Anemone

[jus85411]

i recently lost my GSP on christmas eve and was going to sell my tank. on sunday though i went to petco to pick up some crickets for my BD and saw a tank full of false percula clowns, nothing special although i have always liked clownfish and their relationship with anemones. well a few tanks away was a tank full of 10 or so maroon clowns, by far my favorite clowns besides the gold striped ones. so needless to say i picked up two that seemed to be paired already in the tank(one is bigger and less red than the smaller one) and are in a 10Q tank right now at my house. so far so good for petco fish and i know the clowns are a little less resistant to disease, no signs of white spots or anything and its been 4 days today. they were following each other, nudging each others sides. one would venture off but come right back to the one it was hanging out with. i have googled the crap out of anemones but i know from my research on puffs how little reliable info there is on the web. basically im not looking to start a reef, but would like an anemone for my clowns to host and feel more at home. i have the stock hood the tank came with, which is i believe a 24(?) inch T8 light with two bulbs. where i have my rock in my tank is directly below the light and thats where i would like to have the anemone.

my question(s):
1) having a T8 fixture, does that automatically stop me from being able to supply the correct lighting they need? i know T5's with individual reflectors is the best you can get, but i dont want a full reef so i dont know if spending the money on T5's is worth it.
2) what is the correct wattage/gallon i want to shoot for? or is that dependent on the anemone type?
3) im sure i have more questions just cant think of them but this is a start

[Pufferpunk]

You can keep ANYTHING under T5s (with individual reflectors) that you can keep under MH.

You also might want to look into a MH Viper clip on light for a smaller tank. Keep in mind, the nem can grow a foot across!

[RTR]

The dominant fish is female and larger. Smaller fish will be male.

Maroons are really nippy. They can shred your skin. Their teeth are snallish but very, very sharp.

Clowns in general are charming fish, but they are not what they appear.

Anemones are potentially forever. They -as a group - fare very poorly in captivity. If you really want to keep one, I would not suggest anything other than a bubble-tip. They appear to do better in captivity than most, but are still very demanding - you are looking at high tech reef levels of care and control. The clown are pretty hardy, the invert is not.

Do a lot of web-searching before you commit. Only pay serious attention to an individual with years of experience with anemones. These are advanced care critters.

[jus85411]

i know its a deep dive once i start getting really interested in an anemone, thats why i have never tried one yet in the 2 years my tank has been marine. i know a little better than to impulse buy, especially something of that nature. my main reason for posting here and not trying to find another forum is the trust i have developed in the information supplied by people here. PP, RTR, JP, PC(just to name a few) i have learned a lot from reading your insights on threads. you RTR especially i like reading what you have to say on topics, your very very knowledgeable and put everything into perspective for even the most novice fish keeper to understand. i am very aware that nems can get huge! not to take away from this forum, but what would be the best reef forum(especially for beginners) that i could take a look at? me getting an anemone wont be for a few months at least, since it seems i definitely need T5 or at the very least MH so theres plenty of time for research.

clowns definitely arent the "nemo" character portrayed in the movie, probably close to the exact opposite. researching a while ago i found that they are in family with damsels, which that right there should tell you a lot. i already see a lot of curiosity when i am near the tank. i am fully aware of their nips and can possibly draw blood, but just something about them, and not just them, most clowns that i really like. im really glad i decided to keep the tank and now possibly have a pair of clowns. somewhere i also read that besides the male being smaller than female, the females arent as "maroon" red as the males and that if you have a group and the female dies, the largest male would then become female... i knew this was true with them maturing with age, but even if it grows into an adult male as a pair, it can become female if the original female died???

[purplecandle]

I am trying to learn about SW stuff too!

Here is a forum I lurk around at..
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/index.php?s=

[geronimo69]

I would suggest a frogspawn or torch coral before an anemone. RTR is right, they require advanced care. Feedings/intense lighting/great skimming... etc etc

The 2 corals I suggested need decent care/light levels as well, but will not multiply like an anemone. You can start with one and have 5 in a year (the anemones). Frogspawn or torches will have to be fragged over the span of a few years, that's all.

The clowns will host them as well. Mine do

[Pufferpunk]

My B&W ocellarus host in a large leather & even lay down & sleep inside of it at night (very cute!). They also host in the frogspawn.
But just in case: http://www.karensroseanemones.net/

[RTR]

Thanks PP for that link - I knew that i had it somewhere, but I must have put it in the wrong folder.

That link is really great info. It is a great course in anemone care.

The LFS had a long-lived pair of maroons living in a leather also. They seem to accept that pretty well, but the frogspawn looks more like an anemone.

BTW, these are long-lived fish as well - well into their teens.

In a large tank, spare immature males can hold small size and likely sexual immaturity indefinitely. The change-over to sexual maturity is fairly quick, but the change from fertile male to fertile female can take a couple of months at least. Having "spares" lined up is a survival trait for clowns.

If you are diver, you can see their kinship with damsels -especially 3-spots - from their taking refuge in finely branched corals. Those have very similar body form to tomato clowns, ephippiums, etc. and similar tempers as well.

[jus85411]

yes that link was great and now favorited! i havent read all of it but i read a good portion so far. i read the introduction, before you buy one, buying your BTA, on the move and a little bit of the starving anemone

so the "spares" being lined up by clowns are the other clowns in a school? basically waiting to take over the alpha male/female? that is insane if thats the case! the stuff you learn in this hobby is crazy from instinctual things to sybiotic relationships. once i dive into an anemone or some sort of host for them, i will probably go the BTA route, just seems more right for them. i think my male clown was possibly a "spare", he was one of/if not the smallest ones, but was hanging out with the largest clown in the tank(female). it was the only one that was constantly around the female and the female seemed responsive to him by nudging his side and (as immature as it sounds but i dont know how else to put it lol) "motorboating" his side lol.

another thing i was reading was "my secrets" on the site linked. it says there are no sumps/refug's run on any of the tanks... this pretty much goes against a lot of what i have learned. i know essentially with good rock and the right amount of it you would not need filters, but i thought at least a sump/refuge was always suggested, especially with reefs. after reading a little more i can see how the tank is kept so nice with the diversity of filter feeders, rock, rubble, and critters. but it also says water changes done like once a month... is that also because of the layout and inhabitants?

[Pufferpunk]

She is happy to answer any emails you send with Qs for her.

[RTR]

Remember that in the wild,clowns do not exist without anemones. If they had fixed sex genetically (as people do), the loss of the dominant female would delay reproduction until a new female could be recruited from the plankton and fully matured on the anemone - a major time loss and reproductive loss for the species and for the anemone. They have a beneficial relationship on both sides the clown may help the anemone's defense (and in some cases, feeding) as well as the fish being protected by it themselves. Having "spares" around the anemone for recruitment into the breeding pair benefits the species. There are more clownfish born than there are anemones to house them, but anemones are potentially almost forever, clowns are long-lived for fish, but a long way from forever.

Life is fascinating. Reef communities were among the weirdest until the deep sea vent communities were discovered. Now those are reality sci-fi.