ANEMONE CARE AND TIPS

Choosing Your Next Anemone

Many hobbyists first attempt at keeping marine fish involves the keeping of clown fish. Most are colorful, they have an interesting swimming motion, they are inexpensive and they are relatively hardy. Soon after the purchase of their clown fish many of the same people decide that their clown fish needs an anemone. This is where many aquarist meet with their first failure. They find that even given good water conditions and good lighting their anemone still dies after six to eight months later for no apparent reason. If the anemone does live, they find they have a healthy clown fish and a beautiful anemone and neither one will have anything to do with each other.

General

The degree to which you are successful in keeping anemones may depend a great deal on your ability to choose a healthy one from your dealers tank. This is easier said than done. Some things are pretty obvious. Anemones with open, loose mouths, deflated tentacles, torn bases should be avoided. Other things may be less obvious. White transparent color in a otherwise healthy anemone may mean that it has expelled it's zooxanthelae and that it may be perfectly fine for up to 9 months before it gradually starts to waste away. Short stubby tentacles on an anemone that is supposed to have long thin tentacles, even though it looks healthy otherwise, may mean it has already started to decline. If the anemone is not attached to anything in the dealers tank, it may have difficulty attaching to something in your tank and probably won't survive long. Watch as the dealer removes the anemone from his tank. If the anemone doesn't contract a little or react in some way, it is not a robust anemone. Lastly, if the anemone is not at least sticky to the touch, it may have lost the ability to fire it's stinging cells, which means it will be difficult, if not impossible, to feed.

One of the unfortunate things about many of the hard to keep anemones especially, is that they seem to have a very slow metabolism. The are very slow to let us know that they are unhappy and by the time we notice, they may already be too far gone to help them since they are slow to react to beneficial changes also.

Clown fish host anemones all need lots of light to do well. They obtain most of their nutrition from symbiotic algae that lives inside their tissue. Lots of light means 3 to 6 watts per gallon, of a standard depth aquarium. You should also mix the bulbs to get a 50 / 50 ratio of actinic and full spectrum lighting.

Anemones prefer water free of organic wastes, which in most cases means you need to have an efficient protein skimmer. Maintaining the levels of trace elements in the water by performing regular water changes or the addition of commercially available supplements also seems to be important. Moderate current, in addition to clean water, helps exchange needed elements and rid the anemone of waste products. Some of the more delicate anemones seem to prefer higher temperatures in the range of 78° - 80° F and a pH in a consistent range of 8.2 - 8.4 pH.

Feeding your anemone

Feeding can range from 3 times a week to every 2 weeks. Some aquarists have had success not directly feeding their anemones at all, although the anemones could be catching food meant for fish. Food usually consists of a piece of raw shrimp about the size of the anemone's mouth. Silver sides, clams, scallops and other frozen marine organisms can also be used. But they are more messy. A large bag of peeled and divided shrimp can be obtained from one of the local supermarkets and may last a very long time, and has the advantage of being fit for human consumption Liquid foods and target foods may actually be harmful to your anemones directly, and indirectly through degradation of the water quality of the aquarium.

Easier to keep anemones

Stichodactyla haddoni, Saddle Carpet, Saddle back anemone, Haddoni anemone. This anemone is often not distinguished from other carpets in dealers tanks. The tentacles are short and knobby and usually densely packed. There is usually a reddish to pinkish ring around the mouth that isn't present on carpets. Groups of tentacles on the same anemone may be of different colors forming a striped pattern on the anemone. If not striped they are usually a grayish green, although bright greens, yellows and even blues are sometimes seen.

Good points - This may be the easiest anemone to keep for longer periods of time. Light levels for soft corals and commonly kept hard corals is enough. Reasonable nitrate levels for fish seem to be OK for this anemone. Nitrate levels up to 30 ppm don't seem to bother it. They will grow faster however with better water quality.

Bad points - This anemone will eat your fish, not your clown fish but Dwarf angels, small tangs, blennies and small shrimp seem to be prone to getting eaten. Pseudochromis, hawk fish and some others don't seem to have that problem. The clown fish that accept this anemone seem to be limited. They are accepted by saddle back clowns, true sebae clowns, Clarki clowns and usually tomato clowns.


Entacmaea quadricolor, Bulb, Bubble, Bubble tipped, Maroon anemone.
Recently obtained individuals will usually have unmistakable swollen ends on the tips of their tentacles. Specimens in captivity will often loose their bubble tips for periods of time and just have long straight tentacles. The tentacles usually have a green color especially when exposed to only actinic light. The tentacles may also have a frosty white ring around the tip. The base is often rusty red but may also be purple or just tan. The Rose anemone is a color variation of this anemone.

Good points - Normal reef lighting is enough [ above 4 watts per gallon ] for this type of anemone and may be more than enough. Nitrate levels bellow 20 ppm are preferred. Small ones may reproduce asexually in your aquarium by dividing into two smaller anemones. Their sting is rather weak and won't harm your other fish. They are accepted by Clarki type clowns, all the different Tomato type clowns, Maroon clowns and sometimes, although very rarely, Percula and Ocellaris clowns.

Bad points - These anemones tend to wander around the tank more often than others, sometimes causing their own deaths from lack of light or being sucked through a power head. They like to have their foot shaded inside a crevice in the rock or coral with their tentacles in the light. This preference might be met by placing a short piece of PVC pipe sized to the anemone, where you want the anemone to stay and putting its base into the pipe. They seem to be sensitive to being shipped. Make sure the one you pick out has a tight mouth and is firmly attached to something in the dealers tank. Any anemone that is not attached to something in the dealers tank is probably not healthy. In addition, when the dealer tries to remove the anemone from the tank the anemone should show some type of reaction, usually they contract.

Macrodactyla doreensis, Long tentacled anemone.
These anemones have very long [up to 5 - 6 in.], smooth, thick tentacles sometimes with longitudinal stripes extending into the oral disk. The tentacles originate from a round flat oral disk, distinguishing it from the condylactis anemone. The foot of the base is almost always bright red or orange.

Good points - they are hardy if kept under Metal Halide lights. Under lower light levels they seem to slowly waste away. They come in a variety of patterns and colors including purple. Accepted by Clarki clowns, Tomato type clowns and pink skunk clowns.

Bad points - They must have bright lighting. They normally live with their base buried deep in the sand and sometimes have a difficult time finding and attachment spot in a reef type tank.

Difficult to keep anemones

Heteractis crispa or H. Malu, Sebae anemone, Singapore anemone, pink tipped [but not condylactis] anemone. Tentacles range from long and thin to short and fat depending on the condition of the anemone [ short and fat means the anemones is starting to waste away]. Tentacles usually have magenta colored tips although yellowish green tips are not uncommon. Colors can be dyed yellow, dyed pink, natural pink / purple, natural yellow, tan, but by far the most common is pure white. The oral disk may also have a green sheen under actinic light.

Good points - They are very common in stores and are the least expensive of the host anemones. They are accepted by virtually all clown fish whether they occur in nature or not. Some not so white specimens can regenerate their symbiotic algae thus becoming a brown color. If you can obtain a tan specimen with long thin tentacles they should do well under conditions similar to that required for bulb anemones.

Bad points - No one , not even the public aquariums, can keep the white or yellow ones alive for more than 6 - 8 months. Out of 20 responses regarding sebaes only 2 anemones had stayed alive for more than a year. Both the anemones were tan in color either when purchased or had turned tan shortly there after. Getting otherwise healthy sebaes to " color up" by feeding once a week with fresh fish, clam, shrimp or gelatin. They should also get brine shrimp, adult and baby. In addition to frequent feedings the anemones should be under metal halide lights. If the anemone is not able to replace its zooxanthellae it is doomed to a very slow starvation once is the tank. There are cream colored sebae anemones found in shallow water in the wild, but they not the transparent white color found in dealers tanks. They don't seem to be good beginners anemone despite articles that say they are.

Hateractis magnifica - Ritteri, African, yellow tipped anemone.
This anemone is usually rather large. Their tentacles are long with very blunt types that are lighter in color than the shafts. The base can be red or purple but brown is more common.

Good points - They are relatively common in the market. They are accepted by almost every variety of clown fish.

Bad points - They tend to move to the highest point in the tank, often up the sides of the tank very near the water return pipe. In nature they tend to be found at the highest parts of the reef exposed to strong light and currents. In the aquarium they will need very strong lighting [metal halide] and very strong alternating [wave] currents to do well. They also have the reputation for being able to catch and eat medium sized non-clown fish.

Stichodactyla gigantea - Giant carpet, colored carpet.
These anemones have short pointed tentacles that seem to constantly vibrate. The tentacles are usually not very densely packed except near the edges of the disk. Specimens with blue, bright green, yellow, or white tipped tentacles can be found and at some times of the year are even common, but light brown is still the most common color. The oral disk often lies in a wave pattern if the anemone is on a flat surface.

Good points - The colored ones are very pretty! A pink specimen is featured on the cover of Martin Moe's "Beginner to Breeder" book.. They are accepted by most clown fish.

Bad points - They can sting non clowns fish and may eat other anemones. Giant carpets unlike their relative the saddle carpet seem to be very difficult to keep in captivity. One of the reasons for the difficulty in keeping the giant carpets may stem from the fact that most are collected from very shallow waterless than 3 feet. And that it may be difficult for the aquariust to give the anemone all the light it needs.

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