What I need for my 55g?

[Marine2015]

I want to purchase a new 55g tank. The main inhabitants will be a pair of percula clown fishes, some sort of anemone, maybe a few other small fishes. The main thing I want is a nice anemone with 2 clowns. Do anemone's require bright lighting or will 2 flourecents be fine? I will have about 50 pounds of live rock, an inch of subsrate and a cpr bak pak filter. Is this going to be enough? Help me out here guys? :|

[steve1s]

Marine2015,

Any hosting anemone that would pair with percula's will require high intensity light. NO flourencent lights will not do. Over 80% of their nutrition comes from zooxanthellae, in which they convert the sugars produced from that into food. Without proper lighting you would need to supplimentally feed regularly, which can either overstress the anemone's system or it will grow too large and would need to be relocated. Both could easily result in it's death. I should also point out that most anemone's that perculas will call home grow much too large naturally to be housed in a 55g.

I would strongly advise against the anemone until the tank is at least a year old or longer. They do not tolerate unstable conditions and are extremely sensative to changes. You should also be aware that if corals are to be added to the tank, the anemone will most asuradley become a nuisance and should really be considered carefully, if at all. The percula's you want to keep do not require a host to thrive, just each other. It is a proven fact that anemone's live much longer and happier without host fish and the same is true of the fish. :D

Mated pairs of clowns will live very happy long lives without and anemone. They can/will adopt just about any coral or cave as a home and will produce offspring just as easily. You should also be aware that even if after you get the perfect matched anemone, there is still a 50/50 chance the clown won't go near it.

Sorry if this sounds a bit preachy, I just want to make sure that you know what you are getting yourself into and the success rate is quite low, especially for the anemone. 8)

Cheers
Steve

[Marine2015]

Steve1s-
Thanks for the reply. You sound like you know what your talking about. The fishstore that I buy from though seems to differ. They have their anemone in a 55g with 4 40w NO bulbs. Maybe they are okay being in there for just a short amount of time? They also told me that it would be fine in a tank my size. Another question, if all Ill be keeping is mushrooms will my bak pak filter be enough?

[steve1s]

The BAkPAk would be fine for mushrooms and so will the light for the most part. I would stay away from ricordia's though.

As long as you are mindful of your filtration and keep the animal load low you will be fine. There are several low light corals that can be kept successfully. FYI, most corals add very little to the bio load.

Did the LFS happen to give you the name of the anemone?

About the only ones I am aware of that will survive under low light are condylactis, tube, aiptasia, majano and curlycue. None of which a clown would go to. The only exception would be a tank raised perc, I have personally seen them go to a condy on extremely rare occassions.

Cheers
Steve

[Marine2015]

Steve1s-
Ricordias? I dont know what those are :|
Unfortunatly the LFS didnt tell me exactly what kind of anemone it was that I was looking at. They put all their anemone is this one tank though, the one I was looking at was white with pink tips on it. He said it clowns should host it. Your right though, I wouldnt add the anemone anytime soon, just mushrooms for now. Heres another question, if I were to get 4 55w CF lights, what would and wouldnt I be able to keep? I keep reading that you need halides for clams. I dont really want clams so Im not gonna worry about them.

[Lahatiel]

I don't want to discourage you, but some LFS's will lead you down the path of death just to make a sale. Not all, but some...these guys know their stuff, take heed to what they have to say.

And you're right, most anemones in shops are only there temporarily so the lighting isn't that critical from their standpoint.

Just as an example, before I found this board sometime 18 months ago, a LFS told me a baby yellow tang would be fine in my tank. (Well it was almost a baby, not real big yet) It was fine for 6 months until he hit a growth spurt and now he is resting in peace from a mistake I made in not researching properly.

My tank is a 29 gallon, he knew it, and to host a tang you would need a 75 gallon.

I am sure there are more horror stories out there, mine is just an example of being lead down the wrong path for a sales sake.

Take care and good luck!

[steve1s]

A white anemone with pink tip could be a Hatian (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=3843), Condy (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=23&pCatId=619) or if in poor health a Sebae (http://www.marinedepotlive.com/1123874.html). Sebae will most times have dark purple tips though and have short tentacles and large oral disc. The Hatian/Condy will have long tentacles and smaller oral disc.

With 4x55w Compact Flourescent light you would be able to move on to other soft corals (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?siteid=22&pCatId=600) and some LPS corals (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?siteid=22&pCatId=321), space permitting and the tank is a little more mature and stable.

Stay away from Carnations, kenya tree corals and others that require intense care until you are more familiar with corals in general. Some LPS's to avoid are Goniopora, alveapora and Elegence. They do not survive well in the home aquarium and should be avoided.

SPS corals and clams should really be avoided unless you have MH, there are a few that can be kept under PC/VHO but since you are not stearing that way I won't go into it. :D

Ricordia (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=22&pCatId=658)

Cheers
Steve

[steve1s]

One thing I forgot to mention about the anemone's that is very important.

A white anemone is usually a sign of very poor health. It means that they have lost their zooxanthellae (http://www.seasky.org/aquarium/sea3a.html#Zooxanthellae). In most cases they never get it back and will slowly degrade over many months if not sooner. It is usually caused from poor transit, collecting or poor husbandry.

Cheers
Steve

[michealprater]

Steve1s,
Why stay away from ricordias? Is it because of his lighting or another reason? Under the right lighting I thought they were very hardy.

[steve1s]

Steve1s,
Why stay away from ricordias? Is it because of his lighting or another reason? Under the right lighting I thought they were very hardy.

I was refering to the light specs listed in the first post. NO lights will not support ricordia's very well. They may survive but the intense flourescent colors many of them have would be greatly diminished.

With PC/VHO light there would be no issue.

Cheers
Steve