Anemones should not be added to tanks less than 6-9 months old in most cases!

[laverda]

Can this be made a sticky? I am sick and tired of reading the constant threads in the tank emergency forum here about dying anemones in tanks that and less than 4 months old in most cases. There are several such threads most weeks.
I have sold hundreds of BTAs locally and people just do not understand why I will not sell them one when I find out their want to put it in a 7 gallon tank that is 4 weeks old to 4 months old. Even some times longer depending on the hobbyist experience/skill level and rock used. While I feel BTAs are very easy to keep in an established tank in the vast majority of cases they do not do well in a tank set up less than 6 months using live rock, or 9 months in the case of tanks set up with dry rock. The only time I would put one in a newer tank (<4 months) is if it was set up with established live rock from another system that had been doing well.

 

[homer1475]

Put a BTA in my tank at 3 weeks all dead dry pukani, and dry sand, sold it 5 years later. Kind of how everyone says SPS shouldn't be added until the 1 year mark, yet people do it all the time and have no issues.

Tell me why this shouldn't be done? All hogwash!

Things like this most certainly should not be a sticky, and probably why it isn't.

Many ways to "skin a cat" so to speak, your's is not the end all, be all way to do things.

 

[laverda]

Your the exception. I don’t know your skill level, but that is a big factor. There is also just plain luck. Just because you were able to does not mean it is a good practice to do so. Look at the tank emergency forum and see how many are about dying anemones in new tanks. The whole point of R2R it to educate people.

 

[homer1475]

Putting limits on when things can be added, is not education. Again like you stated you do not know my experience level. So why should you be the one to tell me I can't do something when I know I can? Thats not educating people, thats assuming every new tank is identical, and every nem added to a new tank is 100% going to die.

Educating someone would be why it can or can't be done, and explaining your stance on why it should or shouldn't be done, not just outright saying do not add until XX date.

 

[laverda]

I am I need no position to inforce any such thing, but it is my recommendation. I do not expect anyone to even try to inforce it. I stated my reasons why I feel that way. I hate seeing all the anemones people are killing. I know darn well that some people will just go by an anemone from someone else when I tell them to wait until their tank is more established. That is their choice and their money to do as they please. Just as I can chose not to sell to them.

 

[homer1475]

I was just trying to point out what you propose is not education, or a reason on why it may not already be a sticky.

Thats not saying I don't agree with you though.

 

[laverda]

Maybe I did not word it very well. My goal is for new hobbyist to kill a few less anemones. To see many less posts about anemones dying.

 

[jreefier]

Maybe I did not word it very well. My goal is for new hobbyist to kill a few less anemones. To see many less posts about anemones dying.

I'm in agreement on the need to have a well established tank before adding nems. Wondering what the specific reason though might be? Is it that there needs to be an over abundance of nitrifying bacteria or something else?

 

[robbyg]

Your the exception. I don’t know your skill level, but that is a big factor. There is also just plain luck. Just because you were able to does not mean it is a good practice to do so. Look at the tank emergency forum and see how many are about dying anemones in new tanks. The whole point of R2R it to educate people.

I 100% agree with you. It really gets to me everytime I see people putting livestock in a tank long before the tank is ready. When I setup a tank I first have to see it fully cycle, go through the GHA stage and then see coraline algae growing all over the rocks. Then I will start to populate it with livestock. That usually takes about one year. I doubt this info will ever become a sticky because to many people in here are invested in selling livestock and products.

 

[Houstoner]

I see more "Dorey's" with ich in small tanks than BTAs in a new system dying. Still, it's just part of the learning curve for some unfortunately.

 

[NS Mike D]

I'm in agreement on the need to have a well established tank before adding nems. Wondering what the specific reason though might be? Is it that there needs to be an over abundance of nitrifying bacteria or something else?

Anyone have an answer?

 

[NanoSteam]

Definitely an exception to the rule here if you know what you're doing. I had a small one in my 20g nano after 1 month and even a small 3" Maxima clam at 2 months. 4 months in now, my BTA has grown nearly double it's size and my clam is showing some nice white shell growth.

 

[laverda]

I know there are exceptions to the rule. I have done it my self. But I set up my new tank with live rock that had been curing for 6 months and seeded with live rock from my old tank. I added 10 anemones with in a month of adding water to my new tank. I used live sand and a lot of the rock and water from my old tank along with the aforementioned cured live rock

 

[homer1475]

I'm in agreement on the need to have a well established tank before adding nems. Wondering what the specific reason though might be? Is it that there needs to be an over abundance of nitrifying bacteria or something else?

Anyone have an answer?

My best guess, would be to get over the noobie mistakes most make. Nems need very stable water conditions to thrive, and as a noobie you'll make lots of mistakes from overdosing, to forgetting about WC's, to forgetting to top off. All of those mistakes lead to "foul" water, and a nem would most likely not make it.

If you aproach the hobby as a water keeper, and not a fish/coral keeper, things tend to thrive in your pristine water. This is how I have always looked at it.