Picked up a 8” Black Widow Anemone today.

[Hitman]

Picked up my first Anemone today for my 240. It’s 8” across. What are the recommendations for these? Tank peramiters I think should be good as it’s my dominant SPS tank.
Tank info 240 gallon 72x30x25
6 AI Sol Super Blue LED’s (Settings are: whites 15% Blue 70% Royal Blue 70% / Luner on Blue 3% Royal Blue 3% 9pm to 5 am) Sunrise 7am 1 hour ramp up, sunset 1900 1 hour ramp down.
4 Hydor 1350 gph and 2 Hydor Nano 425 gph powerheads on wave makers
Sicce Syncra 9.0 SDC return pump running at 52% on reef crest mode.
GFO and Rox 0.8 Carbon in reactor.
55 gallon sump with a basket ball size of chaeto
Fuge light opposite of display tank 300 watt LED grow setting.
Todays Testing
Time 1930
Salinity 1.026
Ca. 440 ppm
Alk. 9.0 DKH
Mg. 1400 ppm
P04. .025
PH 8.0 - 8.3
Temp 77.8 - 78.3
Nitrate 15ppm

This is my first nem so any advice on keeping him healthy is welcome. What and how much and how often do I feed him ?
Is my light settings ok for him?
Hopefully my Frostbite and Naked clowns find him and move in.
Picture is after 4 hours of aclimation and just finally being put into the tank. He has sense moved to the right side of the rock. I know they move around till they are happy but I hope he stays in the general area as the 5 feet to the right is all SPS, with a mix of lps.

 

[Caseyoidae]

Awesome! It will move if it's unhappy until it finds its happy place. Clowns can take a while, I used to feed mine a few times a week but now clowns bring it food.

 

[Hitman]

I fed him a silverside this afternoon. I held it over him then kinda brushed it against him, did this 2-3 times then he snatched it out of my grabber. It was pretty cool to watch how fast he moved it towards his mouth. About 5 minutes later he was all open again as if he wanted more.
Should I give him another day or so before I feed him again or as big as he is feed more often?

 

[VietExtender]

I fed him a silverside this afternoon. I held it over him then kinda brushed it against him, did this 2-3 times then he snatched it out of my grabber. It was pretty cool to watch how fast he moved it towards his mouth. About 5 minutes later he was all open again as if he wanted more.
Should I give him another day or so before I feed him again or as big as he is feed more often?

The recommendation is to not over feed these guys. They feed off of nitrates from the zooxanthellae inside. I know people who don’t even feed their anemones and they still grow fine.

If you really like feeding it, I’d say do it once a week, or even once every two weeks.

 

[Salty1962]

High light, Med. flow and good water chemistry. I feed mine once a month. Is has split3 times.

 

[ChrisOFL]

Silversides are usually recommended for anemones. I used to feed mine once every 2 weeks. A fish no longer than the tentacles seems to be a good way to size them. Mine randomly stopped eating after a year with no reason I can think of because I grew it from 3" and bleached to a nice purple disk with green tentacles at 7" across. Anemones can be hard to understand sometimes but if it doesn't move around or detach itself that means it is happy. My BTA liked a lot of flow, it would always seem to reach to be right in the path of my RW-8.

 

[Hitman]

Well he has opened up nicely today and he is bigger then I thought he was. I’m guessing he is closer to 10-12”. Here’s a picture to compare with my 6” sailfin tang who has been swimming around and checking him out all day. Anytime my clowns go near it my sailfin chases them away. I think he thinks it’s for him Lol

 

[VietExtender]

Well he has opened up nicely today and he is bigger then I thought he was. I’m guessing he is closer to 10-12”. Here’s a picture to compare with my 6” sailfin tang who has been swimming around and checking him out all day. Anytime my clowns go near it my sailfin chases them away. I think he thinks it’s for him Lol

Yeah my clown does the same. When I put my quarantined firefish into the display, I was an idiot and put him on the side with the anemone. The clown dragged the firefish and bit off two pieces of its tail since he got too close [emoji33]. They can get really ferocious.

 

[Hitman]

But it’s the other way around. My sailfin tang will not let my clowns near the nem. I think I have a special needs sailfin lol

 

[VietExtender]

But it’s the other way around. My sailfin tang will not let my clowns near the nem. I think I have a special needs sailfin lol

Yeah I know. Just saying that mine attacks anyone who gets too close just like your tang. Though I’ve never heard of a tang chasing fishes away from an anemone. Could it be that the area there is where he likes to stay at night? My yellow tang chases away my copperband if it gets too close to his area.

 

[Hitman]

My sailfin thinks he is the boss of the tank. Once in awhile my Emperor Angelfish comes out of nowhere and puts him in his place lol

 

[tdowning]

My sailfin thinks he is the boss of the tank. Once in awhile my Emperor Angelfish comes out of nowhere and puts him in his place lol

My sailfin also is my tank's bully. He's lucky I like him so much!

 

[Captain Quint]

I fed him a silverside this afternoon. I held it over him then kinda brushed it against him, did this 2-3 times then he snatched it out of my grabber. It was pretty cool to watch how fast he moved it towards his mouth. About 5 minutes later he was all open again as if he wanted more.
Should I give him another day or so before I feed him again or as big as he is feed more often?

I fed him a silverside this afternoon. I held it over him then kinda brushed it against him, did this 2-3 times then he snatched it out of my grabber. It was pretty cool to watch how fast he moved it towards his mouth. About 5 minutes later he was all open again as if he wanted more.
Should I give him another day or so before I feed him again or as big as he is feed more often?

That good sir is one beautiful anemone! Congratulations on such a great find.

I'm not trying to be a bearer of what could be bad news but lately, people are shying away from feeding silversides to anemones because of quality control regarding the way they are frozen/unfrozen/refrozen with a higher chance for them to spoil and not be noticed until too late.

Many of us are letting a cube of Mysis dissolve in a cup of tank water and basting the anemone or getting a fresh wild caught white shrimp from the deli, peeling in, rinsing it with either RODI fresh or tank water with healthy outcomes.

 

[Captain Quint]

..........sorry. Computer slowed down and I had a double or triple post. UGH

 

[Captain Quint]

Argh. My computer is spazzing.

 

[Captain Quint]

Last time I hope. I have no clue why it triple or more posted. Maybe the Black Widwow bit my post.

 

[Captain Quint]

That good sir is one beautiful anemone! Congratulations on such a great find.

Sorry...looks like it got triple posted.

 

[Hitman]

That good sir is one beautiful anemone! Congratulations on such a great find.

I'm not trying to be a bearer of what could be bad news but lately, people are shying away from feeding silversides to anemones because of quality control regarding the way they are frozen/unfrozen/refrozen with a higher chance for them to spoil and not be noticed until too late.

Many of us are letting a cube of Mysis dissolve in a cup of tank water and basting the anemone or getting a fresh wild caught white shrimp from the deli, peeling in, rinsing it with either RODI fresh or tank water with healthy outcomes.

I haven’t feed him silversides in 9 months or so. After it split it just spit them out lol. I’ve hear several horror stories in the last several months about the poor QC with silverside so I do appreciate the heads up.

 

[Captain Quint]

I haven’t feed him silversides in 9 months or so. After it split it just spit them out lol. I’ve hear several horror stories in the last several months about the poor QC with silverside so I do appreciate the heads up.

Oops. Just noticed the post was from last November. Thanks for sharing. That's what I get for not reading thoroughly.

You've done well with it good sir.