I can't keep anemones alive

[Huma Huma]

I have been doing salt water for around 10 years and I recognize that I can't do reef stuff so I have tried over the years to do various anemones.  I had a large green carpet for several years but I have a hard time even keeping the condy anemones going.  They will last a week to 10 days and then die.  I have a power head and some clowns ( I know they are not needed for anemones).  At Congressional Aquarium they tested the water frequently and it is fine. One guy says some people just can't keep anemones.  The fish live and are happy, Just can't keep anemones going.  Any ideas?  Thanks

[A.ocellaris]

Hello

[bues0022]

 One guy says some people just can't keep anemones. 

 

Wrong.

 

What SHOULD have been stated: "Some people's tanks are not setup properly to provide the conditions necessary to keep anemones alive". Anyone can keep an anemone, if you know the species specific requirements and can meet those requirements.

 

While water quality is very important, what are your lights? What size of tank do you have? How much flow? How much rockwork? Can you post a picture of your tank? 

[rt502]

Light and clean (but not too clean) water for nems, along with at least some water movement. If the fish were always okay, it was probably the light and flow. Was it a reef light? What were the settings? It doesn't have to be anything fancy (I use a $60 macegrow on my nano and the nem is beautifully colored up and growing - not affiliated but link below). If you have the correct lighting, did you ramp it up or blast the nems with light was right? As for flow, was the nem receiving direct or indirect flow from the powerhead? More information about your setup would help. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079JTB5Q5/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Myers71]

Have you checked for copper in your system? When I set up my basement fish room originally I made the noob mistake of plumbing in brass valves which leached copper. Couldn’t keep any corals or inverts alive for long. Upside no ich

 

Also could be the specimens you are getting are not healthy to begin with. Try Fintastic up in Frederick. Have had good luck with them.

 

I have 2 bta that, once they survived the first few weeks and found their “happy place”, have been super hardy. Easier than many other corals I have tried (acans, elegance, hammers, etc).

 

Get a good set of test kits and test your water yourself. Or try Triton to get a complete report.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AlanM]

Come to our next meeting with Bob Fenner to hear how to care for anemones.  I had trouble keeping one happy in a school tank where nitrates were frequently higher than I'd want and light levels were too low to keep coral.

[gmerek2]

Helped me a lot to buy local. They don’t ship well and have trouble making the adjustment from ocean to captivity. Unfortunately like others had mentioned they like cleaner water so excellent nitrate phosphate test kits are a must if they aren’t doing well. But not too clean like someone mentioned. I like to just keep the stuff detectable on my Red Sea kits.

Edited September 27, 2018 by gmerek2

[Huma Huma]

The tank is a 65 gal. tall.  Has a powerhead mounted to the side, aqueon filter in the back.  Lighting is a Coralife ML90622-900.  I have the light on for 5 hours in the evening.  Live rock in the back halfway up. Hope this helps.  Yes I am going to go to the seminar on the 20th.

[Neto]

There is a RBTA that has been shared in the wamas community for a while that survives pretty much everything. I used to have the same problems with BTA's but I got this one and it has held very well for over 6 months.

[bues0022]

I am not familiar with that light. However, I suspect you have both not enough light and not enough flow. Lack of light is likely worse than flow (short term that you are killing them that is). What kind of powerhead do you have? Picture of the tank?

 

Copper is another good idea for the problems, especially considering how quickly they die. Do you have any other inverts (snails, crabs?)

Edited September 28, 2018 by bues0022

[AlanM]

Unfortunately none of your hardware sounds like the type that would support hard coral which is what you'll need to keep anemone, especially carpet anemone, happy.