Cold water anemone tank

ClownWrangler

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Is anyone in the U.S. growing beaded anemones or other cold water types. I know there are some in the UK doing it, where they are abundant. I'm interested in starting a Coldwater tank, possibly nems and macro algae only with a few other inverts, but I'm not sure which ones can be mixed and more importantly, where to obtain them.

Here are a few I am interested in:

Giant Green anemone (anthopleura xanthogrammica)
Beadlet anemone (Actinia equina)
painted anemone (Urticina crassicornis)
White-spotted rose anemone (Cribrinopsis albopunctata)
 

CanuckReefer

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Is anyone in the U.S. growing beaded anemones or other cold water types. I know there are some in the UK doing it, where they are abundant. I'm interested in starting a Coldwater tank, possibly nems and macro algae only with a few other inverts, but I'm not sure which ones can be mixed and more importantly, where to obtain them.

Here are a few I am interested in:

Giant Green anemone (anthopleura xanthogrammica)
Beadlet anemone (Actinia equina)
painted anemone (Urticina crassicornis)
White-spotted rose anemone (Cribrinopsis albopunctata)
I wish you luck with this... when diving out in BC I have never seen such beautiful variety of Nems...and Starfish for that matter. How bout a Coldwater Nem and Star tank? Would be an outstanding looking creation imo.
 

CanuckReefer

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lots of complicated laws but email the dude hell totally help you
Thats a sweet site....good find. I imagine several of the BC and Cali species are same. Water temps a bit colder up here, but by probably what? Mid to low sixties in Cali and high fifties in BC in summer both?
 

Micro-Reefs Aquarium

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theres also a cold water aquarium facebook group thats suuuppeerrr helpful. @Micro-Reefs Aquarium is frequently there I believe. They have hobbiests around the world along with the people that collect and retail them.
I am in a holding pattern with the CDFW for the last 3 months. I have some rangers in California trying to guide me in the correct license/permit that we require to order nems from MATSU collection.

In 2012, Cold Water Marine Aquatics in Oregon and I were vendors for pioneering temperate aquariums and corals and fish, as unique as it was in 2012 it has been a lot of red tape with obtaining the correct license and permits from Caliornia as CWMA closed in Oregon.

Here is the link the Reef Builders did on me back then:


Please give me more time with the CDFW they have been emailing me back, two options are available they just want to solidify that I am not trying to resale livestock, but rather just want to purchase it for my systems.

As soon as more develops, I will let all know.

Thanks,

Micro-Reefs Aquariums LLC
 

Micro-Reefs Aquarium

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Is anyone in the U.S. growing beaded anemones or other cold water types. I know there are some in the UK doing it, where they are abundant. I'm interested in starting a Coldwater tank, possibly nems and macro algae only with a few other inverts, but I'm not sure which ones can be mixed and more importantly, where to obtain them.

Here are a few I am interested in:

Giant Green anemone (anthopleura xanthogrammica)
Beadlet anemone (Actinia equina)
painted anemone (Urticina crassicornis)
White-spotted rose anemone (Cribrinopsis albopunctata)
I responded just above, you may ask any question you have directly if you like?
 

reefruss

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Mid to low sixties in Cali and high fifties in BC in summer both?
Depends on where you are in California. I never seen it more that 66 in my area but I'm north of Point Conception. Usually the water is colder than I want to get in for any length of time. As far as collecting anything, I'm sure it against many laws here in the peoples republic of California.
 

AquaticEngineer

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Depends on where you are in California. I never seen it more that 66 in my area but I'm north of Point Conception. Usually the water is colder than I want to get in for any length of time. As far as collecting anything, I'm sure it against many laws here in the peoples republic of California.

Hard part with a lot of the reported temperatures is that they are surface temps, or taken close to shore, which may be fine for some inter tidal critters. Ideally you want to find an average of temperatures taken at depth, which usually comes out to 55-60F which is what most people run their tanks at.

In the coldwater game lower temp is always better.

As for collecting in California, there are some invertebrates you can take with just a sport fishing license. IIRC fish are a no go, but if you can find live ones at a bait shop or seafood market that's one legal way to obtain some (Thats how I got my first Sarcastic Fringehead). There is also some gray areas if you dig deep enough (like collecting 1000 feet from shore and below the low tide mark, dont quote me on that, lol) but the easiest answer to obtaining California livestock is to buy it from a licensed collector like www.matsucollections.com :)

I'll be gearing back up and getting out in the water collecting for myself at first once I get situated out in New Hampshire next month. Should have tanks up and running by end of year, and planning on importing from Europe first and bringing in lots of Beadlet Anemones (Actinia equina), Snakelock Anemones (Anemonia viridis), and Jeweled Anemones (Corynactis viridis) to start with and will be propagating them along with some of the North american species I know where and how to legally obtain still :)

So stay tuned if you're into coldwater ;)
 

Micro-Reefs Aquarium

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Hard part with a lot of the reported temperatures is that they are surface temps, or taken close to shore, which may be fine for some inter tidal critters. Ideally you want to find an average of temperatures taken at depth, which usually comes out to 55-60F which is what most people run their tanks at.

In the coldwater game lower temp is always better.

As for collecting in California, there are some invertebrates you can take with just a sport fishing license. IIRC fish are a no go, but if you can find live ones at a bait shop or seafood market that's one legal way to obtain some (Thats how I got my first Sarcastic Fringehead). There is also some gray areas if you dig deep enough (like collecting 1000 feet from shore and below the low tide mark, dont quote me on that, lol) but the easiest answer to obtaining California livestock is to buy it from a licensed collector like www.matsucollections.com :)

I'll be gearing back up and getting out in the water collecting for myself at first once I get situated out in New Hampshire next month. Should have tanks up and running by end of year, and planning on importing from Europe first and bringing in lots of Beadlet Anemones (Actinia equina), Snakelock Anemones (Anemonia viridis), and Jeweled Anemones (Corynactis viridis) to start with and will be propagating them along with some of the North american species I know where and how to legally obtain still :)

So stay tuned if you're into coldwater ;)
I will ditto the 55-60F at depth for cold water aquarist. I am a diver and was licensed/trained off of Monterey CA, San Carlos Beach better known as The Break Water.

This is central CA and it is there that during the summer months the water is colder 48F degrees and during the winter months it can get as warm as 58F but normally every one of your dives up to 100 feet as Open Water diving permits, is 55F on average.

Now, diving in Catalina which is considered 22 miles southwest of Los Angeles, and it is there on a beach dive that at 30FT I saw the Catalina Goby in its natural habitat. Water ranges 59-75F degrees

Summer (June-August) 70-75 degrees F
Fall (Sept - Nov) 65-70 degrees F
Winter (Dec. - Feb.) 59-65 degrees F
Spring (March-May) 65-70 degrees F

I dove during the winter months and video taped the catalina goby at 25ft of water at about 59 degrees F. He was very active and doing displays I have never seen during my time that I kept him captive at 78F as a hobbyist, and therefore I was contributing to his early dimise not knowing any better as a hobbyist of tropical systems only.

With my diving excursion in California is when I started to appreciate that these animals need cold water systems to thrive in our homes.

With a venture that I did with Cold Water Marine Aquatics, Stu Wobbe and Josh Groves, I was able to keep cold water anemones, fish, shrimp and many macros at 55F degrees in my home living and thriving.

I am patiently waiting that CDFW contact me back to move forward with sharing the ability to order from them online.
 
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ClownWrangler

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I will ditto the 55-60F at depth for cold water aquarist. I am a diver and was licensed/trained off of Monterey CA, San Carlos Beach better known as The Break Water.

This is central CA and it is there that during the summer months the water is colder 48F degrees and during the winter months it can get as warm as 58F but normally every one of your dives up to 100 feet as Open Water diving permits, is 55F on average.

Now, diving in Catalina which is considered 22 miles southwest of Los Angeles, and it is there on a beach dive that at 30FT I saw the Catalina Goby in its natural habitat. Water ranges 59-75F degrees

Summer (June-August) 70-75 degrees F
Fall (Sept - Nov) 65-70 degrees F
Winter (Dec. - Feb.) 59-65 degrees F
Spring (March-May) 65-70 degrees F

I dove during the winter months and video taped the catalina goby at 25ft of water at about 59 degrees F. He was very active and doing displays I have never seen during my time that I kept him captive at 78F as a hobbyist, and therefore I was contributing to his early dimise not knowing any better as a hobbyist of tropical systems only.

With my diving excursion in California is when I started to appreciate that these animals need cold water systems to thrive in our homes.

With a venture that I did with Cold Water Marine Aquatics, Stu Wobbe and Josh Groves, I was able to keep cold water anemones, fish, shrimp and many macros at 55F degrees in my home living and thriving.

I am patiently waiting that CDFW contact me back to move forward with sharing the ability to order from them online.

I keep my mossy frogs in my basement for breeding purposes. The temperature stays in the high 50s in the winter to mid 60s in the summer. I wonder if this would be ideal for a CW tank. There would be no need for refrigeration.
 

Micro-Reefs Aquarium

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I keep my mossy frogs in my basement for breeding purposes. The temperature stays in the high 50s in the winter to mid 60s in the summer. I wonder if this would be ideal for a CW tank. There would be no need for refrigeration.
With the intertidal species that Cold Water Marine Aquatics carried during the time they operated in Oregon, I would say as long as you didn't climb too quickly in either direction they could do fine.

But best practices has been a compressor chiller or thermo-electric chillers that I personally worked with.
 
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ClownWrangler

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I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to run in to the legal stuff here, but thanks for the insight. Intuitively you would think cold water animals would be less protected than reef animals given that they are for the most part not on any conservation status lists and more widespread and abundant, with the exception of certain overfished animals anyway.
 

Dcal

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I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to run in to the legal stuff here, but thanks for the insight. Intuitively you would think cold water animals would be less protected than reef animals given that they are for the most part not on any conservation status lists and more widespread and abundant.
i think part? of the rational to them being super protected is bc it is SOOOO easy to catch them with 0 equipment. aka i could go to tidepools and cleeaaan house of anemones without breaking a sweat
 
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ClownWrangler

ClownWrangler

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i think part? of the rational to them being super protected is bc it is SOOOO easy to catch them with 0 equipment. aka i could go to tidepools and cleeaaan house of anemones without breaking a sweat

Makes sense. So do these regulations only apply to tidepools then?
 

Micro-Reefs Aquarium

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Still on a holding pattern with CDFG they have not gotten back to me at all. I continue to send emails every other day, politely asking them if they have gotten an answer for us?

There is another venture, I am looking at if California pulls out.

The cold water reefing is beautiful as it is cool... :)
 
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