Nick, Tank has been running 5 months. Transfered water from 75 gallon fowlr into this 180 xtra deep. There are 6 fish all in hyposalinity in week 4, 2 to go before two clowns and powder brown along with 3 green chromis will be reintroduced back in tank . This picture was day three for the anemone in the tank. The only other thing in tank is about 200 lbs. liverock, And three zoas that have recently been fragged. My worry is that yellow dye is wearing off in the crispa. Did not even know about dying of anemones until I started reading on Crispas. only a but wipe would do that to a creature with 100 year or more lifespan. I keep reading different opinions on feeding these. Every website tells a different opinion
Anemones
- Thread starter Will
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Maxx
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180 Extra Deep? What are the dimensions of this tank?
That tank pictured above looks significantly smaller than a 180....
I would not introduce that many fish at once to your system. You will get a spike if you do.
I absolutely would NOT introduce the clowns until the anemone was back to nearly 100%. They will kill the anemone by stealing food from it.
The fact that the anemone is dyed is a huge issue. Anemones are dyed frequently to hide the lack of Zoox and to make them look attractive to buy. It worked....you bought one
Anemones can recover from being dyed, but it requires significantly more effort on your part. Small feedings every other day are probably a necessity at this point.
Start small, like 1 to 2 Mysis/Mysid shrimp fed to the anemone. Watch the anemone and ensure it actually engulfs and ingests the food. This can take up to an hour with a weak malnourished anemone. Not having fish or mobile inverts in the tank will mean the anemone wont get food stolen from it.
The anemone is fully dependant at this stage on being fed meaty foods. It does not have have the capability to feed itself through Zoox. You need to remember that the anemone has a very low amount of energy reserves right now. So if the anemone expends energy trying to feed itself, and then loses the food item, its just wasted energy in trying to eat. Therefore, its paramount that it not have food stolen from it right now.
Since the tentacles appear to be reasonably long for a dyed anemone, its possible that it was only bleached and then dyed to cover the bleaching. If this is the case, it probably still has sticky tentacles and decent feeding response, which makes a full recovery more likely and able to occur over a shorter period of time.
You want to feed small amounts because the anemone may not take much food. Undigested food will be expelled, uneaten. This will foul the tank, and also is wasted energy. If the food is bigger than the anemone can handle, or it gets fed too frequently, it will expell the undigested food. So again, go slow in amounts, and feed every other day. If after a week, the anemone is taking and not expelling three mysis/mysids every other day, increase the amount of food its being given.
Whole foods, such as raw uncooked peel and eat shrimp, and scallops are good to feed in addition to the mysis/mysids. You can get them from the local grocery store. Stay away from silversides, there are numerous reports of silversides having a bacteria in them that winds up infecting and killing anemones. Its just not worth it IMO.
You'll know when the anemone is making a recovery when you start seeing what looks like black or dark brown streaks and spots in the tentacles, and oral disc of the anemone. This is the Zoox repopulating the anemone.
How bigis the anemone and how big and what type of clowns do you plan on putting with the anemone?
Hope this helps,
Nick
Nick, the clown fish and the powder brown are first fish originally in tank at the end of the small cycle because I used the water from my 75 fowlr to start this tank. This is definatgely a Marineland Monterey extra deep 180 gallon. The original fish have or had marine ich. They are now in the cleaned out 75 for 4 weeks now in hyposalinity. Dont think any way possible for tank to spike when reintroducing, Total water is 240 gallons with 60 gallon sump. Am also running two reef octopus skimmers rated at 175 each. The clowns are Clarkis, Te anemone is approximately 5 to six inches around. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to school me on the Crispa
Maxx
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Will,
Anemones are difficult, but can be kept and can be brought back from poor health. It takes time and effort on your part, that's all. Alot of time and alot of effort, but it can be done.
I would absolutely avoid introducing the Clarkii Clowns with that anemone in the shape its in. They will kill it. They get too big and too rough with an anemone that small and especially in that kind of shape. I think introducing the fish two at a time is a better plan than dumping them in all at once....
I wouldnt keep the fish in hypo for more than 6weeks, but only because of the work involved in maintaining the water quality when its in hypo conditions. Rather slowly raise the salinity to a manageable point and keep it there.
Can you keep the clowns in the sump while the anemone is recovering? How big are the clowns?
No worries on the information....its what we're all here for, to learn and pass on information to others...
Nick
