Temporary housing for carpet anemone

[Scubasteve11]

I have a Haddoni arriving soon and don't have it's permanent tank ready. A friend was going to house it until my nem tank was fully ready but that fell through. My nem tank just saw water this weekend and has a few months before it'll be ready.

A couple options as I see it..

1 - Setup a temp QT tank for the Anemone. I have all the equipment and can throw it up fairly quick with borrowed water, LR, bio cubes, etc from my current tank to skip the cycle.

2 - Rearrange my current established (30 gal AIO) tank to temporarily house the nem until her new home is ready. I would have to somehow catch the fish I care about and move them into a QT tank because I don't want the nem to accidentally eat them.

I prefer option 1 but not sure how well the Nem would would do in a newly setup holding tank.

Anyone thoughts or recommendations would be much appreciated!

 

[Wolf89]

I would go with number 2 personally.

 

[D-Nak]

I would recommend option 2 as well. Instead of removing the fish, maybe just get a tank separator instead?

Something like this:

 

[Wolf89]

Or get an acclimation box?

 

[OnyxPerc]

+1 for acclimation box. You can make your own out of egg crate and zip ties.

 

[AcroNem]

I would go with an established system any day unless the nem is being treated. To separate/ make a box for it, I use these all the time

TOTALPOND 10 in. Square Aquatic Plant Basket 52252 - The Home Depot

Provide strong, durable housing for aquatic plants with the TotalPond Aquatic Plant Basket. The basket keeps most aquatic plants safe and stationary, while ensuring a manicured look in your pond. The basket also protects your pond liner from the roots of plants that like to root deep...

www.homedepot.com

 

[Scubasteve11]

Thanks everyone. The acclimation box is a great idea. Suppose I could add some sand into it to keep the nem happy for a while?

 

[OnyxPerc]

Thanks everyone. The acclimation box is a great idea. Suppose I could add some sand into it to keep the nem happy for a while?

put some small rubble rock in there for the anemone to attach to.

 

[Mical]

put some small rubble rock in there for the anemone to attach to.

Carpet is going to need sand not rock. They bury their foot into sand and hopefully yours will be at least 2" deep.

 

[D-Nak]

The reason why I suggested a separator versus other options is precisely because haddoni like sand, at least 3" deep. It's really hard to accomplish in either an acclimation box or plant basket. Unless it's a really small haddoni, it'll never feel comfortable in either one.

 

[Scubasteve11]

Quick update...

I decided to setup the holding tank for the two fish I was worried about, a pink streaked wrasse and a yellow assessor. Luckily, they were both easy to catch. Both were hiding in crevices in a piece of LR that didn't have any corals on it. Moved the rock to the new tank and out popped both fish. Quite lucky.

The new carpet anemone seems to be doing well. Kept lights off all of yesterday and going to let the normal light schedule run today. I think this should be fine?

 

[Scubasteve11]

My female (I believe) clown never wanted anything to do with an anemone until I added the carpet. Now she can't get enough.

Love these anemones so far. Very cool animals.

 

[JOKER]

I just got a new carpet as well. I have 8 skunks hosting it.