Does a Nem & SPS tank exist in the Nano world?

[RaeRae]

Torn on which way to go. I have a 30 gallon rimless tank. And love my brains, lobos octospawn, hammers and zoanthids. Which requires a little more dirty water than sps would like. So thinking of getting a Nem instead of SPS. Can they exist together? I have seen some monster nems bigger than dinner plates. And in a 30 gallon I can't have that. How long does it take for a Nem to get that big? 30 gallons is pretty small so my margin for error is very small. Opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[wadesims2000]

I would say no. That tank is to small long term for a nem plus anything else. Also removing them later means their death or removing any rock they are on. I do keep a nem in my tank but it is a 120. mine is regularly a foot wide.

 

[Nick Steele]

I think it would be hard. My friends rbta went from 2-3” wide to 10+” in 6 months and then in another couple months it went from 1 to 5 nems.

 

[DSEKULA]

I have a pico thats home to many maximini carpets, lots of zoa and shrooms, and some pocilipora. I think its possible if you pick the correct tank mates. The other nem i think could work would be rock nems.

 

[vessxpress1]

I agree. You would be amazed how fast a nem can grow in 2 years time. Some like to split often and then you’ll have two wandering around. You can remove one by applying an ice cube to the foot. It will release. I’ve manually gotten the base to release on them before too. But yeah you need a big space to try to do both. Lots of people even with bigger tanks lose prized corals to nems going for a stroll. I decided if I really wanted one again I’d have to set up a second tank and make it dedicated. Once you’ve owned anemones for a few years you kind of get over it and realize they are a pain. Would be fine in a dedicated tank but not free to roam amongst rare slow growing frags. Save yourself the headaches.

Edit: Forgot to mention, they like to eat your non clownfish tank inhabitants occasionally too. That $50 fish you love... where did he go? Oh he became a snack during the night. Cool $30 shrimp? Ah yeah. They’ll eat them too.

 

[uhgster1]

Try an elegance, nem looks without the tank roaming.

 

[DSEKULA]

I also have had success keeping euphyllia in sps appropriate conditions. Heres my big tank as you cam see on the left there are some that ive managed to acclimate to flow and lighting to sit along side my acros. You probably cant get a lobo up there but if you keep in mind your potential stock you can create zones for specific inhabitants with rock cove like areas, overhangs, and directing flow where you need it. I feel like this type of mixed tank is possible but needs some pre-planning to pull it off.

 

[Tired]

What nem? Rock flower anemones are fine in small tanks, even picos. They can get to 6" across, but take a long time to grow that big, especially if not heavily fed. They'd have to be down away from the lights, though, in SPS lighting.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Welcome to the rock, it’s possible 20 gallons

Edit: better pics of the corals specifically mentioned in the original post

 

[RaeRae]

Welcome to the rock, it’s possible 20 gallons

Edit: better pics of the corals specifically mentioned in the original post

How do you keep up with your with that many Coral?

 

[PicassoClown04]

How do you keep up with your with that many Coral?

It’s not really that hard I spend maybe 30-45 minutes a day on the tank (mostly cleaning the glass and feeding the fish. Water changes are 2 gallons every 2 weeksish or whenever I feel like the detritus is very bad. This is my first tank but I was guided by my father who has been reefing well over 40 years. (We share an account so you may see him posting on here from time to time). He taught me to not chase numbers (I have never tested anything in here, don’t even own a test kit), and to just listen to the tank instead. It tells you what it needs if you know how to listen

 

[GlassMunky]

Check out maxi mini nems. They come in a bunch of awesome colors and patterns and are pretty cheap. They are extremely hardy nems and we’ve never had a problem keeping them in a mixed reef LPS dominant. We had 21 at one point in our 70g cube along with all the corals. They tend to like to group together when you have multiples which makes for nice viewing with all the colors mixing together.
Note, they WILL NOT host any clowns.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Check out maxi mini nems. They come in a bunch of awesome colors and patterns and are pretty cheap. They are extremely hardy nems and we’ve never had a problem keeping them in a mixed reef LPS dominant. We had 21 at one point in our 70g cube along with all the corals. They tend to like to group together when you have multiples which makes for nice viewing with all the colors mixing together.
Note, they WILL NOT host any clowns.

Did they eat the clowns? I’ve been looking at these for my new build

 

[GlassMunky]

Did they eat the clowns? I’ve been looking at these for my new build

They are carpets so they can.... but we’ve never had an issue, the fish know not to get too close.

 

[DSEKULA]

They are carpets so they can.... but we’ve never had an issue, the fish know not to get too close.

They can eat fish but also host shrimp and crabs, i have sexy shrimp with mine and find them to be tons of fun to watch but its also a fishless 2gal tank i set up with the intent of keeping maximinis and sexy shrimp.

 

[PicassoClown04]

They can eat fish but also host shrimp and crabs, i have sexy shrimp with mine and find them to be tons of fun to watch but its also a fishless 2gal tank i set up with the intent of keeping maximinis and sexy shrimp.

Ah okay, might skip for my build then because I’m wanting some slow moving fish (coral crouchers and a long nose hawk, plus clowns and a dwarf angel) but I am thinking about setting up a pico so that could be really fun! I think I’ll use rock flowers instead but I might throw some maxi minis and sexies into my fuge just to make it look nicer