What is up with my anemone? Please help.

[acrid]

Well, I'd like to try to see if I can help the anemone recover. If the anemone lasts that long, I think what I will do is put the clown into my sump/refugium when it comes this week. My husband wants to get a small Nano for his desk at work, so perhaps the clown could live in the refugium until that is set up?
If the anemone were to recover, is it big enough to host a clown at all? If the maroon ends up going to my husband's work, could we get a new, smaller clownfish? I actually wanted a black clown, and I have seen teeny little orange clowns at the LFS.
Also, could someone please post safe/ideal parameters for the things you test your tank for?
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Salinity
- Phosphates
- Alkalinity
- Calcium
- Ph
- Ammonia
- Anything else you should be testing for (these are all the tests I have)
Thanks.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by Acrid
http:///forum/post/2545639
Well, I'd like to try to see if I can help the anemone recover. If the anemone lasts that long, I think what I will do is put the clown into my sump/refugium when it comes this week. My husband wants to get a small Nano for his desk at work, so perhaps the clown could live in the refugium until that is set up?
If the anemone were to recover, is it big enough to host a clown at all? If the maroon ends up going to my husband's work, could we get a new, smaller clownfish? I actually wanted a black clown, and I have seen teeny little orange clowns at the LFS.
Also, could someone please post safe/ideal parameters for the things you test your tank for?
- Nitrate0 is target, 5 to 20 is tolerable, anything higher should be addressed. IMO
- Nitrite 0 A must
- Salinity A workable range from 1.024 to 1.027
- Phosphates 0
- Alkalinity 3.5Meq/L
- Calcium 400 to 450 stay away from the mid 500's
- Ph 8.0 to 8.4
- Ammonia 0 a must
- Anything else you should be testing for (these are all the tests I have) Anything you are considering dosing.
Thanks.
That would be fine. As for a smaller clown to host. A true perc is always a good choice, and so is the ocellaris. I would search for a wild caught one no matter what. They are not as hardy but their success rate in hosting is much higher.

 

[acrid]

Perfect Dark,
I read through your wonderful biocube (or nano, I don't remember) diary. What do you dose/add to your tank (if anything)?
The supplements we have been adding are (& their descriptions):
- SeaChem Reef Builder (raises carbonate alkalinity)
- SeaChem Reef Buffer (raises pH to 8.3)
- SeaChem Complete (raises calcium, maintains magnesium & stronium)
- Kent Marine Coral-Vite (general variety of vitamins & minerals I guess)
- Kent Marine Iron
The quality of water has seemed to have improved in the last few days. When we bought the rock with the Devil's Hand & Elephant Ears, the rock was covered in dark green, purple & maroon coraline algae. A few days later that all turned white, I was told because of the hardness of the water. We've been doing the additives for about a week and a half, and today I noticed a lot more coraline over most of my rocks.
Thanks for all the help, everyone. I am trying!

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by Acrid
http:///forum/post/2546164
Perfect Dark,
I read through your wonderful biocube (or nano, I don't remember) diary. What do you dose/add to your tank (if anything)?
The supplements we have been adding are (& their descriptions):
- SeaChem Reef Builder (raises carbonate alkalinity)
- SeaChem Reef Buffer (raises pH to 8.3)
- SeaChem Complete (raises calcium, maintains magnesium & stronium)
- Kent Marine Coral-Vite (general variety of vitamins & minerals I guess)
- Kent Marine Iron
The quality of water has seemed to have improved in the last few days. When we bought the rock with the Devil's Hand & Elephant Ears, the rock was covered in dark green, purple & maroon coraline algae. A few days later that all turned white, I was told because of the hardness of the water. We've been doing the additives for about a week and a half, and today I noticed a lot more coraline over most of my rocks.
Thanks for all the help, everyone. I am trying!

Thanks, I do not dose anything and never have... thats why my advice was to maintain a weekly regiment of 10 to 15% water changes. They are cheaper than dosing is to begin with. And secondly dosing can be very very dangerous to your tank. Especially if your not testing your levels. High levels of calcium can lower your pH raise your alk or vise versa, create carbonate percipitation and eventually crash a tank. This sounds like a lot but believe me it isnt and in a small tank it can happen very very quickly. That is another reason why I strongly recomended that if you are going to dose anything test for it first.
Ideal levels of all trace elements are your goal, having more of them isnt going to help you more, but it will hurt you.

 

[acrid]

Well, last night the anemone looked great after feeding it. So today a call was made to the LFS, & we are going to return the maroon clown. Now the problem is getting the dang fish out! I spent an hour earlier with my arms in the tank up to my armpits trying to get him out, to no avail. Will try again when the husband gets home later on.
So once the lil fishy is gone, I am going to see how the anemone fairs. If it improves, I will eventually get another clown. So now I need a suggestion. I prefer the all black ones, but an orange one would be fine as long as it has lots of black in the stripes. The LFS had one black clown, but it wasn't all black, it had an orange tint to it. It also wasn't as small as I would prefer to get to start again with the anemone.
My next question is, how fast do anemones grow? If I get a tiny little clown now (like 1" - 2"?), would it quickly get big enough to be a harassment to the anemone?
Thanks again.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by Acrid
http:///forum/post/2549189
Well, last night the anemone looked great after feeding it. So today a call was made to the LFS, & we are going to return the maroon clown. Now the problem is getting the dang fish out! I spent an hour earlier with my arms in the tank up to my armpits trying to get him out, to no avail. Will try again when the husband gets home later on.
So once the lil fishy is gone, I am going to see how the anemone fairs. If it improves, I will eventually get another clown. So now I need a suggestion. I prefer the all black ones, but an orange one would be fine as long as it has lots of black in the stripes. The LFS had one black clown, but it wasn't all black, it had an orange tint to it. It also wasn't as small as I would prefer to get to start again with the anemone.
My next question is, how fast do anemones grow? If I get a tiny little clown now (like 1" - 2"?), would it quickly get big enough to be a harassment to the anemone?
Thanks again.
Under the correct conditions anemones like BTA's, carpets and LTA's can grow very fast in a short amount of time.
The black clownfish are more than likley Black and White ocellaris, typically tank raised and if thats the case more difficult to get to host, IMO. The Orange clowns that have more black inbetween their stripes are most likley true percs, more often seen wild caught. Both species are noted to be much more gentle when hosting. The Black and white ocellaris in its juvenille stages has more orange tint to it, once it matures the orange is only seen on its face and when adult hood is reached the entire fish is black and white. You may also want to look at Black Saddle back clowns, very cool fish also not as an aggressive host, one of my personal favorites actually.

 

[acrid]

Well, we were unable to catch the clownfish. Many tactics were tried, but that fish is apparently either very smart or very lucky. Instead, we returned the anemone to the LFS today.
Thanks again for all your help.

 

[tj51]

I would watch your water, if it doesn't spike then don't worry about it...having said that I was guilty of stocking to early and lost a lot of fish. If your anemone is not doing well, I might not jump to returning the clown. It could help the anemone. Looking at your thread, I'm wondering if when you moved the anemone, you damaged his foot. I've had a few anemones and have learned to leave em alone as they will go where they want anyway. Actually your's didn't look all that bad. I had a sebae that would wilt daily and then come back when he was ready, and my bubble tip exposes his mouth some. They are strange animals and can be scary as often they look like they are doing poorly.

 

[acrid]

Yeah, we returned that anemone to the fish store. The fish was too big & inadvertently killing it. The fish is so, so sad though. And is possibly tearing his fins by swimming/rubbing to close against the rocks.
Perfect Dark: What do you think about an anemone like this? I could buy this exact anemone. It is 5 1/2" according to the website. From how dark it's coloring is, I am assuming it has lots of those plant-like cells inside it, so wouldn't that mean it is a very healthy anemone? Also, would that size be big enough to accommodate my clown?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[perfectdark]

That is a rose bubble tip anemone... and yes from the picture it is extremly healthy. I do have to ask, how much are they charging you for it?
As for a good host for your maroon? Im not sure I know how big your maroon is. But if your fish is 1" to 1-1/2" long, then yes its appropriatly matched in size. If your fish is 2+ inches you may have issues.
Rose bubble tips are more difficult to come by, because of their color they are also 2 to 3 times more expensive depending on size than a normal bubble tip is. If treated properly and given the correct conditions to live under they can help supplement your hobby for a while by selling their clones when they split. Just as an FYI....
If there is a question on weather or not the clown will kill it, my advice would be to relocate the clown and make preparations for the anemone.

 

[acrid]

My fish is about 2 - 2 1/4" inches from nose to fin tip.
The website sells these from their "what you see is what you get" section. The price for rose bubbles (all 5 1/2") is $149. I have looked at other online retailers and seen rose bubble tips from $99 up to $189. The price locally seems to run around $120. I like ones like this more than the ones I typically see, because I prefer the dark maroon coloring (and that is even better that it is a sign of good health!). So I would be willing to pay a bit more to make sure I got one with coloring I like. But is that to exorbitant a price? Am I a fool (yes I am, but specifically in this case)?
I haven't bought it yet obviously, am I'm not worried about it selling because they would get more in & I can wait to get something I like. I would love to get rid of this dang fish, but she proved difficult to catch & my husband really likes her. *sigh* She is so sad without her anemone buddy though.
Side note, I checked on the green bubble I returned yesterday while I was at the LFS today, and it looks great. So it really was the dang fish that was the issue.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by Acrid
http:///forum/post/2554649
My fish is about 2 - 2 1/4" inches from nose to fin tip.
The website sells these from their "what you see is what you get" section. The price for rose bubbles (all 5 1/2") is $149. I have looked at other online retailers and seen rose bubble tips from $99 up to $189. The price locally seems to run around $120. I like ones like this more than the ones I typically see, because I prefer the dark maroon coloring (and that is even better that it is a sign of good health!). So I would be willing to pay a bit more to make sure I got one with coloring I like. But is that to exorbitant a price? Am I a fool (yes I am, but specifically in this case)?
I haven't bought it yet obviously, am I'm not worried about it selling because they would get more in & I can wait to get something I like. I would love to get rid of this dang fish, but she proved difficult to catch & my husband really likes her. *sigh* She is so sad without her anemone buddy though.
Side note, I checked on the green bubble I returned yesterday while I was at the LFS today, and it looks great. So it really was the dang fish that was the issue.
The more sought after colors for bta's are the rose. The difficulty in picking a healthy specimine is due to the vast shades these are found in. So its important to identify a healthy specimine and determine what is bleaching and what is a variation of color. The more rare the higher the price... Your in the range of prices I have seen them go for. Ones that are more dull in color will be less money. Mine looks identicle to the one in your pic, but I pretty much stole it, considering what I paid.

 

[acrid]

Yeah, I have seen a lot of variation in the rose bubble tips looking online. Colors ranging from a pinkish orange, to bright pink, to that maroon. And I really prefer the darker ones. So that's great for a newbie like me, because I won't have to worry about it being dyed or bleached or anything. And that site I was looking at prices all their rose's at that same price point, regardless of shade. I guess they are basing it on the size.
So in your opinion, do you think that since an anemone that dark is very healthy that that would increase my chances that it could handle my fish? The guy at my LFS said 5 1/2" should be more than big enough for my fish. But I have learned to ask before I act in relation to my tank, which is why I now have like, 4 questions posted in various threads!

 

[perfectdark]

I would say its border line, if its a real aggressive hosting clown, then you may be in trouble. If its just moderatly loving towards the anem your chances are better.

 

[tj51]

I had a BIG clown who was rough with an anemone and the anemone was ok (but the rest of the tank wasn't so I gave her (the clown) away. Bought a gold striped maroon much smaller who loves the anemone but is much smaller. I heard the rule of thumb was that the anemone needs to be at least twice as large as the clown.
As far as the rose anemone, I saw one at LFS this weekend and they are beautiful; however, spending this amount online would scare me. I would talk personally to someone at the online store and get a description before shelling out the bucks. But again, they are very cool looking.

 

[perfectdark]

I was one of the lucky ones that bought mine a about a year ago for $30.00 LOL. The LFS guy had no clue exactly what he had...
Now my clown goby loves his home...

For refrence Anemones can look different depending on what they are doing at the time. The above pic shows my anemone fully inflated and not as Dark Rose as some pics show. But when deflated it looks like you would expect one to look.

Depending on how the seller wants to show off his anemone, pics of same anemone can look very different.
The 2 pics above are the same anemone, and I have another that shows it looking different than those pics too.

 

[acrid]

Thank you so much for your advice. I was at a different LFS last night & they were selling a "bubble" anemone that was beige-ish brown with purple tips. He checked & made sure it was a sebae. I don't know what he meant by "bubble" because I don't think it looked like any other bubble tip I've seen... Anyway, it was only $50. It was pretty good sized, like 5 or 6". My husband wanted to get it, but I talked him out of it because he got to choose the demon fish, I get to choose the anemone.
I will be sure to show you when I ever do purchase one. Now it is just a waiting game.

 

[srgvigil]

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents
95 percent of the time LFS are only interested in making sales or they are not as knowledgable as you think they are and make uneducated decisions
I use to think my LFS would never steer me wrong
Two huge things that have happend have really lowered how I look to them
1)saying that PC lighting is good enough for a anemone and selling me one (I was stupid enough and rooky enough to fall for this)
2) I told him that my Blue Hippo died in quarantine from ich just to tell him. He said next time just put him in the tank right when you get him
Heres a hint: Get all your information from experienced people here on tese boards and go into the lfs knowing what your going to get
It will save you alot of money and anguish

 

[acrid]

I know, that is why I asked many questions before even thinking about getting another anemone, and even then, checking for approval.
Perfect Dark is now my tank-mentor. I hope I don't become a nuisance!
My LFS sold me antibiotics for my tank when I told them my maroon clown suddenly has chunks missing from his fins. But to give them credit, they didn't see the pictures I took. And a newbie tank could have bacteria. So...

 

[tj51]

Be careful with a sebae. My wilted daily and looked awful. My bubble-tip on the otherhand occasionally will withdraw it's tenacles, but very rarely and only for a short time. I've been to quite a few LFS and all the sebaes look wilted. As stated, I love the pink if you can find a good one. (but in the Dallas stores they are $100+)