Anemone Farm

[ElDiabloPollo]

Anthony,

I attended a recent event in Rochester which you gave a talk on coral farming and I have to say I am inspired. I plan on setting up a 100 gal stock tank with an indoor/outdoor carpet lining. From reading your other threads it seems you have suggested in the past that I should be able to get enough flow from a couple bubble tubes. Is this assesment correct, or do I need some powerheads asa well?

Also, what type of fish do you reccomend in said tank, and how many?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[ElDiabloPollo]

Oh, I plan on farming a RBTA.

J

 

[Anthony Calfo]

excellent to hear my friend!

As for the flow, yes... airlifts (and weekyl water changes from sales inevitably) will be all thats likely needed... but you can use powerheads for easy and strong flow if you will guard the intakes with a large foam block.

 

[acdraindrps]

I was at the event too. It was awesome to get to meet you, and I'd like to also thank you for taking the time to come up to Buffalo and sit with us at AquaTech as well. Your speech and q and a the following day were very informative.


J,

In regards to the anemone farm, what lighting will you use?

 

[Anthony Calfo]

Thanks kindly, J

re: the lighting... think cheap. Seriously. Since you will be feeding heavily (fine zooplankton substitutes like cyclop-eeze or coral-frenzy.com) for mucousal type prey capture (since the mouths will be cut in half)... the need for lighting is not as high. We also dont want it unecessarily cutting into profits.

In shallow anemone prop tanks (20" high or less) standard shop lights are fine... say four 40-watt plant type grow bulbs (warm color in the 5000-6500K range and a CRI of 90 or higher if possible). That will be more than enough lighting for common BTAs, sebae and long tentacle anemones. Even most carpets.

 

[ElDiabloPollo]

I stopped by the local hardware store and found 48", 6500K, 84 CRI, 40watt bulbs. I plan on using 4 over a 100 gal stock tank. The fixtures are like $12-$20 and the bulbs are $30 for 10.

Thanks Anthony

PS I pan on putting together a thread which lays out the whole process with lots of pics and info.

 

[Anthony Calfo]

those bulbs sound very fine/close enough indeed. DO remember to change them (though not all at once... stagger them by days/weeks when changed) every 6 months.

I'm very grateful to hear you will chronicle your efforts with a thread too. Kudos!

 

[ElDiabloPollo]

Anthony, what fish do you reccomend to "polute" the water?

 

[Anthony Calfo]

do you mean feed?

 

[ElDiabloPollo]

When I talked to you on Sunday you had mentioned keeping some fish in the tank with the anemone to keep the nitrate level at about 3-4 ppm (correct me if I am wrong). I was just wondering what type of fish and how many you recommend.

J

 

[Anthony Calfo]

ah, yes! Fishes for a sopurce of food/nitrogen (indirectly)

You have many choices, but I'd suggest something that will not irritate the anemones (no clowns, gobies or cardinalfishes)... but instead be a hardy, stupid cruiser (beefy tangs or gulping grouper(s), would be great)

 

[ElDiabloPollo]

How many tangs or groupers?

 

[ElDiabloPollo]

Also, would chromis work, as we are trying to keep costs down.

How many?

 

[Anthony Calfo]

The Chromis would be a very nice choice indeed. Make sure you buy them all at once, same size/batch.

 

[ElDiabloPollo]

How many for ~100 gallons?

 

[Anthony Calfo]

if they are the only fishes, you could have a couple dozen small ones easily my friend.

 

[ElDiabloPollo]

Anthony,

Thank you very much for your wisdom. I cannot wait to get the farm up and running.

Jason

 

[Namyar]

I also attended the event in Rochester and was interested in starting one of these good to see I wasn't the only one. Very nice to meet you also. I will be watching this thread to see what happens.

 

[Anthony Calfo]

cheers, Namyar

In case you did not see it too... please check out the sticky atop this forum called "fav links" and see the post entry for "discussions" where there is a link to extensive threads on anemone propagation and other topics

kindly, Anth-

 

[Anthony Calfo]

Jason, you are very welcome my friend... best of luck and life