gaker
Aquarium Advice Regular
First off, I want to preface this by stating that I don't think I know anything. This is just observing what is going on in my tank(s).
I probably got my first anemone too early. I transferred everything over to my tank and things were looking pretty good. I later realized that I had no clue what I was doing with LEDs, and suffered losses with most of the SPS corals I had in the tank as well as my first anemone. Basically, I think even on 20-30% strength, I fried everything in the tank.
While I was watching my first anemone go down hill, I read tons of forum posts saying "pitch it, it will nuke your tank." However, most of this seems to be people repeating what they have heard.
My question for you all here is, have you had, or have you witnessed an anemone die (not being sucked into a powerhead) that caused a tank meltdown?
Here's a photo of my first anemone. Notice the little anemone shrimp on it? (more on that later).
When I got this animal, it was beautiful. After a day or so it retreated under a rock and didn't come out for a couple of weeks. It finally reappeared to start expelling eggs or sperm (not sure which). I panicked and called the owner of my LFS. I had read they would do this when they are going downhill, and could really screw up your tank. He had me bag up the rock and bring it in to him. We tossed it in one of his tanks for a month or so and it rebounded a bit, although it would not accept food. I took it home, and the anemone shrimp was in it within 30 minutes of reintroducing it to the tank. (in the meantime, I switched from the LED setup to a T5 fixture.
This went on for about a month, and the anemone showed no signs of wanting to get better, so I held a funeral for it. I decided to try another one. If this didn't work, I would be done with them.
So here's my new one the day I introduced it to the tank on 3 JULY.
Here it is 5 days later...a bit concerning:
I was then gone on a work trip for two weeks and come home to see this (29 JULY)
Then by the beginning of August we look like this for a few days:
Great, I'm going to have to have another anemone funeral, which makes me feel terrible.
At this point, I decided to collect the shrimp and toss him in my 28 gallon biocube.
By August 11th, it looked like this, which kept me depressed:
Then, around the 18th of August, the clownfish decided they wanted to start hanging out in the anemone:
So fast forward to today, October 14th, this is what the nem looks like:
(please ignore the little patch of GHA by the nem, it's the only one in my tank, and when I try to clean it out, the jerk clownfish will draw blood on my hands, so it's staying)
So the lessons I learned are as follows:
* Contrary to what one might read, these are pretty tough creatures.
* The anemone shrimp (while so cute) might beat them up worse than a clown.
* Once the anemone started hosting the clowns, the turnaround was pretty remarkable. Obviously, I don't have enough evidence to know if the clowns had anything to do with it, or time away from the shrimp helped
Sorry this is long...I want to end with my question from the beginning. Have you experienced, or know firsthand someone who experienced a 'nem nuking a tank when it died (other than being sucked into a powerhead/etc).
If I could go back in time to last April, I'd tell myself "Don't freak out". They will pull out or they won't. In both of my tanks, the anemones have not moved more than 4-5 inches from where I initially placed them. At this point, until I have definitive evidence to the contrary, I have no worries about the animal nuking my tank, so long as it doesn't wander into the MP10s.
I probably got my first anemone too early. I transferred everything over to my tank and things were looking pretty good. I later realized that I had no clue what I was doing with LEDs, and suffered losses with most of the SPS corals I had in the tank as well as my first anemone. Basically, I think even on 20-30% strength, I fried everything in the tank.
While I was watching my first anemone go down hill, I read tons of forum posts saying "pitch it, it will nuke your tank." However, most of this seems to be people repeating what they have heard.
My question for you all here is, have you had, or have you witnessed an anemone die (not being sucked into a powerhead) that caused a tank meltdown?
Here's a photo of my first anemone. Notice the little anemone shrimp on it? (more on that later).
When I got this animal, it was beautiful. After a day or so it retreated under a rock and didn't come out for a couple of weeks. It finally reappeared to start expelling eggs or sperm (not sure which). I panicked and called the owner of my LFS. I had read they would do this when they are going downhill, and could really screw up your tank. He had me bag up the rock and bring it in to him. We tossed it in one of his tanks for a month or so and it rebounded a bit, although it would not accept food. I took it home, and the anemone shrimp was in it within 30 minutes of reintroducing it to the tank. (in the meantime, I switched from the LED setup to a T5 fixture.
This went on for about a month, and the anemone showed no signs of wanting to get better, so I held a funeral for it. I decided to try another one. If this didn't work, I would be done with them.
So here's my new one the day I introduced it to the tank on 3 JULY.
Here it is 5 days later...a bit concerning:
I was then gone on a work trip for two weeks and come home to see this (29 JULY)
Then by the beginning of August we look like this for a few days:
Great, I'm going to have to have another anemone funeral, which makes me feel terrible.
At this point, I decided to collect the shrimp and toss him in my 28 gallon biocube.
By August 11th, it looked like this, which kept me depressed:
Then, around the 18th of August, the clownfish decided they wanted to start hanging out in the anemone:
So fast forward to today, October 14th, this is what the nem looks like:
(please ignore the little patch of GHA by the nem, it's the only one in my tank, and when I try to clean it out, the jerk clownfish will draw blood on my hands, so it's staying)
So the lessons I learned are as follows:
* Contrary to what one might read, these are pretty tough creatures.
* The anemone shrimp (while so cute) might beat them up worse than a clown.
* Once the anemone started hosting the clowns, the turnaround was pretty remarkable. Obviously, I don't have enough evidence to know if the clowns had anything to do with it, or time away from the shrimp helped
Sorry this is long...I want to end with my question from the beginning. Have you experienced, or know firsthand someone who experienced a 'nem nuking a tank when it died (other than being sucked into a powerhead/etc).
If I could go back in time to last April, I'd tell myself "Don't freak out". They will pull out or they won't. In both of my tanks, the anemones have not moved more than 4-5 inches from where I initially placed them. At this point, until I have definitive evidence to the contrary, I have no worries about the animal nuking my tank, so long as it doesn't wander into the MP10s.
. To top it off I really thought my tank was nuked because all the corals reacted just as I thought they would but everything bounced back in a few days. That's it I was done with them but my clown kept hosting, or should I say annoying corals. So one more try ******!!! This is my third attempt so I got made sure to wait and get a healthy one this time. So about 3 months ago i got an RBTA and 3 weeks in this one is in the power head but I caught it early enough to save it. Just a little shred on it so I put it back where it was and he has made a full recovery and has been happy since. I know they don't have brains but I think this one learned what happens when you just let go. Lol!! I know people on here cringe at hearing horror stories about newbs killing nems but its all about experience and taking your time on research and like many others I've learned the hard way.
