Best Beginner Anemone?

#1
I have several zoas, candycanes & trumpets, mushrooms, yumas, ricordeas, leathers, a large torch coral and hammer coral, a blue mini maxi carpet anemone, acan, montipora, a chalice, blue clove polyps and pulsing xenia. I might have missed one or two, but you get the point. I waited a while to ensure I wouldn't make any obvious newbie mistakes and kill anything, and haven't (knock on wood) yet! I must even be doing something right as everything is starting to grow, some faster then others, but they're all getting bigger.I think I'm ready to get my first true anemone.
The question in this autobiography of a post is what would you guys recommend for a good beginner anemone? I'd like something to start with that's between a baseball or softball sized piece. Not too big, but large enough to observe. Second criteria is yes, I would like a clown to host it. Final criteria, something that might be more forgiving just IN CASE I make a slight mistake. Any ideas? RBTA?
Thanks guys.

75g reef ready, 6 ATI bulb t5, 40" 40W LED Evo Slim, SVC150 skimmer, almost a 50 gallon sump, currently no nuissance algae. That's the background on mine now. Let me know what you think.
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
I started with an RBTA, and now have a carpet. I think they're both pretty easy and feed/fed mine on a pretty regular basis. You may have to shift around corals for the first week or something like that until the anemone finds it's perfect spot though :). Also, there is NO guarantee that a clown will host an anemone, some of us have found that out.
 
#5
My experience is that I really don't like anemone's unless it is a big part of your tank. I have had 100% success with getting clowns to host in Xenia. Some of the big hairy mushrooms work well too for clowns. My BTA crawled around all day, ****ed a bunch of corals off then eventually melted. I just don't think they are very good tank-mates in a reef tank unless you are really keen on becoming a nem-keeper. Just my 2c and don't let it stop you if you really like nems, but personally I wouldn't put another one in my reef tank without some pretty careful consideration.

edit: swear filter. **** -> tee'd off or made them angry. lol no one has yelled at me for using that word since I was 5.
 

kmellon

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
I have a rbta in a nano tank and added two small oscelarus clowns and they wouldn't go anywhere near it. I then added a couple of older pecaso clowns that went to that nem immediately. about two weeks later i noticed my other clowns going close so i added another smaller rbta to the mix. now they all seem to be quite happy other that the small nem moving up and down the rock it is on and the larger nem moving to the upper front corner of the tank. I don't think any of them were happy that i was gone for two weeks and i'm wayyyyyy behind on a water change.
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
daveydoodle;184828 said:
Is it best then to try and buy/find a clown-nem combo for sale? On that already is together?
If you're looking for clowns that "for sure" will host then this would be your best bet, probably going to be a little more expensive though.

Also, I've not had much trouble with my anemone moving all the time and killing stuff. Like I said in the earlier post, you _may_ have to shuffle some frags around until the anemone finds it's sweet spot, but IME that doesn't take very long. The anemone I just put in my 120 is sitting in the spot that I put him in a few days ago.
 
#8
I was at Key's this weekend and he recommended against ANY type on anemone in a mixed reef tank. I have a 75 with about 40+ different frags. If I get an anemone I understand that it will likely move around until it finds where it is most happy (light, water movement, security, etc), but in your guy's experience, will a bubble tip EVENTUALLy settle down and stay for a while? I don't mind making a few changes to my aquascape, but I certainly do not want to do it every other day. I have a Blue Mini Maxi that moved from one side of the tank all the way across to the other (48") but hasn't moved an inch since. Again from your guy's experience do you think that a bubble tip will eventually settle somewhere and stay put? I'm really itchin' for one and have two fairly isolated spots I hope he'll stay in. Worth trying? Maybe start smaller than a baseball sized one?
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
Yes, once he finds a happy place he should stay put. However, they occasionally get a wild hair and want to go for a little walk and could mess some stuff up.
 

Ghosty

Butterfly Fish
#11

kmellon

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
my two have both been moving for the past month +. The smaller one seems happy on or around one of my tall rocks close to the overflow. Yes, he went in there once. The larger one has been all over the left side of the tank and has now taken up residence right next to the smaller one by the overflow. Good thing my tank has two overflows on the ends of the tank.
 

LittleCrabby101

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
I just recently got a mini maxi. The first day it moved and then settled on a rock and hasn't moved since. I don't have a lot of frags in my tank (yet) that it can mow over though. My snowflake clowns didn't seem interested in it at all. As soon as the anemone crab found it both haven't moved. I bought both as a pair ;) Here's a pic.

View attachment 8853
 

09bumblebee

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
My rainbow was moving in my 90 he touched a lot of corals and nothing bad happened they closed up and protected themselves so to say
 

BPreefer

Nurse Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
My rbta moved off of the rock I bought it on and stayed in the same spot I placed it for over a year. Even the ones that had split from it stayed close. But really depends if it likes the light and flow.
 
#16
Okay so I came across a good deat at AM on a Rainbow Bubble Tip so I took the plunge. I put him an a triangle shaped rock and of course, as expected, he found the single, 2" hole to fit through to hide inside of. If he somes out the other end of that hole then he will back right up into my Mini Maxi. Hopefully he comes back out the other way.
Second question now, why is it that people get pairs of clowns rather than them individually? Is it because of watching behavior, breeding, do they do better in pairs generally?
 

CRW Reef

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#19
daveydoodle;190416 said:
Is there an actual benefit to buying two? One will host a nem correct?
Yep the seller gets to make more money off you bro!!! Btw I have a pair of tripple, quadruple 25k platinums for sale :)
 
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