Anemone Survival?

[Diana]

My anenome after 2 weeks shrunk up, bleached, lost all its tenatcles, and hid in a crack for 3 months. I thought it was a goner. Then one day it appeared, I "nursed" it back to health, and now several years later it has split many times and is in perfect health. I have no idea what happened or why, but all I know is anenomes are weird creatures and that they certianly can live a long time in a reef tank.

[Chad]

Had my RBTA for atleast 4 years.. Has been through hell and back and is as gorgeous as ever..

[ed99]

A couple of comments on this from my experience and reading comments through the years. First, certain types of anemones are more likely than others to survive in captivity. To paraphrase another comment, there are three types of anemone- difficult, more difficult, and impossible.

In my own experience I have been able to keep BTA's healthy and growing once I had sufficient light (I have HO T5s). I currently have a GBTA and a RBTA that started as small bleached creatures and are now a good size with a good dark brown colour. With good stable, water quality, sufficient light, spot feeding and protection from powerheads anemones can live a long time. Captive bred anemones are easier to find nowadays and is a good place to start as suggested in an earlier comment.