Yet Another Anemone Inquiry

[Hypostomus]

I've noticed a lot of these on the boards lately, but I haven't quite found the answer I'm looking for.

Assuming water quality is pristine, tank is aged, everything is sunshine and rainbows, etc...

What lighting is required for anemones? Yes, MH, got it. What about PCs/VHOs? The "moderate to high" rating doesn't really mean much to me (as in liveaquaria.com) because I don't know what they mean by moderate to high.

I was told by one person to forget about ever having a BTA, for example, in my 20g with a 130w Coralife 50/50 set-up.

Then another said it would be okay, but that the anemone wouldn't be colorful.

Does anyone know about exact numbers for BTAs and other anemones?

And one more opinion-seeker...do anemones belong in tanks without corals?

Personally I'm not that interested in getting one, as I'm worried about the corals in such a case, but my mother keeps bugging me about it.

 

[Anemoneman]

I think a 20g is too small for an anemone unless that's the only thing you want in there. 130W over a 20 is low to moderate lighting IMO.
Reefrunner is running MH over his 20L. It's a good setup. Maybe he can contribute.

do anemones belong in tanks without corals?

In a tank this small it's probably better off w/o corals to compete with.
They are difficult animals regardless. You may be happier with mushroom corals in your tank. Their behavior is similar to anemones, esp. hairy mushrooms. Branching frogspawn looks similar to an anemone and will take food readily like an anemone. There are many other choices in livestock for a 20g tank. I would stay away from the "difficult" ones for now.

 

[reefrunner69]

What lighting is required for anemones? Yes, MH, got it. What about PCs/VHOs? The "moderate to high" rating doesn't really mean much to me (as in liveaquaria.com) because I don't know what they mean by moderate to high.

Depends on the anemone, ther is no one right answer Typically speaking though, you want to provide the same light you would for high light demanding acroporas and clams.

And one more opinion-seeker...do anemones belong in tanks without corals?

Highly debatable, but IMO yes. They are not sesslie inverts, they are mobile inverts and will sting and kill corals as they wander.

 

[Hypostomus]

Tyvm guys.

We already have mushroom corals, and they've proceeded to multiply quite endlessly. I was talking with a guy at the LFS because I had heard the owner was going to tear down one of their 300g SW displays and replace it something else, and he said it was mainly because the "weeds" (mushrooms) had taken it over.

They were very pretty though.