Dipping Into The Salty Side

[Boundava]

Tanks looking great.

Did you add another Bubble tip or just keep the existing one? They look fab but a bubble tip is one of my biggest regrets in my 20g as they multiply like crazy and make a total nuisance of them selves.

So I did add a second bubble tip anemone to the tank. My first one lost its tentacles(?) but is still hanging on. I read they can do that and if you feed them directly (since they can't photosynthesize without them) that they will eventually grow back.

My newest bubble tip is doing great and has kept the bubble tip shape. I think it is because there is no clown or porcelain crab trying to host in in and stress it out. One of the reasons I won't get another clown or more crabs. Also the possum wrasse likes to eat crabs so another reason to not add crabs.
Haven't had any issues with the bubbletip splitting which is supposed to mean they're happy.

 

[Colin_T]

Anemones do not need fish, shrimp or crabs to live.

They can photosynthesise without tentacles. Any part of their body that has symbiotic algae in can photosynthesise.

Anemones should be fed a bit of marine mix (prawn, fish squid) a couple of times a week. Cut the meat food up into little bits and offer a few bits each feed. Do not give them big pieces of food or a lot of food because they will take it all in and then spit it out a few hours later. That will pollute the tank and potentially kill everything in it from ammonia poisoning.

It's preferable to only have one anemone per tank because they are territorial and fight (chemical warfare). Normally if you have two in a tank, one will be on each side of the tank in an attempt to get away from the other.

Anemones can divide once a year if well fed and looked after. It's one way they reproduce. They slowly over the course of a week or two, divide into two anemones and one will stay put while the other half moves away. You need to keep the tank clean for a month after this happens because they are more likely to die straight after this.

 

[Uzbekujofo]

So at the end of December- before Christmas, my sister got herself the Fluval EVO 13.5 saltwater tank kit. Normally I don't like kits, but based on some reviews and videos it seemed the kit was decent.

She got a custom insert for the filter area to better take advantage of the space, added a Finnex titanium heater and got a custom insert for the lid opening (feeding opening) to cover it and cut down on evaporation

She had some Aragonite sand already from a Shellie tank she set up in the past. She also got some live rock from Fish Planet and got a Kenyan tree coral. Next week we went looking for a clown fish, my Sis has wanted one for a long time (dreaming of a reef tank for a while) and had an idea of the variety she wanted. She found a domino clown and named him Sir Gilbert, but I didn't know that they were so darn active and nicknamed him Mr. Wiglsby...he just doesn't stop moving! Sis also got three redleg hermit crabs and a handful of empty shells, one turned out to be a free snail. Also added a second coral; a rico- also known as a mushroom coral.

We added a squat lobster a couple days later. Sis got him/her from Fish Planet. During this time one hermit decided he wanted another's she'll and so tore him limb by time to evict him, even though we have a slew of empty shells waiting for a new tenant. It was horrifying brutal so we are down a hermit.

Last week we also stopped at the Petco in Kenosha which has a surprising nice selection of saltwater fish and corals. That's where we got a Duncan coral frag. We are hooked on corals!

Just yesterday we checked out two new to us fish stores. The one in Elgin- Zooxae; was more of a showroom, beautiful and slightly overwhelming. There were some coral we were interested in learning about, but the staff all seemed too busy to help us so we left .
We then went to Beyond the Reef in Schaumburg. They had a very nice selection of frags and both salt and freshwater fish/supplies. We got two more corals, a rainbow acan and a toadstool. I also got some aponogetons for my 125, and Sis got herself a goby and pistol shrimp pair for the reef tank.

We would like to add another acan and possibly one or two more ricordea, Sis also wants to add one more fish, but is still deciding on what species.

I was going to get some photos but my phone died on me last night. I am finishing typing this at my work break and will try to add photos when I get home later this aftern

 

[simonas]

Anemones do not need fish, shrimp or crabs to live.

They can photosynthesise without tentacles. Any part of their body that has symbiotic algae in can photosynthesise.

Anemones should be fed a bit of marine mix (prawn, fish squid) a couple of times a week. Cut the meat food up into little bits and offer a few bits each feed. Do not give them big pieces of food or a lot of food because they will take it all in and then spit it out a few hours later. That will pollute the tank and potentially kill everything in it from ammonia poisoning.

It's preferable to only have one anemone per tank because they are territorial and fight (chemical warfare). Normally if you have two in a tank, one will be on each side of the tank in an attempt to get away from the other.

Anemones can divide once a year if well fed and looked after. It's one way they reproduce. They slowly over the course of a week or two, divide into two anemones and one will stay put while the other half moves away. You need to keep the tank clean for a month after this happens because they are more likely to die straight after this.

That sounds nothing like Bubble Tips in my experience Colin is that from your experience or cut and paste?

Only because every time I have kept bubble tips they have lived happily with their clones and show no signs of fighting or moving unlike corals who will attack each other.
They are bullet proof things and will split multiple times a year and pretty much any tank with one in will end up taken over by them.

As much as I love them I regret getting one. I recently moved a few on and only have three in my tank now

 

[Colin_T]

It's from personal experience when I had them at home. They got along in the shop but when I put them in my tanks, only one would survive. And when they divided, one always stayed put and the other went as far away as it could.

 

[simonas]

It's from personal experience when I had them at home. They got along in the shop but when I put them in my tanks, only one would survive. And when they divided, one always stayed put and the other went as far away as it could.

How bizarre, I only asked as mine in different reef tanks have been the opposite.

Lovely looking things though

 

[Boundava]

So my older anatomy currently looks like a scallop. It has no color so there's no way for it to photosynthesize. Hence the feeding. Once it grows tentacles and has color again then I will just let it be. Along with my sis shrimp I also feed the tank with the rods poly eggs and the corals seem to love that they all grab some and then close up to digest. I also add phytoplankton daily to the tank.

I know other anemone are supposed to be highly territorial as we were researching building a 60 gallon anemone tank. Bubble tips are supposed to be the most peaceful of all anemone

How bizarre, I only asked as mine in different reef tanks have been the opposite.

Lovely looking things though

I agree, these are my favorite in appearance and temperament.
Flower anemones are beautiful but very aggressive to other anemone from what I have read.

 

[Boundava]

So a video on the tank at feeding time, also a little peek at my Sister's 12gallon- the Fluval Evo.

 

[Boundava]

Two new additions for the tank. Wanted to add some gobies and went with the orange clown since Fish Planet had them in stock and they in no way resemble the blenny which would trigger aggression. They had two other blenny that were longer in body and I decided not to change it.

I was going to order a green clown from live aquaria, but I can't take any time off to be home for the delivery. I asked Steve, the owner of Fish Planet if he was able to get them, he said they weren't common and wouldn't recommend since I have the two orange clowns. He said the green was a little bigger and more territorial. He did say that he has seen the possum wrasse and will keep an eye out for one for me.

 

[Boundava]

Oops forgot the video, lol

 

[Boundava]

Welcome Lemonheads!

Hello to Gonzo (above/below)

And Scooter the Hawke fish

 

[Colin_T]

Do the water pumps get turned down any time during the day or night?
There seems like a lot of water movement and even in the ocean there are calm periods when the tides are changing. If you don't turn them down I would turn one off at night so there is less movement when the fish are trying to sleep.

 

[Boundava]

Been a bit since I posted. Tank is doing well, a couple small issues. First issue is my lobo coral died
I added 3 leather corals (they are small).

Although I always dip the corals, I have a nice budding (pun intended) population of aptasia. When I saw one I would treat with Aptasia-X, but they are a bit numerous and hard to get too.

Reading up I learned that there are some natural ways to deal with them.
*Peppermint shrimp - love aptasia but when the pest is gone they can eat other corals. I also have Scooter, my Hawke fish which loves to eat invertebrates...
*Aptasia eating File fish - also eats aptasia but if there is other food available it may eat that.
*Berghia nudibranch eats only aptasia. This makes them hard to find and a bit pricey.

So I wound up finding some Berghia and added a few more snails to my order. They were small (1/4" long, of that) but I do see a decline on the aptasia I could see on the tank. They can grow to over an inch so hopefully I will be able to see them in a couple weeks. They are prolific breeders as well. Only downside is that eating only aptasia, when the food is gone they die. I am hoping to be able to catch the larger ones and bring them to Fish Planet as there two coral/frag tanks are overrun with aptasia.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

So aptasia are basically giant, salt-water hydra? They sound nasty. Hope those berghias do the job for you. Wouldn't it be weird if you end up needing to add more aptasia to keep your bergias alive...Kind of like the problem I had adding assassin snails to my trumpet snail nursery rice paddy tank, but they killed off all the trumpet snails, which altered the water chemistry, which killed off the assassin snails.

 

[Boundava]

They are an anemone and are prolific so are able to take over very quickly.

I hope to not add more aptasia intentionally, but they will hitchhike on other corals.

I dunno if I can add too much more corals on my tank, they will have to be frags as the substrate is pretty full of coral and liverock.

Always nice to hear from you Tom!