5 Gallon Pest (Anemone) Tank

[NanoCrazed]

Been mulling the idea of a pest tank for quite awhile...and finally pulled the trigger. One of my LFS was closing because the owner is retiring and while browsing through the store, I noticed a lot of different majanos and other hitchhiking anemones. This gave me the push I needed! (Admittedly, I had him nix a few on frags I bought before I decided to do the tank... :/ )

My game plan was to buy or get donated every type of pest and hitchhiker I could find in the LFS as a starting point. These are mostly anemones (aphasia, majanos, gracious, and a bunch of unknowns) along with asterina stars, a few bristle worms, mini brittlestars, Denis, and some poop brown zoas... and for fun, I tossed in a pistol shrimp figuring it needed a new home since it was the last day of the store.

Equipment:

*Marineland Portrait, 5G... started with the idea of a Petco 3.7G but the display area was too small for the amount of rocks with anemones attached I bought (almost had to switch to a Fluval Spec 5G because of this but really wanted this to be in a tall cube for aesthetics)
*Hydor pico 300 pump to replace the stock
*Reclaimed NatGeo 25W heater from My one of my FW tanks (btw, this is one of the best preset heaters imo)
*I also bought a hydor 180 in case i needed more flow but decided not to use it... the Pico 300 open wode has more than enough flow.
*Filtration wise, I am using stock media basket, and pads for now
*Light-wise, still undecided. I bought a Fluval Sea Nano (the older model with 156 LEDs) cheap off eBay for about $50 to use for this project. I also have a new Kessil A80 that i might try for more interesting color.

Water wise, my first fill is 50% from my existing tank and 50% filtered NSW. I am toying with the idea of future changes using dechlorinated tap based on water report for my city showing relatively low TDS, and this is a tank of the unwanteds, after all.

Here are a few shots of the tank in progress...with rocks in near final arrangement. Like playing with a jigsaw puzzle... trying to fit all those rocks in such a tight space while also wanting to easily see every rock / variety from the front. I may play with this some more...

For fun, how many different anemones can you spot / recognize?

 

[Tahoe61]

Very Cool. Dang some Majano are so pretty, it's easy to see why people mistake them for small BTA.

 

[Ryan115]

Very Cool. Dang some Majano are so pretty, it's easy to see why people mistake them for small BTA.

You mean the N-Crazed Ruby Tipped Emerald Anemones...

You could start the next "coral craze"

Nice idea for a tank though, I have an Aeolid nudibranch floating in a bag in the sump, as I haven't given him the flush yet cause he looks too cool.
I agree that a lot of hitchhikers are as interesting as what we stock into the tank.

 

[Tahoe61]

LOL.

About 10 years back on NR we had a good discussion going about selling Up Scale Majano, the new Maxi-Mini!!!! People get so disappointed when I tell them yup not a baby BTA.

 

[Dsnakes]

That's a neat concept tank. Looks good

 

[NanoCrazed]

You mean the N-Crazed Ruby Tipped Emerald Anemones...

You could start the next "coral craze"

Nice idea for a tank though, I have an Aeolid nudibranch floating in a bag in the sump, as I haven't given him the flush yet cause he looks too cool.
I agree that a lot of hitchhikers are as interesting as what we stock into the tank.

Lol. That would be fun...like convincing folks that they really WANT a pet rock.

Though in all seriousness, the pink tipped gracilis is beautiful to look at... the other more yellowish green ones get as big as a half dollar and cluster... saw a colony of it in the store's 300G...snuggled in the center of a giant leather even. Was impressed enough to pay $15/head...thankfully there was a 60% going out of business discount appled. Whew

 

[Ryan115]

Lol. That would be fun...like convincing folks that they really WANT a pet rock.

Though in all seriousness, the pink tipped gracilis is beautiful to look at... the other more yellowish green ones get as big as a half dollar and cluster... saw a colony of it in the store's 300G...snuggled in the center of a giant leather even. Was impressed enough to pay $15/head...thankfully there was a 60% going out of business discount appled. Whew

That's crazy that they were charging you that much for them. Did they even know what they are?
But like you said, they are beautiful in their own right, could be somewhat duncan-ish in a cluster too.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Pretty neat looking tank! I'm pretty interested to see how it will turn out, like if they will go crazy and take over the whole tank or stay relatively separated by species and stick to their own areas.

 

[NanoCrazed]

That's crazy that they were charging you that much for them. Did they even know what they are?
But like you said, they are beautiful in their own right, could be somewhat duncan-ish in a cluster too.

He sure did... He typically doesn't sell them but made an exception since he liked the idea of the pest tank so broke some off his colony in the 300G. These look like the smaller ones i have hitchhiking on the rock in the back left corner but larger...

Here's what they look like in his 300G display. Definitely very duncan-like.

 

[NanoCrazed]

Pretty neat looking tank! I'm pretty interested to see how it will turn out, like if they will go crazy and take over the whole tank or stay relatively separated by species and stick to their own areas.

I think it'll get interesting for sure... every time I look, I noticed various anemones moving around trying to vie for best or preferred spots... starting to see a mix of them moving into the same neighborhood, so to speak.

 

[NanoCrazed]

Close up of the different anemones and hitchhikers I could find thus far:

View attachment 20180102_030238.jpg

 

[NanoCrazed]

He sure did... He typically doesn't sell them but made an exception since he liked the idea of the pest tank so broke some off his colony in the 300G. These look like the smaller ones i have hitchhiking on the rock in the back left corner but larger...

Here's what they look like in his 300G display. Definitely very duncan-like.

Back at the store for final pickings today... and took a pic of the anemone in the 300G with full grown tangs for comparison. These things get big!

 

[Ryan115]

Those are quite impressive, I can definitely see the draw for setting up a tank around them.
How about N-Crazed Walking Duncans?

 

[NanoCrazed]

Love it! I'd buy! Gonna put it up in the next round of eBay flash sales.

 

[Skydvr]

Had a local store selling them for $15-20 here as well. They knew what they were, I clearly didn't. Thankfully I bought a smaller one. Compared to most of what they sell, I'm surprised I got off that cheap.

I did actually like it quite a bit, even after I found out what it was. I was just nervous that it was going to start spreading and take over my pico.

 

[NanoCrazed]

Had a local store selling them for $15-20 here as well. They knew what they were, I clearly didn't. Thankfully I bought a smaller one. Compared to most of what they sell, I'm surprised I got off that cheap.

I did actually like it quite a bit, even after I found out what it was. I was just nervous that it was going to start spreading and take over my pico.

The spread is pretty slow... they just move around quite a bit but I really like that. Gives life the tank

 

[NanoCrazed]

Just a quick tank update... rescaped right after the holidays after picking up a few more rocks loaded with goodness and let everything do their thing.

This has become one of my favorite tanks to watch... and zero maintenance too. Those anemones rearrange themselves all the time so super dynamic tank!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Very cool idea!

 

[burtbollinger]

LOL those seafoam green palys are almost too much of a pest for even the pest tank....man those things give me nightmares. (had to shut down a tank once when they spread everywhere)

some really nasty Caulerpa racemosa might be a nice touch too

 

[NanoCrazed]

Admittedly, i regret getting rid of the little bubble algae i had... would have been nice touch.

I do have some grape macros and caleurpa taxifolia and GHA in there