What's the earliest you've successfully added a BTA?

[AnxiousReefEnjoyer]

Curious question for the reef keepers out there — who didn’t wait the usual 6–12 months before adding a Bubble Tip Anemone, and how did it go for you?

I’m not currently shopping for a BTA since I’m running an AIO nano, but I’m planning to upgrade to a 112-gallon in the future and just trying to learn from everyone’s real experiences ahead of time.

Did you add one early and have success, or would you recommend waiting no matter what? I’d love to hear the reasoning behind whatever route you took.

 

[Tahoe61]

Three months max, BUT I kept saltwater systems for years previously.

 

[flinster]

It’s all about how you cycle the tank and getting biological diversity. My current tank is 60+% Tampa Bay Live sand and rock. I will have a nem on it after about a month.

 

[AnxiousReefEnjoyer]

It’s all about how you cycle the tank and getting biological diversity. My current tank is 60+% Tampa Bay Live sand and rock. I will have a nem on it after about a month.

I've been hesitant to get live rock pieces due to the potential of nuisance hitchhickers. Mostly aiptasia and bristle worms are my biggest concerns

 

[BryanM]

Curious question for the reef keepers out there — who didn’t wait the usual 6–12 months before adding a Bubble Tip Anemone, and how did it go for you?

I’m not currently shopping for a BTA since I’m running an AIO nano, but I’m planning to upgrade to a 112-gallon in the future and just trying to learn from everyone’s real experiences ahead of time.

Did you add one early and have success, or would you recommend waiting no matter what? I’d love to hear the reasoning behind whatever route you took.

I started with all live rock, and added mine in the first month before I knew any better.

Live rock for the win though, I have 5 now. Soon I will be posting about giving some away.

 

[Hot2na]

same day.. this subject is ridiculous.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Started at 1 month , the big one is the same nem, would only do this if you started with all live rock like I did

 

[exnisstech]

Depends on the system and the reefer I suppose. I stopped keeping nems but have set up tanks and added corals the next day. Live rock for the win.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

4 weeks. The "maturity" they're looking for is stability, not some magical date that makes the system more habitable

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Liverock- You can add them within the week. I tend to wait 48hrs with live rock.
Dryrock its anywhere from 4-12 months. Takes time for the tank to stabilize. But some people do it way sooner and it works. Time is just based on observation within reef2reef community. No real hardset time.

I personally recommend for new nem owners to do liverock. My nems perished with tanks that started with dryrock. I was 5 months and they didn't make it.

Nems in a 4.8G deskmate using live rock:
Old pic but all still kicking and lots more now lol.

 

[AnxiousReefEnjoyer]

same day.. this subject is ridiculous.

I mean I can understand why you'd feel it is but nems are new territory for me. I don't want to spend all my money on a really nice BTA and it fail to thrive. Everyone is a newbie at some point and asks dumb questions from more experienced people.

 

[AnxiousReefEnjoyer]

Liverock- You can add them within the week. I tend to wait 48hrs with live rock.
Dryrock its anywhere from 4-12 months. Takes time for the tank to stabilize. But some people do it way sooner and it works.

I personally recommend for new nem owners to do liverock. My nems perished with tanks that started with dryrock. I was 5 months and they didn't make it.

Nems in a 4.8G deskmate using live rock:
Old pic but all still kicking and lots more now lol.

do you think a mixture of live and dry could work? I've been eyeing some specialty pieces that only come as dry.
your nems are STUNNING btw

 

[Clowning_Around72]

You can add day 1. If you have a stable tank on day 1... you're fine.

When you shift over your other tanks rocks, coral, fish etc...

You will be immediately ready to add a few more critters that day assuming you keep the bio media and rocks

 

[Dragen Fiend]

do you think a mixture of live and dry could work? I've been eyeing some specialty pieces that only come as dry.
your nems are STUNNING btw

I would say as long as a majority of it is liverock. You should be fine. But with that. I would wait at least a week before introducing them if I was personally doing this.

Thanks they had their ups and downs with a small tank. But persisted and black widow finally split after months of waiting.

 

[karamreef117]

One month wirh dry rock here

 

[karamreef117]

One month wirh dry rock here

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

do you think a mixture of live and dry could work? I've been eyeing some specialty pieces that only come as dry.
your nems are STUNNING btw

Dry rock is what will be causing parameter swings, the less the better. Having good testing equipment is a must-have if you want to try sensitive animals quickly

 

[D-Nak]

For people who ask, I usually say when there is good growth of coralline algae, that's when you can add an anemone. Coraliine typically needs the same stable, mature environment that anemones require. You can get away with adding it sooner, especially with BTAs (they are probably the hardiest clownfish hosting species) but that typically requires some experience and know how. Looking for coralline growth is easy.

 

[FernBluffReef]

Added a Ritteri after 30 days starting with dry rock. This stuff about waiting a year or more not. It’s more experience and stability than anything IMO. Nems are not that touchy

 

[Hot2na]

For people who ask, I usually say when there is good growth of coralline algae, that's when you can add an anemone. Coraliine typically needs the same stable, mature environment that anemones require. You can get away with adding it sooner, especially with BTAs (they are probably the hardiest clownfish hosting species) but that typically requires some experience and know how. Looking for coralline growth is easy.

In my 120 -full of thriving gigs-there ain't one speck of coralline algae -never was either..so there goes that theory