Can i get by without skimmer/sump for Anemone

[david]

Well If i cant sell my Giant green Haddoni,
I would like to build a separate tank for him.
Is it possible to keep an 18" carpet anemone in a tank with no skimmer or sump. "Ie 29 hex"
I can build an hood with a 250 wt mh bulb for lighting.
what kind of filtration could i use
these are some of the supplies i have laying around
penguin 240 gal hr
magnum 330 canister filter
aqua clear 300
Undergravel filter.
various powerheads
sand , crushed coral, black gravel, bare bottom.??

[BigE]

It all depends on your level of experience. I woldn't try it myslef since I don't have enough hands on experience with anemoes and the tank won't be very established when the anemone goes in (I'm asuming).
If you do go for it, make sure there's lots of regular water changes and watch all levels very closely (temp, salinity, nitrates, ect.)

[Zack]

I argee with what said above, also have you tried selling it to your lfs or maybe your lfs has an add board to post on???? :)

[Mr_Spam_]

of cource you could maintain a carpet or any other critter with out a skimmer, i do, but the idea of a carpet anemone in the first place is probibly not the best.

[Pineapple House]

I personally would get a bigger tank. What are the dementions for the 29 gallon? Chances are it would be too big at 18" to fit in a 29 gallon, and you have to think about future growth. Those species of anemones also perfer deep sand beds, as they like to burry their foot in the substrate. I would say 4 inches is good, plus the 18" for the anemone.

A skimmer wouldnt be nessesary, but highly recommended to have to maintain proper water quality. I would do some freuient water changes weekly to maintain perfect water conditions.

I also wouldnt use the under gravel filter, esspecielly with an anemone that will like to have its foot in the sand. I would get some quality live sand, a few peices of live rock, and some other good filteration and wish for the best. I would also use the 29 gallons from the main tank, and maybe some peices of live rock from the main tank, to aviod some cycling.

PH =)

[david]

aah!!! I lost my long post.
I type very slow :cry:
Anyway short version.
5" dsb, and 2 3-5lbs rocks from 110 gal tank 1-250wt 10 mh , 1 powerhead, 1 Aqua-clear300 with 2 sponges in it.
Do you think this would work.
I thought lighting was the more important of the two for anemone's
The anemone catches about 6 fish a year
I built the 110 gal tank to hold a moorish Idol. I thought I could keep the two together. I was wrong, he got my 1 year old idol. :cry: :cry:
After I find or build a good home for the anemone and perhaps clown also.
I will endeavor to pursue raising another Moorish Idol.

Thanks for the help

[Zack]

Good luck with your reef keeping keep us updated

[Pineapple House]

I will endeavor to pursue raising another Moorish Idol.

Wow...how long did you keep the morish alive? I have never seen someone keep one alive for over 4 months, and seem to feed off of rock boring sponges. IMO, they would have to be one of the most diffucult species of fish to keep in captivity.

Do you have any tips for keeping one alive? I would be very interested to know what you did to have one live in your tank :-D

PH =)

[david]

I Got my first Idol from Marine depot live about nov 3 2001.
hoping for a small I received a med to large. Acclimate 1hr, light off and in tank. next day feed am. he's eating. come home @ 30 min lunch , feed
dang this fish is a pig, dinner he eats" Ill describe food and tank later"
early feb. Powder blue tang starts to chase Idol. after 3 weeks of relentless chasing, I returned the pb to the pet store. Idol always ate and was happy again the next day. It took 6.5 hrs to remove the pb and a dragon wrasse that night. changed feeding to 2 times a day at that time. never had any other problems till 9/28/02
Power outage for 8 hrs. I came home to find this out.
when I walked in the room I scared the sideways swimming idol int the now 17" anemone. my copper banded butterfly also vanished that day.
all other fish corals and inverts recovered fine
This idol was very healthy, and i sure he would have lived if the anemone was not in the tank.
:cry:
well that's the story,
As for my tank It is a 110 gal oceanic that i drilled the bottom, goes to about a 30 gallon sump which was divided into 3 sections, First sec is bioballs second sec is a small Hot maddog skimmer made for a 90 gal tank. and 2 large sponges between 2nd and 3rd sec. going to a little giant return pump pushing about 950 gal/hr. I also use sponges on my 2 drains goin to to the sump .There is also a 25 wt uv steraliser built inline, it was only used for 4 weeks after The powder blur tang was put in.
Tank has about 90 lbs live rock 3-6 in esv sand bed, and 680 wt of mixed lighting.
I use b-ionic about once a week, add 7 gal ro water once a week, and do a 15 gal water change every 4-6 weeks
The first food i feed this fish was a home mix.
about 1 lb shrimp, 3 sheets seaweed selects, tablespoon garlic 2 tablespoons coralvite, 1 cup of mixed flake foods and about 6 oz frozen brine. water, freeze.
all my fish loved it. recipe changes every time though.
I also use an automatic feeder that just has tetra bits in it.
also feed 1 sheet of seaweed selects once a week.
Tetra bits is my primary food now that the idol is gone.
""Even if just for a treat or to get fish to start eating I highly recommend the tetrabits.""
FOOD NOTE" my idol didn't seem to like sponge. i tried live that he picked at, and angel formula that he didn't like at all.
no sponge in his diet at all after 12 weeks.
I never had any problems raising the idol, so i don't really have any fixes to problems this fish may have.
2 suggestions for the reef though, no carpet anemone's and a battery powered airstone,
Feel free to ask any other questions

[david]

I cant seem to post any pictures ???

[Pineapple House]

Thank you for your reply David! Seems like you would have kept the idol alive for much longer if it hadn't been stung by the anemone. I almost considered buying one of these maginficant fish, but backed away from their survival rate in captivity, and how difficult they were to take care of. Thanks again!

PH =)

[Pineapple House]

David, to add a picture, either:

A) Get the URL of the picture you would like to add, lets say this smiley face http://www.egri.co.uk/smileys/gocrazy.gif Usually GIF and JPEG/JPG works the best, sometimes HTML is disabled. Once you have the exact URL of the link, put the [.IMG] and [./IMG] around the URL (Without the dots, just using that so it doesn't take it as an URL) and that should work.

B) Click 'Add an Attachment' at the bottom, and enter the filename and any comment. If you click on Posted Attachments, you will see a list of already attached Files and you are able to edit them.
If you want to Replace (Upload new Version) an Attachment, you have to click both links. Add the Attachment as you normally would do, thereafter don't click on Add Attachment, rather click on Upload New Version at the Attachment Entry you intend to update.


If you have anymore questions, just post back :-)

PH =)