compared to other anenomes condalactys on the other hand i have never seen for sale in an lfs here, this is the first ive ever heard of them. in saying that im really angry about this because i was really hopeful of having my clowns host something, so now how the hell do i get rid of it withouht hurting it?

 

[trippkid]

What kind of clowns are they. If they are Perculas they won't ever swim in it. The bubble tips usually disappear as the animal get older. I feed the two I've had for 1 1/2 years, 2 or 3 times a week.

 

[camillo]

yeah they are perculars, thanks for that, i knew i might be harder to get them to host, but i didnt think it would be next to impossible, they do however look at it with what seems to be good intentions sometimes. wat anenome do you recommend for perculars?

 

[trippkid]

A carpet anenome. I'll give some more info in a little bit, I have family over for brunch today, sorry.
Matt

 

[jlem]

Are your clowns tank raised or wild caught. Tank raised have a rep for not hosting since they never have been around an anename.

 

[georgev845]

Originally Posted by KJohansen
BTA's love lots of light!
Do you have a lot of fish in the tank?
BTA's love a good flow of water over them too. If it is not moving it might like where it is, at least for now.
I am going to setup a nano tank soon. I am leaning towards the Aquapod 24 with 150wt MH light.
well in my case my tank isnt too deep say 16-20''? roughly and after assimilating (it i have 1 power head and about 135w of lighting for a 45g) and when i put it in the middle after a while my anemone went to the back of the tank and its foot is in a crevice behind a rock. Doing well though.

 

[trippkid]

Sorry, it is a day later, carpet anenomes are more difficult to keep than bubble tips. I guess I should say never, but highly unlikely the percs will host it. I've seen them host some diff LPS corals though(bubbles, hammers, frogspawn, etc.) the carpet will need strong lighting, good water flow, and space. It will sting other anenomes, corals, needs plenty of space if you can keep it alive, can grow big. Can also sting you also, some people do have reactions to it, very sticky too. Be Careful when handling, I guess that goes with everything, you just never know.

 

[sexyfishers]

that loooks like a long tenticle anemone to me. I have a green bta and it did take a couple of months to get its bubble tips back from the time I introduced it into the tank. I have read that it can take longer. For a bta, you do not have to have halides. As long as you have strong pc's you are fine. I know someone who has less than t5's and she has a georgeous nano full of corals. flow is the main concern when it comes to anemones and also water quality. I also recently read if your anemone is not doing too good in order to bring it back to health, you should feed it daily. Go meaty one day and the next day shoot some plankton towards its mouth with a small medicine dropper. You will notice big changes in about a week.