So, do you let your carpets eat your fish?

[MartinM]

This is directed to everyone who keeps non-symbiotic fish with their carpets, especially @OrionN and others that have a lot of carpets and a lot of fish: do you just tolerate the predation, and lose fish semi-regularly? I have a system with a red, blue, and purple carpet, and I don’t desire to put any fish in there, but if I did, I know I’d lose them eventually even if it took a while (months/years), and I wouldn’t want that. I guess everyone else who has systems with carpets + fish is ok for them to get eaten eventually, as is inevitable? I’ve seen a lot of posts on here about people losing their fish to carpets, so I guess that’s the usual approach?

 

[James M]

A healthy inhabitant will avoid and not be eaten by anemones. Fish that are caught by a anemone are sick or close to death

 

[OrionN]

Fish are smart, at least the fish that survide in my tank. I do occasionally loose fish to my carpets but not often.

 

[F i s h y]

I think there are several key things to consider. Where does the fish dwell, mid tank, bottom, open swimmer, perching...

Mitigating the "startle" response as well. Keeping moon lights on the tank, not turning lights on quick, no sudden movement that can spook your fish. The fight or flight response. If a fish is "fleeing" it can inadvertently get caught up.
I wouldn't keep slow moving fish like a Mandarin with my nems. But open water fish should be fine.
My opinion for what it's worth...

 

[MartinM]

Can anyone chime in that’s had the same fish with the same anemones for years (5 or 10+) with success? It seems so much of the time people measure success in months or a few years. Anemones don’t die from age and fish live 20-40+!

 

[OrionN]

My oldest Gigantea is my purple Gigantea which i keep for 8 year. My oldest are two of my Haddoni anemones that are about 14 years in my tank.
Hurricane Harvey wipe out all of my fishes except some of my clowns. Most of my tangs I had for many years. From before the Gigantea. I did loose a Kole tang to my carpet. The tang I lost before that was a Powder Blue while trying to catch him for moving.
There are times when fishes are much more vulnerable, and there are setting that does cause fish to be vulnable. The only anemones I lost fish to are the carpets. None of my BTA, Crispa, Malu, Aurora, LTA or Magnifica ever eat live fish.

 

[MartinM]

Thanks so much for the info and I’m sorry to hear about hurricane Harvey. I e had systems lost through natural disasters also it is no fun and tough to fully prepare for.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I agree with @OrionN, @James M and @Fishy65.

Also my oldest fish in a heavy nem tank are my clowns (don’t count) at 17 years, des tang at 12 years, foxface at 9 years, hippo at 9 years, yellow tang and vlamingi at 7 years and numerous seaweed blennies from 2-10 years. They are smart and know to stay away. Even the seaweed blennies collected from Florida know better. The foxface eats poo from them with precision and the tangs will chase pieces of nori to within an inch and then back off.

I have lost fish to them, but they are typically ones with no swim bladder or were startled and ended up in the nem.

 

[MartinM]

Thanks for the info. I get pretty attached to my fish so I probably won’t risk it, but it’s good to know it doesn’t happen as often as I would have thought.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Thanks for the info. I get pretty attached to my fish so I probably won’t risk it, but it’s good to know it doesn’t happen as often as I would have thought.

The thing to remember is nems are not typical predators. They do not hunt fish down.

You also have options if you still want nems and less risk for fish. Rock flowers and mini maxis are great. Tons of colors or go shallow water rfa for cool patterns. Not typically big enough to hold tight to a fish and their sting is no where near as strong as the larger carpets.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

The fish in my tank that has a small carpet will not go anywhere near it, inuding a clown. I also feed it mysis shrimp every few days and it has stayed put in its corner.

 

[jamie1210]

the biggest problem I've had with carpets eating fish is when I introduce a new fish into the tank. The fish is usually so scared/stressed/startled/gets chased that it sometimes dives right into a carpet. Terrible thing to see.

 

[MartinM]

The thing to remember is nems are not typical predators. They do not hunt fish down.

You also have options if you still want nems and less risk for fish. Rock flowers and mini maxis are great. Tons of colors or go shallow water rfa for cool patterns. Not typically big enough to hold tight to a fish and their sting is no where near as strong as the larger carpets.

Right, I’m just concerned about accidents. And I like carpets a lot more than fish, hence no fish in the system

 

[Hot2na]

My one purple gig - ate every non-clownfish i threw in the tank with it..EXCEPT my powder blue tang..it is way to sly and quick..been the lone survivor for the last couple yrs in that tank besides the clowns..It has even eaten some pretty quick reef safe wrasses over the yrs...but I'd still rather have the gig than ANY fish there is...lol

 

[Doctorgori]

I own a cat, he leave no clues

 

[sfin52]

Right, I’m just concerned about accidents. And I like carpets a lot more than fish, hence no fish in the system

Clowns?

 

[Bajie]

This is a very good thread.
I want to get a puple LTA asap and a Mandarin for my tank sometime in the future.
Currently having new refugium built so i can seriously increase pod production.
I have been more and more concerned regarding having the anemone, especially as the LTA is a sand bed dweller.
this has somewhat relaxed my thinking.
I also recently bought a juvenile goldflake angel. i do have palpitations when it goes near my bta but it seems to know how close it can go and likes playing chicken it seems