sea anemone... for newbies.
 

i was wondering, how hard is it to take care of a sea anemone? i've heard somethings, but i also want to know more.

1. if you already have clown fish, do you have to get a specific size anemone?

2. what type of lighting does an anemone need (for instance a bubble tip)

3. do they sting bad when you touch it? :redface:

4. is adding an anemone increase the load you have in your tank?

thanks in advance. :)

Re: sea anemone... for newbies.
 

I can answer a couple of your questions based on my own research, but I'm sure others will add to my answer soon. The short answer is yep, anemones are difficult to keep. I have tried twice and both times they died within days. I never figured out why, though the last one may have had an infection when I bought it, and the stress of the move probably led to it eventually dying. Some species are easier than others, and bubble tip anemones and long tentacle anemones seem to be agreed upon as the best ones to start with.

I would recommend doing some reading first. The following link has a fairly lengthy article about keeping anemones.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen8.html

Doing a search here or on reefcentral.com will also bring up a whole ton for you to read. A book by Joyce Wilkerson called Clownfishes also has a section on keeping anemones.

As for your specific questions (and again my answers are based on reading only and not my own experience):

1. if you already have clown fish, do you have to get a specific size anemone?

Some people report large clownfish stressing small anemones, though it was not clear if this led to serious trouble for the anemone or not.

2. what type of lighting does an anemone need (for instance a bubble tip)

You will get various answers on this one. Some people say the more the better, others say too much light will 'burn' the anemone. For a BTA, many people have said PCs or VHOs do the job.

3. do they sting bad when you touch it? :redface:

Depends on the species- but BTAs I think are ok. LTAs sting slightly but I only felt a minor pain (ok- I have experience on that one!). Apparently some species can give painful stings.

4. is adding an anemone increase the load you have in your tank?

Minimal.


Hope that helps, and I know you will get more answers from people much more qualified than I am. Good luck, I'm keen on getting another anemone myself some day, once I'm confident I can actually keep one of them alive in my tank. Another note- some people have no trouble keeping anemones even when it appears they have no idea what they are getting into. Keep that in mind with some of the advice you will see- the reading will let you know what you are getting into.

Ed