Should I get a carpet anemone?

[Dave-T]

I'm narrowing in on an anemone. Other than aesthetics, is there any reason to get one color over another? I know I can get a red one, but my first choice was blue. Somebody told me that he'd had bad luck with blue ones, they don't seem to survive as well. True?

 

[OrionN]

No. There is no truth in that.
Nice and more expensive anemone will get better care through the supply chain. No body want a 1500.00 anemone to die on their dime. It just human nature.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'm narrowing in on an anemone. Other than aesthetics, is there any reason to get one color over another? I know I can get a red one, but my first choice was blue. Somebody told me that he'd had bad luck with blue ones, they don't seem to survive as well. True?

I think @F i s h y may have a beautiful blue that he's looking for a new home for. He's in Indiana.

 

[Jekyl]

I think @F i s h y may have a beautiful blue that he's looking for a new home for. He's in Indiana.

Also interested if so as I'm in Michigan. Sorry to hijack.

 

[Dave-T]

No. There is no truth in that.
Nice and more expensive anemone will get better care through the supply chain. No body want a 1500.00 anemone to die on their dime. It just human nature.

Aren't blue ones more expensive?

 

[Reefbuds]

So I can speak to the difficulties / potential issues around carpet anemones, as I’ve had one for over 6 years. Once you add that anemone to your tank it becomes her tank whether you like it or not. Everything revolves around her and if she wants to move around and uproot rocks and corals in the process she will without a second thought. She will eat fish if they land on her and you must be fine with that. She will eat crabs and shrimp if they crawl onto her. She will eat clown fish that she doesn’t deem fit to host with her. She is the queen of the tank and once you add her you must be fine with all of these potentialities.

I have had clownfish eaten that hosted for months. Finally found luck with the natural hosting clown which for Haddoni is Clarkii. I’ve had a flame hawk eaten. She just recently moved my rock work tipping over 2 sps into the sand and covering up my predator zoas.

These are all things I knew could potential happen and I cannot be upset over. She comes first, everything else second. Just the way it is when you add such a specimen to your reef.

If your ok with all of this and are passionate about getting a carpet it is absolutely rewarding despite all of these things. You just have to be ok with your carpets happiness coming before everything else in the tank and working everything else in the tank around the carpets happiness.

All this said, I absolutely love mine and wouldn’t trade it for anything in my tank. They truly are an amazing addition if you are ready for the care requirements. Just be sure you know what you are getting into and the potentialities of owning one of these. Mine is a Haddoni btw, not sure which one you were thinking of adding.

 

[OrionN]

Aren't blue ones more expensive?

Blue are more expensive then green (twice), but Red is about 3 times the price of a blue. Tan color or light green is about 1/3 to 1/2 of a nice green one. Purple is in there between blue and red

IME, lowest price is Tan carpet, 2 or 3 tan equal a green, 2 green equal a blue. Three blue equal a Red. Purple is about 1.5-2 blue.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Mine loved Clowns as snacks.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Blue are more expensive then green (twice), but Red is about 3 times the price of a blue. Tan color or light green is about 1/3 to 1/2 of a nice green one. Purple is in there between blue and red

IME, lowest price is Tan carpet, 2 or 3 tan equal a green, 2 green equal a blue. Three blue equal a Red. Purple is about 1.5-2 blue.

I love these units of measurement!

 

[OrionN]

Mine loved Clowns as snacks.

That is not a Carpet anemone but some king of giant Mushroom.

 

[F i s h y]

I think @F i s h y may have a beautiful blue that he's looking for a new home for. He's in Indiana.

Also interested if so as I'm in Michigan. Sorry to hijack.

I do have a blue up for grabs pm is key. All honesty to be picked up Tuesday but if it falls thru. I can let peeps know

 

[jtf74]

Lately I've become very interested in adding a carpet anemone to my tank. I think they're beautiful, and just plain cool. I asked a local LFS to source one for me (my favorite color is blue, I'm not sure which species would be best for me), and they're working on it. But I've since done some more research, and am starting to have doubts.

Details on my system - it's a 240 gallon tank, 72"x28"x28". Sand bed is 1.5 - 2 inches deep. PAR on the sand bed is about 150. The system is about 8 months old, and parameters are pretty stable. Nitrates around 10, phospates around .1.

One concern is whether or not I have room for a carpet. It is a big tank, but my aquascape rocks take up a lot of room on the sandbed. If it got much more than 12 inches in diameter, it might be cramped by the rocks.

I have a pair of ocellaris clowns. What's the liklihood they'd take to the anemone?

My biggest concern is that it might eat my fish or inverts. I know that's something that happens. Maybe my tank is big enough that I shouldn't have to worry about that? I have some expensive fish in the tank, that I have a lot of time invested into in quarantining them and getting them to eat. I'd just as soon keep them. Crabs and hermits are more expendable I guess, but I'd also just as soon not lose any shrimp or starfish...

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.

The trouble with occelaris is their natural wild host nems are fairly difficult to keep. If you have never kept nems before thats not the easiest to start with. BTA's are more suited for first time nem owners and lower lighting setups but not likely to get what you are wanting, not being a natural host for the species.

 

[Dave-T]

Alrighty! I am now the proud owner of a red haddoni. I picked him up yesterday. He's pretty large, about the size of a dinner plate. For now, he's in my frag tank. I set him up in a bowl of sand. The lighting is fine for him in there for now, about 250 PAR during my peak period. Flow seems good now. I ordered a Kessil with the concentrator lens to put over my display tank, I'm confident I can light up a spot for him there that will be good. But for now, the frag tank.

And I have some new questions.

* Any suggestions as to how to get him to stay where I want? I will set up the best spot for him in the display tank, but he might not realize that at first! When I put him in the frag tank he floated around quite a bit, I don't want to go through that again if it can be avoided. He also got stuck in a gyre, I was able to disattach him, I think (hope) he's ok.

* What and how much should I feed him? I want him happy and healthy, but don't want to overfeed - he's big enough already!

* I put a couple clarkii clowns in the frag tank with him. This morning, I saw one of the clowns picking at him. Is this normal?

Thanks!

 

[D-Nak]

Alrighty! I am now the proud owner of a red haddoni. I picked him up yesterday. He's pretty large, about the size of a dinner plate. For now, he's in my frag tank. I set him up in a bowl of sand. The lighting is fine for him in there for now, about 250 PAR during my peak period. Flow seems good now. I ordered a Kessil with the concentrator lens to put over my display tank, I'm confident I can light up a spot for him there that will be good. But for now, the frag tank.

And I have some new questions.

* Any suggestions as to how to get him to stay where I want? I will set up the best spot for him in the display tank, but he might not realize that at first! When I put him in the frag tank he floated around quite a bit, I don't want to go through that again if it can be avoided. He also got stuck in a gyre, I was able to disattach him, I think (hope) he's ok.

* What and how much should I feed him? I want him happy and healthy, but don't want to overfeed - he's big enough already!

* I put a couple clarkii clowns in the frag tank with him. This morning, I saw one of the clowns picking at him. Is this normal?

Thanks!

Since it's a haddoni, you'll ideally want a deep sand bed in your tank so it can bury its foot. Probably a 3" bed is the minimum depth. Some may recommend less, but I've found that they tend to move around LESS with a deeper sand bed. They usuallly dig down and attach their foot to the bottom of the tanks.

Flow also plays a big part in getting them to stay put. You want just enough flow to provide a gentle flow over the anemone. You want to avoid too much flow that either pushes down to hard on it, or lifts up its skirt, though it's better to have flow that pushes down on it than pulling it up.

Since it's the size you want, you really don't need to feed it. The clowns (via their poop or food that they try to eat in the anemone that it captures) and food floating into it will provide additional nutrients, but the lighting you provide will be the primary source to keep the zooxanthellae algae within the anemone healthy.

Clowns never pick at an anemone, in terms of voraciously biting them. Sometimes they may bite on tentacles, which some believe is a soothing mechanism for the clownfish, but in general they should be gently swimming into the anemone and brushing up against the tentacles. If they ever "dive bomb" into the mouth of the anemone, it's usually indicative of a sick anemone.

 

[Reefbuds]

You can encourage her to stay put by putting her in a medium flow area with deep deep sand and a few medium size rocks to secure with but you can't make her stay anywhere. She may decide to move to the complete other side of the tank if she pleases.
You don't have to feed. If you do feed, feed raw fresh shrimp or similar and in pieces smaller than the mouth.
You may see the clownfish picking at the nem but they should never do any harm from my experience. No clue why they do this. Mine did for a while in the beginning but hasn't done it for years.
Good luck!! They are beautiful center pieces and a great joy to observe.

 

[Reefbuds]

Also Haddoni can do this wild thing where they can FULLY retract under the sand within literally a second. If they do this it means they are most likely very stressed over something. So if for some reason she's there one second and gone the next.. this could be why. Give her time and she will come back out.

 

[Rtaylor]

Since it's a haddoni, you'll ideally want a deep sand bed in your tank so it can bury its foot. Probably a 3" bed is the minimum depth. Some may recommend less, but I've found that they tend to move around LESS with a deeper sand bed. They usuallly dig down and attach their foot to the bottom of the tanks.

Flow also plays a big part in getting them to stay put. You want just enough flow to provide a gentle flow over the anemone. You want to avoid too much flow that either pushes down to hard on it, or lifts up its skirt, though it's better to have flow that pushes down on it than pulling it up.

Since it's the size you want, you really don't need to feed it. The clowns (via their poop or food that they try to eat in the anemone that it captures) and food floating into it will provide additional nutrients, but the lighting you provide will be the primary source to keep the zooxanthellae algae within the anemone healthy.

Clowns never pick at an anemone, in terms of voraciously biting them. Sometimes they may bite on tentacles, which some believe is a soothing mechanism for the clownfish, but in general they should be gently swimming into the anemone and brushing up against the tentacles. If they ever "dive bomb" into the mouth of the anemone, it's usually indicative of a sick anemone.

Actually clarkii will swim into the mouth of a haddoni regularly. It’s kinda freaky to watch, but totally normal.

 

[Dave-T]

Thanks everyone! I missed these posts until now. For some reason, I don't always get the email notification of new posts to my threads.

So it's news to me that I don't have to feed him! Does everyone concur on this? That would be nice, one less chore for myself and my fish sitters.

I'm concerned about his health. He has some bald spots, and his mouth is kinda open. I've seen it said that an open mouth is a bad sign, but I'm not sure if this counts. Picture below. I wasn't able to take a picture without the glare from my lights, but I think you can see what I mean.

 

[Dave-T]

I’ve had the nem in my tank for a few weeks now. How’s it doing? I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be so “bare” around the mouth like this. It’s kind of wedged into the corner by my overflow. That’s a good spot as far as I’m concerned, but I’m wondering if I should be concerned with detritus accumulating under it. No flow gets back behind it in that corner.

 

[MartinM]

I’ve had the nem in my tank for a few weeks now. How’s it doing? I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be so “bare” around the mouth like this. It’s kind of wedged into the corner by my overflow. That’s a good spot as far as I’m concerned, but I’m wondering if I should be concerned with detritus accumulating under it. No flow gets back behind it in that corner.

It looks fine, and a typical spot for a Haddoni. You may need to clean out the area during WC’s sometimes.