Anemone Info

Does anyone keep anemones in their tanks? Is so what type and what type of lighting do you use?

I have a purple tube anemone. Even though it is under metal halides it is non photosynthetic so it has to be fed. Not much help I know. I don't like anemones because most will roam around and sting corals. The tube anemones don't move.

tried one and woke up one day and it was stuck to my power head ... moved around too much for me

I have a carpet anemone, mini-carpet, Curly Q anemone, 3 rock anemones, & 4 green bubble tip anemones. The only one that requires MH lighting is the carpet anemone. The others will thrive under T5 and VHO light sources and will normally seek protection from MH lighting until they adjust. However, personally, I have only had luck with anemones under MH lighting. I had them under T5's and eventually had to move them under MH's.

The most important thing is tank maturity and stability! Another consideration is tank size because some of the species like to move around often. My experience with movement:
Carpet anemone - may move a few inches every now and then.
Rock anemone - never moves
Curly Q - Only moves if the flow moves
Bubble Tips - some of mine move all over the place and some never move.

A good source of information is: http://www.karensroseanemones.net/

Do your research before buying one. Some do have special requirements. For example, shields over power heads and over flows so they do not get stuck in them. I learned this one the hard way myself. Most importantly, learn what they should look like in the pet store before buying one. They can crash your tank if they die in your aquarium. They also have chemical warfares if different species are in the tank and your corals will not appreciate their battles.

Another thing to add is that there are no WHITE anemones. If you see an anemone in the store, or in your tank, that is solid, bright white it has lost it's zoothanthellae and is not doing well. It may look pretty while white but healthy anemones will have a brown, green, or some other color tint if it is healthy and getting enough light. That doesn't mean that under good conditions it can't recover but it will need a little more care than a healthy nem.

As Ritter stated, color is extremely important. Dont let a pet store convince you that there is a "new" color. They either don't know what they are talking about of they are flat out lying to you!!

What is the best thing to feed an pink tip anemone mine has been taking raw shrimp from groceriey store

I feed mine silver sides. I buy them in a big frozen bag from Petsmart. I feed them one silver side every other week. They have a tendency to split if you over feed them.

Thanks is it bad to feed them shrimp though

i saw one of the nem's at petco regurgitating the shell to one of those 35 dollar Blood red fire shrimps... a dang expensive snack.

Sorry.... No. It's not bad. It is recommended to feed them mysis when they are small and silver sides or fresh, uncooked, shrimp when they are bigger. Silver sides are their favorite. They mainly feed on small fish in the wild.

Kool thanks