Help with Anemone

[Birdman Broham]

Hey guys, I picked up some beautiful clown fish, I already had a king tentacle anemone and they immediately hosted it. The issue is, the anemone won’t plant down. It’s moving everywhere. Only water flow I have is my return pump nozzle which is blasting dead space behind rocks. With an ice cap 1K which is turned down to 10% it’s not really doing much with my settings. I tried to move sand down to glass and force it to plant but it moved out. Can anyone assist with helping me figure out a way to get it to plant.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

That is an unhealthy anemone. How old is your tank? Long tentacle anemones need a 10 month old established tank to thrive, but yours looks brand new based on the lack of marine growth on the rocks/sandbed. They also need a deep sand bed in order to attach and do well, about 3 - 4". While not the hardest species of anemone to care for, LTAs are still an advanced species.

 

[Birdman Broham]

Un

That is an unhealthy anemone. How old is your tank? Long tentacle anemones need a 10 month old established tank to thrive, but yours looks brand new based on the lack of marine growth on the rocks/sandbed. They also need a deep sand bed in order to attach and do well, about 3 - 4". While not the hardest species of anemone to care for, LTAs are still an advanced species.

Unhealthy? Lol, it’s def healthy. My tank has been running for some time. My sandbed is roughly 3” deep. Issues isn’t “unhealthy” the question was is there a way I can force it to plant. Appreciate your response

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Sorry if that wasn't the answer you were looking for, but it's still true. Healthy anemones are attached to a surface. Failure to hold on means that something isn't right. The reason why it's currently free-floating is to find a better place to live. In the wild, there'd be a chance of the current blowing it to more hospitable ground.

If this is your 75 gallon, it's a bit more than 5 months old, assuming that you dated your previous threads accurately. Not long enough for an anemone, especially with dry rock. Do some more research in the future, one of the fundamentals of anemone keeping is that you need an established tank.

There isn't a way you can "force" it to settle. Despite not having a brain, anemones have a mind of their own. Try "fencing it in" with some small pieces of rock rubble against the main rockwork. You can also wedge the foot in a gap between the sand and rock. I see a few places in there where you could do that. If it's going to attach, it will.

Your maroon clowns might also be bothering it. Maroons are brutish little things, they can very well harm an anemone. They could be preventing it from attaching by bothering it. I like to add clownfish after an anemone settles in. You might want to put them in an acclimation box for a few days while the anemone (and you) sort things out.

In order to speed up the process of the tank becoming habitable for the anemone, you might add some real live rock to the tank. Not any of that LFS stuff which was dry two weeks ago, there are a few places which sell real aquacultured live rock straight from the ocean.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I agree the clowns are most likely bothering the heck out of it and would be best to separate them for few days at least till it latches . Also some live rock could not hurt.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I’ve had clowns kill a new red carpet in first few days due to being so ruff and it would not settle in. Cost me a lot for that mistake

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I like to make a little cove of rocks and fence it in. Just pick a spot with good flow and light. My LTA hosts a maroon clown and is in less than an inch of sand. It is about the size of a dinner plate. My maroon used to feed it when it was so small it couldn’t eat the smallest of pellets.

 

[Birdman Broham]

Sorry if that wasn't the answer you were looking for, but it's still true. Healthy anemones are attached to a surface. Failure to hold on means that something isn't right. The reason why it's currently free-floating is to find a better place to live. In the wild, there'd be a chance of the current blowing it to more hospitable ground.

If this is your 75 gallon, it's a bit more than 5 months old, assuming that you dated your previous threads accurately. Not long enough for an anemone, especially with dry rock. Do some more research in the future, one of the fundamentals of anemone keeping is that you need an established tank.

There isn't a way you can "force" it to settle. Despite not having a brain, anemones have a mind of their own. Try "fencing it in" with some small pieces of rock rubble against the main rockwork. You can also wedge the foot in a gap between the sand and rock. I see a few places in there where you could do that. If it's going to attach, it will.

Your maroon clowns might also be bothering it. Maroons are brutish little things, they can very well harm an anemone. They could be preventing it from attaching by bothering it. I like to add clownfish after an anemone settles in. You might want to put them in an acclimation box for a few days while the anemone (and you) sort things out.

In order to speed up the process of the tank becoming habitable for the anemone, you might add some real live rock to the tank. Not any of that LFS stuff which was dry two weeks ago, there are a few places which sell real aquacultured live rock straight from the ocean.

There we go. That’s a better explanation. My tank has been running for about 9-10 months. I recently came to this forum. My tank is older than the build thread is. Thanks for providing a better answer. Noted what you said

 

[merkmerk73]

Un

Unhealthy? Lol, it’s def healthy. My tank has been running for some time. My sandbed is roughly 3” deep. Issues isn’t “unhealthy” the question was is there a way I can force it to plant. Appreciate your response

It looks like a new tank.

How long has it been up and running?

The rule of thumb is that anemones are sensitive and require very stable tanks minimum 6 months old

The issue is that you're going to have tons of different swings of parameters even long past the nitrogen cycle

 

[Colton Yuchnewicz]

nems have a mind of there own... sorry to say it wont plant untill its happy! and becarefull of those nems... they will eat anything....

 

[RichReef]

Clear the sand from under that cave or create a STABLE cave in another spot and clear the sand to expose the glass. They always attach to the glass in a tank. It's rare they will attach to rock. Place the LTA foot first and cover it with a container or screen. Stop any flow that is not necessary. LTAs do not need a deep sand bed. They need their body to feel safe so make sure your cave can fit the entire body.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Do you have aptasia in your tank? Not sure if there is a correlation but I have my tank up for about 15 months. I tried anemones at different stages and they all died. Just saw my first aptasia and I am wondering if I can now keep an anemone...

LTA's were the hardest to get to attach. I would suggest buying a little acclimation box and place it in there until it settles in then move it

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

There we go. That’s a better explanation. My tank has been running for about 9-10 months. I recently came to this forum. My tank is older than the build thread is. Thanks for providing a better answer. Noted what you said

Would you mind providing some parameters? Normally when I see an unhappy anemone, it's because the tank is too new. If the tank is as established as you say it is, that probably isn't the problem. Sometimes low nutrients can cause issues. Nitrate between 5 - 15ppm is ideal for anemones.

 

[Rtaylor]

LTA’s often latch a lot faster if you help them out. Dig a hole in the sand next to a rock, put the foot in the hole and fill in around with sand. Put a few small rocks/shells if needed to help keep it in place, usually a few hours is enough time. If it still won’t settle, you can put its foot in a pvc pipe and bury that in the sand.