traveller7

Great question. Perc's and Ocellaris tend to be a bit more gentle on anemones then some of the bigger bruisers. It is still a good idea to try and stay in the 3x anemone to 1x clown ratio. Reason being, quite a few clowns chew on tentacles. I would expect the female to let in the male in a few weeks, especially if you get that anemone to grow out a bit ;>)

When body mass is sustainable by the amount of food captured or absorbed from symbiotic algae, growth phase will begin. I have had a few recover from golfball size tentacleless bleached unidentifiable masses, unfortunately, most do not recover. Good news, you have some time if it is 3" or greater across. Just patiently ID what actions correspond with its reaction, patiently try other foods until it takes one. If it does not grab food over the next week, we can meet up somewhere and I'll give you a large chunk of lancefish....it rarely fails :>)

Normal BTA behavior and reaction. Even with a natural division. fwiw: expect it to find a hole, heal up over about 1 week, acclimate to lighting, and be ready to actually eat around day 7. Before then a sliced anemone does not typically have a fully closed oral cavity. Many times I have watched them catch food, move it to half a mouth and have it float away 20 mins later :D

Combination of 1/4"-1/2" tentacle length and lack of eating are a cause for concern with BTAs. Tending toward reverse lighting cycle is a bit of a concern. I would likely shield it from some light or raise the fixture a bit. See if the mid day shrink stops. I would also check the pH and see if the values shift substantially in the morning, mid day, evening. That or see if the actions correspond with a dosing cycle. If the tentacles continue to shrink over the next few weeks, it is consuming itself. They can recover, but over the next week or so it would be a good idea monitor it for changes. Good luck.

Should be possible. fwiw: I try to build in quick disconnects so that the pendant can be taken down and cleaned/bulb changed without dragging along the ballast.

Most will eat thawed mysis just fine.

Don't see a picture in the gallery, but price alone tends to indicate an Atlantic Condylactis species. They are fairly tolerant of lighting variations, fairly aggressive with nearby corals, tend to wander, tend to shrink up over time, and rarely are called home by clownfish. Can gather more information on them by searching: Condy, Haitian Anemone, pink tipped anemone. Good luck and feed it 1cmx1cm meaty fish based meals every other day to keep it happy.

Sounds like a story to be told over beverages and brick oven pizza.

A few of my clowns have a taste for cleaner shrimp, one female(chyrsogaster) in particular wiped out a breeding colony of scarlet cleaners before I caught her in the act. I doubt a perc would be able to kill the shrimp, unless it molted, and got too close to her home. Even a small hogfish can be quite opportunistic. With the trend of missing peppermints and now a cleaner, add some food an hour of so after lights out...if they don't show up, I would not add any more to that system.

Most will move if they flow is perpendicular to the column and actually making a small impression in the column. I use a minijet 404 for such duty. In this case, I would remove the rock because a slight move does not sound like much success.

For serious propagation efforts, isolating from other critters would be best. Only things that have survived massive natural divisions have been some shrooms and my clowns. We are talking about 10-12 anemones dividing within a few days of each other. Lots of chemicals, etc., released. Not sure there is a fixed rule on clones, single species, but I have some that run away from BTAs of which they are not cloned, while clones frequently cluster. It is anecdotal, but a few of the other Anemone choppers seem to have the same experience. Scars last for quite some time; i.e. damaged tentacles, etc. I'll think about "marking" a bit while observing a batch of mine tonight ;>)

You did not really like that rock configuration did you? fwiw: If the shrimp are being predatory, long term does not bode well for a stressed anemone. Stressed anemones slime up(many shrimp seem attracted to this), don't eat quickly, lose the ability to generate stinging cells, lose symbiotic algae, etc., in a cycle of decline.

Nice mix to such a project: No hosting but anemone tolerant species, i.e. Banggai Cardinals. Non hosting so the anemones can recover, tolerant of the shed nematocysts. Feed tons of mysis and brine, consistent water changes, etc. Might be able to trigger a 2 for propagation project ;>) fwiw: If that was the route to take, make sure to let the anemones finish sliming in separate containers before returning manual divisions to the tank. Why push the tolerance factor fwiw2: Chip's smallish dividers are good candidates for the proposed system, I would avoid the monsters from mine; 2 or 3 would fill the tank :D fwiw3: 48" to long for your space? 48" shop lights on one of Tom's IC430 ballasts would be the way to go.

BTAs can survive quite a bit of disection, when they are healthy at the start. In the situation described, I would not recommend that course of action. Is it attached to rock, glass, pipe, etc? Is it not getting light in that position, is it possible to move some rock/etc to allow light to reach it? Is it getting direct feeding? BTAs can survive in a bleached condition for years when directly fed. To get it to move, release, ice cubes at attachment point, powerhead pointed at the base of the column frequently triggers a move, putting a point light source right over it will likely trigger a move, etc.

Yep, they keep me hanging around on RC for some reason. Frankly, I am still learning about these critters every day. Dropped a few opinions in on the other post.

Howdy Dave, Lots 'o ?'s there :>) IMHO: 1. Sexual breeding is not a good target for this project. Only successful events I know of were aquariums with flow through sea water and natural sunlight. Should not be anything in the way of cross breeding red/green/orange/brown/etc, but again I would skip it without a greenhouse. 2. If sexually breeding them is out, the alternative is natural or manual division. In this case, it's best to stick with single parent line clones. I have had interesting results when mixing non-related specimens, I figure I would skip potential headaches for such a project if I was intensely dividing them. 3. Not aware of anyway to permanently mark them, although folks have dyed anemones for years.....not a good option. 4. PCs with enough intensity are fine. 5. Proposed design sounds fine if not over kill. Calfo's recommendations are typically rubbermaid type tubs with indoor outdoor carpet on the bottom to allow easy removal for division. I prefer rubbermaids and put divisions in the plastic pond planting baskets.

Ocean Nutrition Very High Protein:http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...amp;pcatid=8156

I am not sure what Anthony recommends these days, I prefer VHP over Formula 1. Since most folks don't play with VHP much, I would assume most recommend Formula 1. If the mysis does not provoke much of a response, try fish based, non gel binder meals like cut silversides or lancefish. Not a bad treat for larger clowns either, my Gasters go crazy for lancefish. If the clown is stressing the anemone, you may want to try feeding after lights out or early before lights come on. Clowns tend to become quite lethargic overnight. fwiw: If you need to catch a clown, wait until the lights have been out for a few hours and scoop them right out of the anemone without much effort at all fwiw2: An anemone missing a few meals is not a large concern as long as the tentacles are not shrinking, it isn't going into hiding etc. Post a current picture, stress indicators are pretty visible Cheers.

In my experience, VHP is the better option within the Ocean Nutrition line, it does not disolve as quickly. Not to mention, if the anemone is not showing a distinct feeding response, I would not presume it is feeding. If you have to worry about the food being centrally located, there is a problem. It is a rare piece of brine, mysis, or other meaty food that flows by a tentacle in my tanks. regardless of flow. If the anemone does not grab the food right out of the water and drag it in, it is not the right food. BTAs can get quite large(20" across) and withstand much more abuse at such size. Smaller ones in a group tend to have the abuse spread around allowing them to tolerate it better.

First, the anemone should be getting meaty foods, i.e. mysis, cut fish(silversides/lancefish), krill, etc. Second, when feeding the proper foods, the anemone should grab the food with tentacles and bring it to it's mouth. Skip the funnel and the turkey baster(with the exception of getting mysis in the general area when spot feeding other inverts). Anemone may be getting a bit beat up by the clowns, post a picture :>)

I have a hammerhead you can try, ran for a few days, too much, went to the cuda. Hammerhead is in the box ready to roll. Of course my system was engineered properly, so a pressure pump was unnecessary :D

Thanks and no, both tanks have 1/4 to 1/2" of Seachem Gray Coast sand. It is a steel blue/gray color. First picture was bb, added the sand later ;>)

For that application, I need to get off the dime on the Japanese spotlights to dodge the wife barrier :D Not to mention, I have something a bit more custom in mind for the filtration. Thankfully we have a local manufacturer that is up to the task ;>)

For this application, quite a few reasons: 1. Tanks are in the back of my home theater, noise is bad. 2. Two distinct anemones species, H. crispa and E. quadricolor, which are not happy mixed in small water volumes. 3. These are breeder tanks and they may require some changes to get the pairs started again. Isolation is more flexible. 4. Simplicity and security :>) 5. Did I mention I want them quiet :D

Current: Front and corner view of both: Individual top then bottom front view: Near term changes coming: - Nano Reef Pack for the bottom tank - Add and hide top off tubing for both tanks - Add Black diffusion grating to both tanks instead of glass/white eggcrate - Add Moonlights to DIY Regents - Possible Nano Reef Pack for top - Possible Nano Streams to both - Definite clean up of cabling once gear is final (it bugs me to see those wires under the stand a and in the tank :D