Reef safe anemones

[philly]

i have 2 ocleris clowns in my reef, i want an anemone that wont sting my corals or inverts

i really want one!

i have a 90 gal. lots of rock and room

[malkore]

how new is the tank? lighting? skimmer?

its generally not advised to add any anenome until the tank is at least 6 months old.

[xxmoorishmanxx]

off hand i cant think of any true anenomes that won't sting coral, i have a BTA in my reef and have had luck with it for about 2 years now. It has only once moved and stung corals, but i was able to move them out of the way in time. BTA are a good choice IME since they are fairly hardy compared to other anenomes and also because false clowns tend to like them.

Good Luck!

PS i agree with malkore if the tank is new you might want to wait

[Jason]

Originally Posted by malkore

its generally not advised to add any anenome until the tank is at least 6 months old.

why is that?

[lando]

I do not think you have enough to keep an anenome long-term. If you choose to try one go with a bulb tip anenome. Keep in mind that clowns do not need one to be happy and it is a gamble that they will even pair up.

[malkore]

It takes about a year, sometimes 18months, for a reef system to truly stabilize. Anemone's are very touchy to changes in water conditions, and if you're fairly new to reef tanks, you're bound to make a few little mistakes in the first few months. The fish will tolerate these little bumps in the road, but your $40 anemone may not.
Even if you don't make mistakes, the tank will still have to stabilize for at least 6 months before you'll have good odds of keeping the anemone thriving.

Also, if you think you need an anemone for your clowns, you're wrong. They do fine in captivity without one...and a lot of people have found that tank raised clowns will not bond with an anemone...the instinct gets bred out of them.

[xxmoorishmanxx]

another thought is that clowns may host other things as well, if u have the light and experiance, you could try a hammer coral, or possibly a finger leather. In my tank i have one clown that hosts an anenome the other hosts a hammer and a toadstool coral.

[Wolf]

A friend of mine also has a pair of perculas that have bonded with mushroom coral. It's really neat to watch.

[klam]

I agree the the anemone will have a better survival rate if the tank was mature.

Tank raised or captive bred clown fish can take anemones as host, it's really up to the fish on what host they choose. It's a myth that tank raised or captive bred will not take a host. I've heard of wild caught that don't take to anemones.

My ORA captive bred Ocellaris took my BTA as a host.


My captive bred true percs took my BTA as a host.

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I agree with you Klam. My captive bred ocellaris didn't have anything to do with my sabae for a couple of months now he is all over it.

[klam]

I will say that a lot of captive bred fish will use tank equipment as host like powerheads, heaters, etc. IMO, since the fish were hatched in captivity that's what they knew since born and they feel secure around these equipment.