Rock Flower Anemone...Am I ready?

[New&no clue]

So I know that you are suppose to wait 6 month to a year to get an Anemone. However waiting is REALLY hard. So I started my tank, 55 gallon, end of March beginning of April and then end of August I upgraded to a 75 gallon. I brought over everything from the 55 to the 75, except the sand. So TECHNICALLY while the 75 tank may only be a couple months old, the stuff in it has been around since April... so doesn't that count? I heard with anemones what is most important is consistence and stability. I test every couple days and my parameters are pretty stable. I've also read that rock flowers are the hardiest of the anemones. I would be looking to get this around Christmas time as my Christmas present to my self, so my tank would be at least another month old. What do you guys think, am I being impulsive, or have I waited long enough?

 

[New Jersey REEF]

As long as you know your water chemistry and maintain stable environment, I don’t see any problems of keeping anemones.
Having said that, how’s your experience so far been with this hobby?

 

[Squidward]

Beware rock anemones will travel all over your rocks and may sting corals as they go.

 

[LIreefguy]

Rock anemones are beautiful and pretty hardy once they gets accumulated. Like all anemones they will and can travel. But IMO once they settle they pretty much stay in same place. I have one that I moved the rock it’s on several times and still didn’t move. My bubble tips moves every time I move the rock

 

[tankstudy]

If your getting rock flowers, you should be fine if your parameters are within recommended ranges.

I keep many and they are far hardier than a lot of things we keep in this hobby. I move often and start tanks up in matter of just a few days and throw them in. My rock flowers have been with me for a while now, 3-4 years? Maybe even more.

Beware rock anemones will travel all over your rocks and may sting corals as they go.

They are far less likely to move if you give them a solid spot to sit in. Some folks use pvc end caps to let them settle in and then put them in the sand bed or where ever they please.

Most of the time, they will only move if water quality is poor, they are sick or they are infested with parasites.

I never had to worry too much about movement in this tank.

 

[New&no clue]

Having said that, how’s your experience so far been with this hobby?

so I don’t want to jinx myself, but so far so good. Fish have been healthy with no issues. I have started adding corals in the last couple months, softies and a couple LPS. Everything seems to be happy, opening. Knock on wood we continue down this path.

Beware rock anemones will travel all over your rocks and may sting corals as they go.

I know, that’s why I was hoping to get one sooner rather than later so it could pick a spot it liked before my rocks were full of corals.

 

[jeffchapok]

You should be okay if all your parameters are in line. My rock flowers have been pretty resilient. I began adding them at about the same point in my tank's history. They don't like a lot of light though, so start them out low.

 

[New&no clue]

@tankstudy and @LIreefguy as you have experience with them I was hoping I could put the anemone on the rock on the left, do you have any suggestions or advice to make him happy there?

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

@tankstudy and @LIreefguy as you have experience with them I was hoping I could put the anemone on the rock on the left, do you have any suggestions or advice to make him happy there?

What is the flow like on that rock? If it is low, I would just turn off all of your flow when you go to place it for 30 minutes and then turn it back on. If the flow or light is to intense, you may notice it hiding in the rock.

 

[LIreefguy]

@tankstudy and @LIreefguy as you have experience with them I was hoping I could put the anemone on the rock on the left, do you have any suggestions or advice to make him happy there?

unfortunately no. You can put them anywhere you want. In my experience they will go where they want 100 percent of the time.
a lot of them even hide for a few days. So if your hides it’s perfectly normal

 

[Fishnut]

Mine would always drop off to the bottom and make their homes in the sand at the base of rocks. I would also wrap the power heads with filter floss until they are settled in one place.

 

[New&no clue]

I would also wrap the power heads with filter floss until they are settled in one place.

An anemone was on my list from the beginning to get so when I bought my power heads I also got the mesh covers for them in preparation for an anemone one day.

 

[Aheinz]

Love the info here, once my next tank gets setup and cycles. And the small amount of corals and fish moved over and if my params are stable I'll get some rfas before more coral always love these. And eventually a bta

 

[New&no clue]

So I pinky promised my husband I wouldn't buy any more corals until after Christmas. Well in my mind an anemone isn't technically a coral so maybe I could get away with it. I started to talk to him about it and he starts to look up anemones and decides he really like BTAs, so new questions. Are BTA and RFA okay in the same tank?

 

[tankstudy]

Are BTA and RFA okay in the same tank?

Yes.

Even if they come in to contact, one will eventually give way to the other. I've never experienced a battle to the death between the two.

 

[New&no clue]

we are in the negotiation phase now... my anemones for his PAX tickets.

It's a pretty exciting time at the dinner table at my house.

 

[Joshua Kerstetter]

Good for you, just my two cents, but rock anemones are probably the easiest thing to keep and the most rewarding in my opinion. I transferred over a green and pink condy from my previous tank, but the first time I ran across a rock anemone I had to get one, the new tank had only been setup for maybe 6 months from live rock from the previous. I think I have 6 rock anemones now, they're great, have one of each of the various types and colors now, they're really amusing to see eat, and they really change over the course of the day too.

 

[dhof]

As previously mentioned as a technique, I put a RFA into a 1/2" or 3/4" PVC endcap. I actually glued the backside of the endcap to a small 1 or 2" square of acrylic to give it a more solid base where it can stand on it's own when I move the whole thing for cleaning.

I put the PVC cap with RFA down into the substrate where the top of the cap is just above the substrate level, and it looks really nice. The RFA has stayed very happy in this same plug for several months.

 

[New&no clue]

they're really amusing to see eat, and they really change over the course of the day too.

What do you feed them. I don't typically target feed anything in my tank, just broadcast feed a variety of things and hope everyone gets what they need. So far so good.

 

[New&no clue]

@dhof what type of flow is yours in? also direct light or under an overhang?