Mixed anemone tank w/ clown harem

jamie1210 · Aug 2, 2020

Wow, your tank is so colorful! Do you have any concerns about the anemones touching each other in such a relatively small tank? (red sea 250 is a 65 gallon, if I remember correctly). Also, have you witnessed any signs of chemical warfare between the anemones? I 'll definitely be interested in updates

sprungson · Aug 2, 2020

jamie1210 said:
Wow, your tank is so colorful! Do you have any concerns about the anemones touching each other in such a relatively small tank? (red sea 250 is a 65 gallon, if I remember correctly). Also, have you witnessed any signs of chemical warfare between the anemones? I 'll definitely be interested in updates

No chemical warfare, but my haddoni has stung one bta to death. It has stung another bta and LTA, and those both moved and is now fine.

New&no clue · Aug 2, 2020

Following along. This is definitely a dream of mine. I’m hoping when I upgrade my RSR350 to turn it into a Anemone clown tank

sprungson · Aug 4, 2020

Thought I'd share some GIFs I made and pics. Btw things are going good, and Ive learned through some hands on experience. I've lost a blue gig during treatment (egg crate came loose and it got sucked in PH, but it wasn't looking good). I also lost another blue gig in main display. It looked infected, but I did not take it out in time. The clowns are all looking good. I recently added a clarkii and two skunks. Interestingly, large saddleback seems to be most peaceful and keeps clarkii in check.

My favorite anemone has to be mertensii. It's doing one week with high flow and high light. I wanna see it bigger

The biggest lesson I learned so far is to treat all gigs and mags, and I got a good rhythm going with hospital tanks. Every advice I follow from D-Nak is spot on.

jamie1210 · Aug 5, 2020

Looking great! You mentioned that you had a blue gig die in the DT, possibly due to infection? I was wondering, in your experience, does a sick anemone always infect other anemones? If so, how long does it take for you to notice that others aren't doing as well?

Thanks in advance!

sprungson · Aug 5, 2020

jamie1210 said:
Looking great! You mentioned that you had a blue gig die in the DT, possibly due to infection? I was wondering, in your experience, does a sick anemone always infect other anemones? If so, how long does it take for you to notice that others aren't doing as well?

Thanks in advance!

That's the interesting thing. In my experience, yes introducing a sick anemone can make another anemone sick. However, it doesn't make all of rh m sick. For example, my blue gig got an infection and died, but my other two gigs are thriving. Same thing with magnifica. I had a purple sick mag touching two other mags, and they didn't catch the infection. I speculate that the infection is within the zooxanthellae, and that's why it doesn't always pass.

I'm interested to hear what @D-Nak experienced. I've been reading his threads from way back to 2011

jamie1210 · Aug 5, 2020

sprungson said:
That's the interesting thing. In my experience, yes introducing a sick anemone can make another anemone sick. However, it doesn't make all of rh m sick. For example, my blue gig got an infection and died, but my other two gigs are thriving. Same thing with magnifica. I had a purple sick mag touching two other mags, and they didn't catch the infection. I speculate that the infection is within the zooxanthellae, and that's why it doesn't always pass.

I'm interested to hear what @D-Nak experienced. I've been reading his threads from way back to 2011

That's very interesting. I would have thought that the mags, since they were touching, would definitely have caught the infection. Hmm... if we were to go on your speculation that the infection is in the zooxanthellae, that likely means that in order to pass on the infection, the sick anemone would need to be deflating and coughing up those black pellets (often thought to be dead zooxanthellae). And at the same time, perhaps those anemones, who are in the same system, happen to be intaking water, and, as a result, absorb the dead zooxanthellae, leading them to get sick. However, maybe some anemones did not intake the infected zooxanthellae, which leaves them unharmed.

Hoping I don't derail your thread here, but yes, I would love to hear other people's experiences on this as well (Hi, D-Nak!)

Hot2na · Aug 5, 2020

real nice..what got me into this hobby back in the 70's was anemone's w/clowns...alot more difficult back then..but I love a tank that has multiples of both , such as yours !

D-Nak · Aug 6, 2020

sprungson said:
That's the interesting thing. In my experience, yes introducing a sick anemone can make another anemone sick. However, it doesn't make all of rh m sick. For example, my blue gig got an infection and died, but my other two gigs are thriving. Same thing with magnifica. I had a purple sick mag touching two other mags, and they didn't catch the infection. I speculate that the infection is within the zooxanthellae, and that's why it doesn't always pass.

I'm interested to hear what @D-Nak experienced. I've been reading his threads from way back to 2011

I can't clearly explain why, but I also think that the infection site is the zoox, and not the anemone itself. It's almost as if the bacteria is attracted dead or dying zoox, which is why see infections occurring while in transport, when the anemone is adjusting its zoox population based on lighting conditions. The one common trait we see with sick anemones is that they expel dead zoox in pellet form. I've never seen this with healthy anemones. The waste that they produce (all species) typically looks like either partially digested food or is dark and stringy (which I'm guessing is waste and/or dead zoox which explains the dark color, the same color as the zoox pellets). I'm guessing that anemones in transport do not expel the dead zoox but instead hold it inside, which becomes pelleted, and this possibly gives the bacteria time to infect the anemone.

I've found that Stichodactyla nems (haddoni and gigantea, specifically -- never attempted to QT a mertensii together with either of the two) can transmit the pathogen to one another, but not Heteractis to Stichodactyla and vice versa (I've QTed magnifica and gigantea together without issues).

On another thread there was discussion about the type of bacteria that infects anemones, and it's believed to be a bacteria commonly present in salt water. This reinforces my belief that this bacteria is similar to ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) and is present in nearly all saltwater systems. It takes advantage of fish that are compromised -- typically stress related to collection, holding, and transport. Some fish can fight it off, others succumb and die. I think the bacteria attacks compromised anemones, can overtake some, while others are able to fight it off. Once an anemone is healthy and acclimated, it's hard for the bacteria to infect it. However, there some occasions when we see an otherwise healthy anemone get sick -- this could possibly be from eating bad/spoiled food, the immune system becomes compromised, and then the bacteria attacks.

All conjecture and anecdotal, just my two cents.

D-Nak · Aug 6, 2020

jamie1210 said:
Hoping I don't derail your thread here, but yes, I would love to hear other people's experiences on this as well (Hi, D-Nak!)

Hey Jamie! Nice to see you posting on this forum (versus the other one, I decided it was my time to depart after reading the mods saying there were no plans to EVER upgrade). Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

sprungson · Aug 8, 2020

-traded pink carpet (too big) for purple gig
-added pair of pink skunks
-added clarkii clown

3 sets of clowns have paired and they stay in their anemone. The large solo saddleback and clarkii seems to keep the peace.

chizerbunoi · Aug 8, 2020

Your video is too short! Not enough time for the drool to set in.

sprungson · Aug 8, 2020

@chizerbunoi here's a one minute long video.

I always drool over your videos and subscribed!

chizerbunoi · Aug 8, 2020

That tower on the left must have been something to glue together. I like how the Mertensii perched up at the top right corner.

sprungson · Aug 8, 2020

chizerbunoi said:
That tower on the left must have been something to glue together. I like how the Mertensii perched up at the top right corner.

Yeah the mertensii has been there for almost two weeks. Seems to love high light and high flow (you can see how strong flow is based on bta).

The rock I bought like that for caribsea