The Ups and Downs of Anemones
- Thread starter broncofish
- Start date
broomer5
Active Member
May 15, 2003 - this month.
It's growing.
It has not retracted for months.
Even at night it is fully extended.
It eats often.
Water parameters are closely monitored.
Lighting is strong and long.
Tentacles are very sticky to the touch and it "seems" to be doing better now.
Spent a LOT of money on tank upgrades - lighting and fuge.
940 watts of mixed VHO actinic and 50/50's and 10,000K Ushio metal halide. That's over 12 watts per gallon if you are inclined to follow that meaningless rule of thumb.
Handfeeding it often, and being very picky regarding my tankwater conditions.
I take care of the tankwater and do water changes regularly.
It's not a choice anymore - it's just a habit.
I still would not recommend buying one, but I know people will continue to buy them if they are available for sale.
How long it will live is still an unknown to me.
I hope it continues to grow and remains healthy.
From what I've read though ....... it sounds like there are more downs than ups.
I will not buy another one - but I will do what I can to keep this one alive.
It's growing.
It has not retracted for months.
Even at night it is fully extended.
It eats often.
Water parameters are closely monitored.
Lighting is strong and long.
Tentacles are very sticky to the touch and it "seems" to be doing better now.
Spent a LOT of money on tank upgrades - lighting and fuge.
940 watts of mixed VHO actinic and 50/50's and 10,000K Ushio metal halide. That's over 12 watts per gallon if you are inclined to follow that meaningless rule of thumb.
Handfeeding it often, and being very picky regarding my tankwater conditions.
I take care of the tankwater and do water changes regularly.
It's not a choice anymore - it's just a habit.
I still would not recommend buying one, but I know people will continue to buy them if they are available for sale.
How long it will live is still an unknown to me.
I hope it continues to grow and remains healthy.
From what I've read though ....... it sounds like there are more downs than ups.
I will not buy another one - but I will do what I can to keep this one alive.
sammystingray
Active Member
I suppose I should clarify....my point is that if you are on a level where you have to ask what lights an anemone needs....you shouldn't buy one...when you have no more questions, then perhaps try. The hobby had to start somewhere, and many many now "easy" to keep corals were killed as people learned years ago....how else?? If not for the people that originally tried to keep mushrooms and kept killing them....we wouldn't know how to keep them now. Things are a little different now, and information travels faster, wider, and it is more accurate. Some folks don't realize how new the hobby is.....as little as 15 years ago, some scientists still were saying that corals could NEVER be kept long term. Another difference is that back when the hobby started, not many people bothered......now when we kill gonioporas and anemones, it is mass killings. So many more people are getting into it, and many buy whatever looks good...could care less to learn much about them. The fact people come here AFTER buying a pet, and ask "what does it eat" does not escape my attention. Knowing about zooxanthellae and how it works with the coral animal and such, knowing how and why creatures sting, knowing even how they poop are basic things that I believe people should know BEFORE buying an anemone...so yeah, come here to learn, but don't run out and buy one. People throw anemones in the garbage when they poop! We have all seen it several times if you've been here long enough.....so yeah, if you have to ask what lights it needs, which I consider the most absolute basic question about anemones, then you are most probably missing A LOT of information about anemones that should be known. I don't consider myself knowledgable enough to keep one and benefit the hobby much from its death, and I don't think most anemone deaths do any good. There are people with the knowledge and know how that are trying to figure out why we have trouble with them.....I will leave it to them to figure it out. Sure they are going to kill them as well, but their experiences are written down, studied, and will hopefully benefit us all until we CAN keep these guys long term.......as in "out live us" like they are supposed to. Progress IS being made, but I still am not going to tell people to buy them. I may have suggested it a few years ago, but the number of deaths is out of control any more since so many new people are joining the hobby every day. I think it is great new people are becoming interested, but that is even more reason to keep down the number of animals our hobby kills as best we can. We all have deaths, but some are senseless and could have been avoided. If you don't know what zooxanthellae is, then don't buy an anemone. If you don't realize that the anemone itself doesn't photosynthesize, then don't buy an anemone. If you feel the need that you must have one, then learn all you can and fully understand them atleast before you buy one..... just my opinion anyway...we all have thoughts on the matter, mine have changed this past year.
broncofish
Active Member
Broomer, wrassecal, and all the others thanks for sharing the information about your anemone experiance. For all the people who are new to the board and SWF in general I think the overwhelming thing about most of the stories is....We would not get another one, ~Broomer has years of experiance and an awesome filtration and he would not get another~ ~Wrassecal has an awesome tank(have not seen any pictures of the new one yet ) and also plenty of experiance and would not get another one~ ~ I would not have one if not for the tank bred BTA, that I made a three way trade(buddy rescued ritteri, wanted my bubble tip, thought I might be able to help the ritteri)~
Sammy, I think you and I are in agreement, except I really want the newbies and such to see just how much people go through to have minimal to even normal amounts of success. If they still insist on buying one maybe they will see the real requirments The only place where I think we differ is... Experaince aquarists that want to keep an anemone is cool with me...as long as they seek out tank bred, and make every attempt possible to set up breeding conditions. I was right in the middle of setting up my 90g tank for tank raised seahorses...Now I am putting a 400w 20,000k MH over one side, and an insane amount of vho over the other, and putting nothing but a cleanup crew, the anemone and a clownfish family in my tank. Won't be as pretty as the SH, but maybe I can get it to split, or at least keep it alive and healthy as long as possible...I guess I'm just trying to say that if we keep telling people don't get them, but yet at an alarming rate people are getting them well I guess it's not working.
Krux not insulted at all, I realized after I posted it that putting the sticky in there was stupid, especially with something as controversial as anemones.
Sammy, I think you and I are in agreement, except I really want the newbies and such to see just how much people go through to have minimal to even normal amounts of success. If they still insist on buying one maybe they will see the real requirments The only place where I think we differ is... Experaince aquarists that want to keep an anemone is cool with me...as long as they seek out tank bred, and make every attempt possible to set up breeding conditions. I was right in the middle of setting up my 90g tank for tank raised seahorses...Now I am putting a 400w 20,000k MH over one side, and an insane amount of vho over the other, and putting nothing but a cleanup crew, the anemone and a clownfish family in my tank. Won't be as pretty as the SH, but maybe I can get it to split, or at least keep it alive and healthy as long as possible...I guess I'm just trying to say that if we keep telling people don't get them, but yet at an alarming rate people are getting them well I guess it's not working.
Krux not insulted at all, I realized after I posted it that putting the sticky in there was stupid, especially with something as controversial as anemones.
wrassecal
Active Member
Broomer5 - awesome picture documentation of your anenome
Broncofish - I think this is a great thread that is going to get a lot of good information out there. There are some pics of my new tank in photography but it's already changed a lot. I'm waiting for diatoms to clear up before posting any more.
I did lose one anenome, it was a pink tipped haitian condy that totally disappeared about a year ago, would not buy another one, shouldn't have bought that one. They tend to wander around the tank a lot, swell to the size of a plate and shrink to the size of a golf ball. Even though they are cheap and highly available, that is one anenome that I'm sorry to say I learned to avoid the hard way.
Broncofish - I think this is a great thread that is going to get a lot of good information out there. There are some pics of my new tank in photography but it's already changed a lot. I'm waiting for diatoms to clear up before posting any more.
I did lose one anenome, it was a pink tipped haitian condy that totally disappeared about a year ago, would not buy another one, shouldn't have bought that one. They tend to wander around the tank a lot, swell to the size of a plate and shrink to the size of a golf ball. Even though they are cheap and highly available, that is one anenome that I'm sorry to say I learned to avoid the hard way.
sammystingray
Active Member
What do you consider thriving Mistylab. You are saying that it thrived, and this may lead folks to buy one, so please share your tank specs and let us know how long you've had it.....I doubt it thrived......how long did youh have it? What lights? what else in the tank? etc etc.
sammystingray
Active Member
Splitting anemones in our tanks is actually a very good sign, and it does show hope for anemone keeping in general.....once, they couldn't even be kept, but now we are seeing them actually reproduce in our tanks. Splitting can actually be considered a success. I still hate to see people buying them, and knowing little about their care......Every store I visit has various corals showing up from time to time, sometimes they have one, sometimes a different one, but it never fails that a LFS has an anemone of some sort. They are cool looking, and people want one as a cool and natural host to their clown......they are just way harder to keep long term than new people think......I can't even imagine the number of anemones that die weekly in this hobby. I am simply saying that I won't recommend them.
sammystingray
Active Member
Gonis usually last 12-18 months when happy....can't claim even moderate success until after that. Most reproduction in gonis seems to be more polyp bail out than a reproduction of a healthy coral...they don't drop polyps in nature usually as far as I know.....wouldn't spread too far that way. Could be wrong though.
broncofish
Active Member
Originally posted by tangsfornuttin
The 2 anemones are looking fine but are favoring the shade rather than staying out in the light.
LEt me guess 10,000k MH. For some reason bubble tips seem to get burned easily, more people have reported success with 6500k, especially with the ritteris. Sammy said it right, it's a good thing they are splitting, but still sad that we lose I'm going to throw out a guess 500 anemones a week, in poor shipping, new tanks, poor lighting etc......I feel better about the message sent with this thread, now people see some nice looking anemones, some sad stories, and the pain that peopl have to go through to have moderate success.
broncofish
Active Member
Originally posted by tangsfornuttin
YOu're right - good guess.
But to say that the 6500s would burn them less? I was under the impression that the 6500s gave off more power per watt?
That is my understanding also, which I'm trying to figure out is the spectrum thing. Quite possible the 10,000k which are a little more blue could seem a little more intense than the yellow/white of the 6,500k.
broncofish
Active Member
Originally posted by ReefNut
Something I didn't realize was the way anemones move around. I had one for a while and it would move ever so often and almost destroy every coral in its path.
I saw a small Carpet destroying a xenia stalk at the LFS I go to, he just let it go because he did not feel like getting stung by the carpet
It looked like the carpet had the xenia in a death grip.