Reef Anemones: Friend or Foe? How do you make it work?

[Dburr1014]

I made a mag rock. He ventured off once so I slid the rock in his way and back on it went.

 

[therootcause]

Been trying to get one....Baltimore area.

 

[jng15111]

I have 3 rock flower anemones and think they are amazing. They do not move a lot, do not hurt my fish and look beautiful. I have a nanotank and want more. I want an anemone that will house my clown fish but years ago I had one and it grew huge. I liked it but this time I am actually doing a reef tank and do not want them to sting my corals. It does not seem worth the risk since they can move and do that.

 

[Mical]

I have nems in both tanks. In my 120 I have 11 BTAs & a carpet (pic1) The BTAs stay on a rock island and have for 11 years. The carpet has barely moved since we set this tank up last year.

In my 65 I have "Kami" (AKA: Kamikazee) BTA - this nem has tried multiple times to take it's own life. It's been trapped in an overflow, twice into powerheads and once nearly melted to a heater. Kami seems to be happy at the overflow, catches all the excess food from the tank and still has a pair of gold nugget clowns to keep him happy. (pic #2 & #3)

I feed my nems every weekend either little neck clams or frozen shrimp.

 

[Bryce M.]

Love nems, never had issues with corals, did have a Bubble tip get eaten by a fish........
But yeah, TBH I just let them wander around, no sensitive corals I have to worry about and my pumps are safely away and protected
IMO they know what areas they like, so let them go crazy, it's also great because I swore I lost one just to pop up one day walking around
Love those guys.

 

[MasterReef]

can never have enough anemones

That's an expensive garden!

 

[Anchorboy]

I have had a haddoni for a year. I have 1” of sand. Built 5” high rock tube with small rocks and epoxy. Put anemone in and filled tube with sand. Has never moved.

 

[Nanaue]

I’ve got 10 rock flower anemones. I’ve never had any trouble with them–they have trouble with some of my other things! Found out one of my chestnut cowries loves munching on them… the rock flowers moved up onto the rocks to safety, and the cowrie now has its own private tank! All in all, peaceful and harmless as far as I’ve seen. I may eventually try a BTA or two.

 

[cancun]

I have a large Haddoni and 4 BT nems on their own island, and a pink tube nem. I have had the carpet for many years in a reef tank. No eating fish and no issues. BTs stay on their island. Like the other poster said they don't leave the island. LOL!

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

I absolutely love anemones, I’ve just had problems in the past with them dying. My tank is around three years or so old but I’m slowly realizing what kind of things my setup needs (got a new pump, next I need an auto topoff). I’d like to get a few rock flowers and a bubble if I’m feeling cocky.

 

[Isabel’s Hobby]

Mine makes me very nervous. I started it in a nice spot with comfortable flow and good light. It walked all the way across the back of the tank and settled in the lowest flow and lowest lit back corner of my tank. It sat there for months before deciding to move Again to where it sits now in the front corner. It won’t split! Just keeps getting bigger and I don’t even feed it.

Oh mine looks like that a lot before it split. You know for one time my anemone was so big and then it split in 3 not just 2. But it took month and month I have no figured out....why they bubble tip sometimes and why not at other times. I dont know why they split sometimes within weeks and other times within month...so just hang in there.. it looks beautiful

 

[locito277]

That's an expensive garden!

Wish the hobby were cheaper for sure

 

[my86iroc01]

I use a small 2 inch flower pot to keep my anenome in place.

 

[PicassoClown04]

I have a beautiful RBTA in the back right corner of my tank, he moved there before I put too many corals in and now I feed him the Nano Reef Frenzy food every day to keep him happy! Doesn’t bother anything and I love him to pieces! Very bubbly

 

[Sally Oliver]

I keep carpet nems in a separate tank with sexy shrimps but I can’t keep them for long so have given up for the time being. Have large bubble tip in my 3 ft tank, think it is ready to split, but it moves around and will sting coral, also flower anemone in my 6 ft tank, intend to get more of these, very well behaved

 

[MamaP]

My answer was no, I don't have one but am thinking about getting one. I'm just starting out with coral, though, so not sure I'm ready for one, but this discussion has been very informative!

If y'all had to pick one that could host clowns but won't eat fish or destroy other corals, what would it be (or am I just dreaming here?!?)?

 

[MasterReef]

I have a beautiful RBTA in the back right corner of my tank, he moved there before I put too many corals in and now I feed him the Nano Reef Frenzy food every day to keep him happy! Doesn’t bother anything and I love him to pieces! Very bubbly

What type of clowns are those? I bought one that looks just like that and the guy was selling it as a "miss-print", but he couldn't tell me what the breeders target was. It looked fine to me and with a $20 price tag I couldn't pull the money out fast enough.

 

[PicassoClown04]

What type of clowns are those? I bought one that looks just like that and the guy was selling it as a "miss-print", but he couldn't tell me what the breeders target was. It looked fine to me and with a $20 price tag I couldn't pull the money out fast enough.

The larger one was sold to me as a Picasso but I suspect it’s got some other stuff too since it has a bullet hole pattern on the side a little bit. The smaller one is some sort of extreme snowflake mine were like $25 each so I jumped on them really quick. Tried to get some good pics but you know how fish are. And they’re greedy little buggers who wanna be fed again. I’ve also got a sexy shrimp hosting in there you can kinda see him in my original post on the under side of the nem

 

[MasterReef]

The larger one was sold to me as a Picasso but I suspect it’s got some other stuff too since it has a bullet hole pattern on the side a little bit. The smaller one is some sort of extreme snowflake mine were like $25 each so I jumped on them really quick. Tried to get some good pics but you know how fish are. And they’re greedy little buggers who wanna be fed again. I’ve also got a sexy shrimp hosting in there you can kinda see him in my original post on the under side of the nem

Yep, Picasso is what I figured. I notice that only ReefNerds care what they're called. I get that glazed eye look when I would explain the value of my $120 Solomon clowns to a non-reefer. LOL

 

[PicassoClown04]

Yep, Picasso is what I figured. I notice that only ReefNerds care what they're called. I get that glazed eye look when I would explain the value of my $120 Solomon clowns to a non-reefer. LOL

I feel that, nobody cares what they’re called, they just call them nemo