The Big Switchover

[qwikimpss]

Corals may be coming down the line later on. I want to really get some good experience with just a FOWLR tank first.

Well, unfortunately, there is no need to worry further about my firefish. It died a little earlier tonight. I really think it just didn't acclimate well (even though I drip acclimated for a few hours). All the other fish are healthy, colorful and well so I'm not too worried about the tank as a whole.

 

[qwikimpss]

I may have made a total impulse buy this weekend.

The PetCo nearest to me had some good sized (8-10 inch in across) rose bubble tip anenomes mislabeled. What should have cost in the range of 50-60 dollars was only $6.49. That was such a steal I couldn't pass it up.

The anenome is currently in one of my friend's tanks as my lighting isn't strong enough right now for it. I am going to order a new T-5 fixture this weekend for the tank. Right now I have 80 watts of normal flourescent lighting on the tank. I'm having an internal debate with myself on whether or not to buy one dual 52 watt T-5, one quad 52 watt or double up on dual fixtures. I found on DrsFosterSmith two dual 52s that work out cheaper than a single quad unit.

I know that the purchase of the BTA was totally ill-advised so flame away at me, I fully understand that. I just couldn't pass it by.

All my water stats look good. Ph of 8.2, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5ppm of nitrate as of testing earlier tonight. I am confident that I will be able to keep the anenome just fine, with a few preparations, of course.

 

[ainsy]

I'm not going to flame you but you are right it is ill-advised. Whilst BTA's are one of the nems that require less intense lighting they certainly need more than you are providing. You may be able to keep it alive short term with target feeding but in the long term you will need considerably more light.

You will also find that they are very, very intolerant of poor water quality and with nitrAtes of 5 it will not be at all happy. You may find that it starts to exhibit this by wandering around the tank looking for better conditions. You need to find some way of exporting those nutrients ASAP.

I think that it may be a good idea to consider returning it until you have done some more research and really understood their requirements.

 

[Donya]

What! Since when does Petco have anemones?! Yikes. I know many of them attempt to have marine departments, but I really wish they wouldn't; I've got one of those stores practically on my doorstep but have only set foot in it out of desperation because of how it keeps its livestock. The sheer disease count has been enough to scare me away from them. Of course, I know there are rare good ones as I used to go to one in another state many, many years back; I guess the one where you found this BTA must have its act together more than the norm to have had the nems survive.

The anenome is currently in one of my friend's tanks as my lighting isn't strong enough right now for it.

Very cool that you were able to have that as an option; I assume you took it because that tank has the better lighting.

From my own experiences having had a 2xT5HO and then later 4xT5HO fixture, I would strongly recommend a 4x over a 2x; it's worth the extra bit of money. I'm aware of plenty of success cases with BTAs under 2x, but mainly with seasoned BTA keepers who always recommend not doing it as a first time anemone keeper. I can't think dual 2x fixtures would be better than a single, similar-spec 4x...unless it's that the 2x ones are really massively better models.

Additionally (and also an argument for the higher bulb count), you will probably find that with the increased light, your nitrates will go down too since you'll have increased photosynthetic growth. Just be ready with an algae scraper to keep the glass clean; I had to dramatically increase my snail count when I upgraded my lighting.

Finally: protect your intakes if you aren't prepared for that already!