Keeping different BTA anemones in the same tank? What have we learned so far?

[stephanjupillat]

So I’ve read dozens of threads on keeping fancy BTA anemones with other basic BTA. Like Colorado not doing well with any BTA, Chicago being ok with rainbow BTA’s, etc… Some making it work. Others not so much.

I just wanted to give my 2cents on this as I did a quick experiment with surprising results.

Moved my small rainbow BTA from a 60gal mixed reef that for some reason hasn’t been happy for 6 months or so. No leathers and no other BTA’s. Tank is 2 years old and he grew very fast for first 18months. Split twice naturally, which I rehomed, but then went downhill. Not sure why. Always open, but definitely not happy.

So my male clown became as ******* and started killing new fish added to the tank so I bought a waterbox 15gal peninsula and transferred them there with rainbow BTA. They never cared for the anemone but here’s me hoping the anemone will host them one of these days. That was 1 month ago.

Bought a Chicago BTA from TSA as I read they are OK with other anemones, otherwise I was have bought a CSB anemone. They were in the same 15 gallon for 3 weeks or so. I ran two 5gal packets of chemi pure blue which contains gfo and activated carbon. Po4 is good at .04 or so but I can never tell when carbon runs out, until now.

Three days ago both BTA’s closed up drastically. The rainbow was completely closed for 3 days. The Chicago BTA very small. I’ve had the rainbow BTA for 2 years and he has never closed up for 3 days straight. I instantly thought of chemical warfare and after 2 ticked off BTA’s for 3 days I threw in some fresh activated carbon. 3 hours later…rainbow BTA opened up.

This kinda proves that there is a lot of chemical warfare that we don’t see happening. The only other coral in nano tank are few premium small mushrooms, 1 small micro carpet anemone and 2 small rock anemones. There are only 2 clowns and some cleaner snails, sexy shrimp and 1 cleaner shrimp. Nutrients are in check. I only have soft coral as I didn’t want to have to dose. Weekly water changes. Been doing this for 2 years and my experience has come from a lot of losses. I was just blown away that some activated charcoal and 3 hours of time fixed the water where both BTA’s were happier. My 2 cents… =)

 

[blaxsun]

What I have I learned? I have a pair of clownfish that are danged hard on BTAs. Had 4 - ended up with 0, all due to clownfish "harassment". The only surviving (similar) anemone is a condy, which apparently they can't kill and for whatever reason have taken a liking to.

 

[stephanjupillat]

What I have I learned? I have a pair of clownfish that are danged hard on BTAs. Had 4 - ended up with 0, all due to clownfish "harassment". The only surviving (similar) anemone is a condy, which apparently they can't kill and for whatever reason have taken a liking to.

Really? I have always wanted my BTA to host my clownfish. Captive bred soposedly don’t care about anemones so much. Mine never have. ticks me off. Haha.

 

[blaxsun]

Really? I have always wanted my BTA to host my clownfish. Captive bred soposedly don’t care about anemones so much. Mine never have. ticks me off. Haha.

Yep, they're obsessive to the point of harming the poor anemones...

 

[A Young Reefer]

Really? I have always wanted my BTA to host my clownfish. Captive bred soposedly don’t care about anemones so much. Mine never have. ticks me off. Haha.

yea, I posted a thread about it a while back and I think people didn't buy the idea. they would be happily inflated then the clown hosts it the tentacles become super thin and it goes downhill from there.

Nem not bubbling solved ?

A question that no one was able to find an answer to for decades ; "WHY IS MY BTA TENTACLES NOT BUBBLED " . and I believe that I have one of the many reasons I had 4 nems over the years , but the same clown ( keep that in mind it will be useful later ) so I get a healthy specimen of BTA...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[A Young Reefer]

duplicate post something went wrong

 

[A Young Reefer]

duplicate post

 

[LgTas]

I had a std green a FF BTA... the forest fire destroyed the green

 

[nvcheeko]

Really? I have always wanted my BTA to host my clownfish. Captive bred soposedly don’t care about anemones so much. Mine never have. ticks me off. Haha.

I have few bta's i have one clown in one BTA and smaller clown in other BTA both captive bred Clowns so i dont belive its not in there DNA

 

[Mr.OK]

Really? I have always wanted my BTA to host my clownfish. Captive bred soposedly don’t care about anemones so much. Mine never have. ticks me off. Haha.

Mine are captive bread and almost took 9 months for them to host my bta,now they sleep in it at night and no longer the corner.

 

[Xenia]

I think my green bta killed my red one's when i didnt run active carbon.

now i just got 5 different nem's in my tank and 8 or 9 green bta's

 

[TheNemDude]

I've mixed Colorados, Chicago's, Nexus sunbursts, different variety of rainbows, and random green with orange tip anemones. I have had issues but they have been easy to fix.

The biggest thing I've learned is it is for sure is it is just a bacterial and stress issue. There's a lot of information on treating a sick high end nems in a quarantine tank but the issue still is in the main fish tank. So when they add the anemone back it ends up getting sick again. Whenever I add a new high end or have to do a tank move I've found out that treating the whole tank with cipro has had a great effect on the overall health of the nems.

The only time I've lost any high-enders was when moving tanks and didn't have any cipro on hand to treat the while system.

Also if ya dose your whole tank with cipro it is hugely beneficial to have a skimmer. It sucks out a lot of the dead bacteria and keeps peramiters from blowing up. All this I'd purely anecdotal and personal experience but I've been using this method for almost 2 years now and everything is thriving.

 

[Cell]

I've mixed Colorados, Chicago's, Nexus sunbursts, different variety of rainbows, and random green with orange tip anemones. I have had issues but they have been easy to fix.

The biggest thing I've learned is it is for sure is it is just a bacterial and stress issue. There's a lot of information on treating a sick high end nems in a quarantine tank but the issue still is in the main fish tank. So when they add the anemone back it ends up getting sick again. Whenever I add a new high end or have to do a tank move I've found out that treating the whole tank with cipro has had a great effect on the overall health of the nems.

The only time I've lost any high-enders was when moving tanks and didn't have any cipro on hand to treat the while system.

Also if ya dose your whole tank with cipro it is hugely beneficial to have a skimmer. It sucks out a lot of the dead bacteria and keeps peramiters from blowing up. All this I'd purely anecdotal and personal experience but I've been using this method for almost 2 years now and everything is thriving.

Can you share your dosing method and amounts?

 

[TheNemDude]

Can you share your dosing method and amounts?

I use a 100ml container of tank water to dissolve a 500mg tablet. I dose 20ml a night for 5 days. I make sure to turn off refugium lights as well as any carbon. I leave the skimmer on to keep a good ammount of air going through the tank. I dont do a waterchange since cipro breaks down in uv light.

 

[TheNemDude]

Fish tank is roughly 40-50 gallons of actual water.

 

[Cell]

Thanks!

 

[nano reef]

My hubby came home from work one day with 2 rainbows that someone traded him to clean his carpet so that began my journey! I almost gave them to my lfs (worriedabout them stinging other corals )until I realized how quickly they multiply and are easy to catch for resale although I havnt done that yet. last night I was doing a cornbred auction and a nexus went off for 89 bucks so I couldnt resisit especially since they owe me money! LOL

Now I am reading this and wondering if I did the right thing. I could probably cancel the order and have other highend corals I bought as well so they wont mind I am sure! I didnt know about this chemical warface with them. I am also adding two toadstools to the 36 gallon. Is this going to be a problem? I dont want to loose my other expensive corals over this addition! I change water and carbon every two weeks. I have read that carbon actually only works for 5 days or something crazy like that. Should I change carbon once a week or more? I could actually put one of the toadstools in my nano 20 gallon, just thought of that! lol

 

[Spare time]

My hubby came home from work one day with 2 rainbows that someone traded him to clean his carpet so that began my journey! I almost gave them to my lfs (worriedabout them stinging other corals )until I realized how quickly they multiply and are easy to catch for resale although I havnt done that yet. last night I was doing a cornbred auction and a nexus went off for 89 bucks so I couldnt resisit especially since they owe me money! LOL

Now I am reading this and wondering if I did the right thing. I could probably cancel the order and have other highend corals I bought as well so they wont mind I am sure! I didnt know about this chemical warface with them. I am also adding two toadstools to the 36 gallon. Is this going to be a problem? I dont want to loose my other expensive corals over this addition! I change water and carbon every two weeks. I have read that carbon actually only works for 5 days or something crazy like that. Should I change carbon once a week or more? I could actually put one of the toadstools in my nano 20 gallon, just thought of that! lol

You are fine. I think the chemical warefare between anemones is bs. Yes some corals, can release compounds, but anemones aren't coral and I don't believe there is anything to back this up. These "different" bubbletips are probably all one species with color variation, similar to human hair color. Bubbletips invest in stinging (nematocysts), so it also wouldn't make sense to invest in another strategy (chemical agents) imo.