anemone noob... need help.

[csv_scorpion]

hi,
we setup up a new marine tank a little over a month ago. yesterday, my roommate wanted a sea anemone so badly that he got one. i've been reading around and have heard 2 sides to caring for the anemone. i was wondering if some of you guys could help me. here's are setup...

TANK:
- 33 gallon
- fluval 304 filter
- 50 gph powerhead (i think)
- not sure what watt light... it's a florecent bulb... like the bulb for your kitchen lights
- water heater seperated from rest of the tank by egg crate material
- about 18 pounds of live rock

WATER:
- salinity = 1.022
- 78 degrees F
- ammonia = 0
- nitrite = 0
- nitrate = ? (have to get tester for that)

TANKMATES:
- 1 yellow tail/blue damsel
- 2 false clownfish
- 1 skunk cleaner shrimp
- 5 dwarf zebra hemit crabs
AND... - 1 purple/yellow tip sea anemone

the clowns can't get enough of the anenome. one of the clowns ran straight to it as we were placing it on the rocks. here's the situation right now...

the anemone's mouth is very lose looking. also... the mouth looks all swollen. the white flesh of the inside of the anemone is swollen out of the month. i've read that this is not a good sign. also... some of the tentacles look like deflated ballons, but when a clownfish gets close and starts rubbing it's body on the deflated tentacles, it inflates up. oh... and my clownfishes seem to be sucking on the ends of the tentacles. is this normal?

i have the anemone placed on a rock right above the sand and it's not directly under the light. i'm debating on moving the anemone in between a pile of rocks and closer to the light.

do i have to feed the anemone frequently? if so... what and how do i feed it? please help. thank you in advance.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

You need to return the anemone. You don't have enough light for him.
Anemones are not for inexperience aquarist. Please, please return them or give it to someone before it died. These anemones are immortal in nature. They live for a long, long time, hundreds of years.
Minh Nguyen

 

[reefNewbie]

Well, first off the tank should have at least 6 month to establish before introducing an anemone.

Second thats probably not enough light, PC lights would probably be ideal.

third, the specific gravity needs to come up to about 1.025. Bring it there slowly though, not all at once. Temperature could come up as well, like the salinity though, bring it up slowly(no more than 2 deg. a day) I would say anywhere between 80-84 deg.

fourth, I would give the anemone atleast a couple of weeks to acclimate to the new environment before allowing the clown to tackle into it. The clown might be stressing him out too much.

also, his mouth being loose is a bad sign. Try and feed him with a little piece of squid or something.

I wouldnt worry too much about placement because the anemone will move to wherever the best light/water movement is.

Speaking of which you will need either a sump or stronger power head to create more water movement for the anemone.

I would highly recomend Dr. Ron Shimek's book host sea anemones. It has highly valuable information. These are just a few of the suggestions, more people on this board more knowlegeable then me will have further input on this.

 

[aquarist=broke]

Deflated=Bad.

Normal Flourescent Light=BAD!!!

33 gallon a little over a month ago with 1 yellow tail/blue damsel, 2 false clownfish, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 5 dwarf zebra hemit crabs, AND 1 purple/yellow tip sea anemone=VERY BAD

fluval 304 filter=Bad

nitrate = (?)=Bad

Most of the anemones that I can think of require stronger lighting than the normal kitchen light. This could be part of the reason that your anemone is not too happy right now. If it stays deflated, it may not be alive much longer. If it seems to be just floating (not anchored) around it may already be dying.

Setting up a tank in as little as a month can have it's success' and its failures. The main concern is that you have a lot of life in a small amount of water. All of those animals together in a tank can create a large amount of waste. A nitrate test can tell you if your "wastes" are out of control. This could be adding to your anemone's unhappyness.

Fluval canister filters are a real problem for us reefers. They give us efficient filtration and water movement, but if they are not cleaned regularly (daily) they accumulate many nitrate producing things leading to you next problem: No Nitrate Test.

A nitrate test is one of the most important tests you can have in this hobby. If the nitrates in your small amount of water are high, not only will you have tons of this green algae that will take over your tank, but you will have stressed (dying) fish and very unhappy (dying) anemones.

My friend, there are many things you need to research prior to purchasing or even starting in this marine hobby. I feel the same desire as you to keep these animals, but I would recommend using the internet to find information necessary to be successful. We are all experimenting as you, but I only experiment with the proven methods that I read about in books and here at REEFS.ORG.

Try a search on anemone's here or try this link for some basic information on saltwater care.

 

[Bluetangclan]

I made that mistake, bring it back before it dies, Your tank should be well established before grabbing one of those. Bring it back so you can get store credit. At one month your tank isnt really fully stable, when that anemoni dies it will release toxins and those will prolly be enough in that small of a tank to wipe out everthing you have. Get some better lighting and start with something small cheap and hardy like mushrooms, star polyps or better yet a ricordea mushroom, some clowns adopt them, mine doesnt but yours might, they have their own personalities. After a few months of these guys growing and propogating pick up a cheap anemoni like a pink tip. The clowns prolly will not take to it since it is an Atlantic species but it is much cheaper than a pacific version usually. If it lives for a few months then try a more expensive one. Remember this hobby is about patience.

 

[EmilyB]

Well, if you are in Vancouver, the obvious thing to do is check out www.canreef.com so that the local people can view your/or whoevers situation and assist, as it sounds like you need some attention for your tank and some guidance on how to access information available on the net.

 

[wombat1]

What did they call the anemone at the store?? Can you give us a detailed description of it??

 

[SPC]

Excellent advice everyone!
Steve