new at this, question about anemone

[kimberly]

My husband and I are pretty new at this. We have recently set up a 92 gallon reef tank. We bought our first anemone, a green bubble. He keeps moving from the spot we put him to stop under an arch of liverock. Now it appears that he has turned himself upside down and has his foot attached above him on the live rock. He is almost completely hidden under the rock as well. Besides the fact that this limits his beauty, it is my understanding that anemones of this type need the light to thrive. What can we do to fix this?

Thanks,
Kimberly

 

[sirfishmaster]

most anemones should only be added to a mature tank 7 months or more...if they are moving its usullly because they are not happy where they are at..there is nothing you can do....it will eventualty settle down if the system is good...what are your water paremeters and lighting?


doug

 

[Phyl]

What kind of lights are on your tank? He needs light but may not be accustomed to the type of light that you have him in. They will continue to move around until they find a spot that they like. Moving them is futile and moving them by force is likely to injure them. If you have high lighting you may want to screen the tank for a while. Maybe then he'd come out where you could see him better. Taking the screening off slowly would allow him to acclimate to the lighting.

Welcome to AA! Good luck with him!

 

[kimberly]

The anemone does look happy under his rock. The tips that are out are very vibrant in color and we can see all the texture. He truly is a beautiful creature.

My husband checked the water and said it was all good. We have a test kit. I don't know the numbers, however. As for lighting, we have one of those coralites with three lights, dim, bright and moonlight. How would we screen the lights?

Adding the anemone at this point in our aquarium was a source of contention b/w my husband and me. I really wanted to wait longer and make sure everything was good, but he has no patience.

Thanks for the help. This looks like an interesting forum and I look forward to learning a lot here!

Kimberly

 

[malkore]

husband sounds like me (lack of patience)
chances are, the anemone wasn't kept under strong lighting at the fish store, so he's moved to something simliar.
give it some time. if it survives your young tank, it'll likely move again in the coming weeks to a more visible, brighter lit area. What type of anemone? bubble tip?

 

[klam]

If you haven't so, please anemone proof your tank by covering the intakes of your pumps, powerheads, anything that the anemone might get sucked into.

 

[kimberly]

Yes, it is a green bubble tip, very pretty. And I will get husband on anemone proofing the tank immediately! What all do we need to do? I never expected him to move so much, I thought they were stationary, afterall, it doesn't look like it could move intentionally!

Thanks for all the help so far.
Kimberly

 

[Phyl]

You need to cover anything that sucks water. If you have any powerheads in your tank or any overflows that are directly accessible you're going to want to cover them with sponges to that he can't get stuck on the intake.

 

[kimberly]

Do we rubber band the sponges on the openings, or use twist ties? What kind of sponges, regular kitchen sponges or do they make special ones for this purpose?

Sorry for my ignorance in this, but definately want to do what is best.

Kimberly

 

[Phyl]

Regular kitchen sponges have chemicals in them. Buy sponges for aquarium use. They'll be VERY porous though, nothing like a kitchen sponge. That type would restrict the flow way too much.

The ones I have came with my power heads and fit snugly over the intake. Not sure what you'd do if you had to make-shift one. I'm sure someone else will respond in short order. I didn't want to leave the kitchen sponge on the table for very long! That could be disasterous!

 

[klam]

LFS sells sponges or floss in sheets that you can cut up yourself. I bought the kind that doesn't do anything but filter out the debris. Some will filter out phosphates, etc.