5 Gallon Pest (Anemone) Tank

[reefjon]

Old thread but cool inspiration! Setting up a Lifegard 4.14 Pico. Main attractions will be Bali red mini carpet anemones and hopefully, if I can get my hands on them, some bright gracilis anemones!

 

[SlugSnorter]

Been mulling the idea of a pest tank for quite awhile...and finally pulled the trigger. One of my LFS was closing because the owner is retiring and while browsing through the store, I noticed a lot of different majanos and other hitchhiking anemones. This gave me the push I needed! (Admittedly, I had him nix a few on frags I bought before I decided to do the tank... :/ )

My game plan was to buy or get donated every type of pest and hitchhiker I could find in the LFS as a starting point. These are mostly anemones (aphasia, majanos, gracious, and a bunch of unknowns) along with asterina stars, a few bristle worms, mini brittlestars, Denis, and some poop brown zoas... and for fun, I tossed in a pistol shrimp figuring it needed a new home since it was the last day of the store.

Equipment:

*Marineland Portrait, 5G... started with the idea of a Petco 3.7G but the display area was too small for the amount of rocks with anemones attached I bought (almost had to switch to a Fluval Spec 5G because of this but really wanted this to be in a tall cube for aesthetics)
*Hydor pico 300 pump to replace the stock
*Reclaimed NatGeo 25W heater from My one of my FW tanks (btw, this is one of the best preset heaters imo)
*I also bought a hydor 180 in case i needed more flow but decided not to use it... the Pico 300 open wode has more than enough flow.
*Filtration wise, I am using stock media basket, and pads for now
*Light-wise, still undecided. I bought a Fluval Sea Nano (the older model with 156 LEDs) cheap off eBay for about $50 to use for this project. I also have a new Kessil A80 that i might try for more interesting color.

Water wise, my first fill is 50% from my existing tank and 50% filtered NSW. I am toying with the idea of future changes using dechlorinated tap based on water report for my city showing relatively low TDS, and this is a tank of the unwanteds, after all.

Here are a few shots of the tank in progress...with rocks in near final arrangement. Like playing with a jigsaw puzzle... trying to fit all those rocks in such a tight space while also wanting to easily see every rock / variety from the front. I may play with this some more...

For fun, how many different anemones can you spot / recognize?

Get a mummichog for extra atmosphere weird tank feeling

 

[NanoCrazed]

Old thread but cool inspiration! Setting up a Lifegard 4.14 Pico. Main attractions will be Bali red mini carpet anemones and hopefully, if I can get my hands on them, some bright gracilis anemones!

Sadly, I had a bit of a mishap... resulting in all my gracilis going bye bye. But, if you are in need to source some, I can see if folks I;ve sold in gracilis to in the past might have some to spare.

 

[reefjon]

Sadly, I had a bit of a mishap... resulting in all my gracilis going bye bye. But, if you are in need to source some, I can see if folks I;ve sold in gracilis to in the past might have some to spare.

That would be great! Cool if they're local or willing to ship to the Bay Area in California!

 

[NanoCrazed]

That would be great! Cool if they're local or willing to ship to the Bay Area in California!

Ironically, i am in the Bay Area. Lol.

Lemme ping the other folks and see if any of them has any to spare

 

[reefjon]

Ironically, i am in the Bay Area. Lol.

Lemme ping the other folks and see if any of them has any to spare

Thanks in advance! Crossing my fingers

 

[flexJoly]

@NanoCrazed How is your tank doing??

I am new to the saltwater variant of fish-keeping. And I am starting a low-tech low-budget tank. I want it to be as natural as possible. I got a big live rock with 5 or more anemones.
But everywhere people say: get rid of them as soon as possible.

I like your idea very much. And would like to know if it works out well.
Greetz, flexJoly

 

[NanoCrazed]

@NanoCrazed How is your tank doing??

I am new to the saltwater variant of fish-keeping. And I am starting a low-tech low-budget tank. I want it to be as natural as possible. I got a big live rock with 5 or more anemones.
But everywhere people say: get rid of them as soon as possible.

I like your idea very much. And would like to know if it works out well.
Greetz, flexJoly

After my mishap, I restarted it with some new random nems and some invasive algae... still very much no maintenance and organic. Great desk tank...