When to introduce a anemone

[johnny4491]

How old does your tank have to be to put a anemone in

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

How old does your tank have to be to put a anemone in

Imo cycled

 

[johnny4491]

Imo cycled

But after the cycling is done is there like a certain time limit for the tank to age or no

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

But after the cycling is done is there like a certain time limit for the tank to age or no

Way back in the day before breading clowns was a fad...

I had a customer bring in a breeding pair of Sebae clowns I took home the clowns a seabe anemone a bag of crushed coral a 20 high black seal tank stand and a Marineland Eclipse hood filter with two 6500k lights. Grabbed a couple pieces of rubble rock and a handful of crushed coral out of my trigger tank an everything did fine...

 

[johnny4491]

Way back in the day before breading clowns was a fad...

I had a customer bring in a breeding pair od Sebae clowns I took home the clowns a seabe anemone a bag of crushed coral a 20 high black seal tank stand and a Marineland Eclipse filter with two 6500k lights. Grabbed a couple pieces of rubble rock amd a handful of crushed coral out of my trigger tank an everything did fine...

So there isn’t no time frame just after the cycling then [emoji106]

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

So there isn’t no time frame just after the cycling then [emoji106]

From my experience not really anemones are pretty hardy. My curent tank cycled with that I thought was a piece of rubble rock I bought to jumpstart my bacteria. One day I came home an it had polyps opening. Come to find out after days of trying to ID it I have a pink Alveopora. My LFS rubble tank is right below the frag tank am when stuff starts to decline they toss it down there now I peep the rubble rock tank to see what they might have tosses in there.

 

[mike werner]

of course the tank must be cycled for general health of all inhabitance to thrive.most anemones can handle high nitrates but decline quickly in a high nitrite or ammonia saturated tank .if ones dies it is often catastrophic to a tank and it's other inhabitance.imo I would wait at least 4-6 months before adding your first one.some may say you can do this sooner but why rush it.remember nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.many a reefer have given up and quit the hobby just because they rushed the process and were not successful right out of the gate.don't want to see that tank for sale on craigslist six months from now.

 

[johnny4491]

of course the tank must be cycled for general health of all inhabitance to thrive.most anemones can handle high nitrates but decline quickly in a high nitrite or ammonia saturated tank .if ones dies it is often catastrophic to a tank and it's other inhabitance.imo I would wait at least 4-6 months before adding your first one.some may say you can do this sooner but why rush it.remember nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.many a reefer have given up and quit the hobby just because they rushed the process and were not successful right out of the gate.don't want to see that tank for sale on craigslist six months from now.

That’s true and you have a point thanks

 

[Viking_Reefing]

That’s true and you have a point thanks

Yeah, like Mike said don’t rush it. If you toss in a anemone right after the cycle you might be alright but it’s not worth the risk.

The worst thing that can happen by not adding an anemone for a couple of months is that you won’t have a anemone for a couple of months

 

[NanoCrazed]

I think the other thing in addition to cycling is it gives you time to get in good habits and experience. I probably lost two nems early on and swore off nems...

One day, I decided to try again but wanted to do it with a dedicated QT tank so to speak to make sure my DT was safe (last nem prior walked into a powerhead and poisoned the well while I was away...was not pretty when I got home). For this attempt, i put in live sand that I keep around, pulled a few pieces of LR from my LR cycling tank (always keep a rocks ready cuz I never know...lol), grabbed some filter media from an established tank and put it into my HOB. And everything was happy. So it can be done...but not something that should be rushed if you're new at this. This QT tank now is my dedicated nem tank with about 10+ nems.

When you do get you nem, a few tips...

1) cover ALL powered filter inlets and powerheads -- even my "fool proof" design has been fooled. Despite how large they can look, they're really just jelly blobs that can fit into anything.
2) make a habit to do a role call of your nem daily and several times throughout, esp if you see it starting to move.
3) if you notice cloudiness in the water, pull the nem out to QT and change your water aggressively with carbon running. It's usually a sign of an injured or very sick nem and your DT becomes a ticking time bomb.
4) nems prefer indirect flow... and will move for find it otherwise. So everytime you change something in your tank be on the look out for a moving nem.

 

[Ironwill723]

I usually wait about 3-6 months just to be safe.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

I don't understand how people can sit and stare at an empty tank for 3-6 months? I'm from the old school I guess. Started with 3 green chromis 20 pounds of live rock 20 pounds of base rock totally cycled within 3 weeks No3 30ppm did a water change This is 6mo 20 days. An I just turned the lights on to take these pics.

 

[johnny4491]

Thanks guys [emoji106]

 

[ReefMang]

How old does your tank have to be to put a anemone in

When I was a noob and first started the hobby I put a RBT anemone in a 16 gallon Biocube before the tank was even cycled. At that time I didn't know any better..... There were a few times when it was severely deflated and I thought that it was going to die however it lived.. A couple of years later its still thriving and about 10x the size and has gotten so big that I now have to move it to a bigger tank.

I have read that a tank should be at least 1 yr mature before adding an anemone but in my experience as long as your tank is cycled, has good flow, lighting and water parameters you will be just fine.

In my 135g tank that I set up 6 months ago I waited for the full cycle and 3 months in before adding an RBT anemone in this tank. In the 3 months that I have had in this tank it is thriving and has doubled in size (yes it feed it often with frozen Krill).

Pic below is my anemone that I put in an uncycled Biocube about 2 yrs ago.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

When I was a noob and first started the hobby I put a RBT anemone in a 16 gallon Biocube before the tank was even cycled. At that time I didn't know any better..... There were a few times when it was severely deflated and I thought that it was going to die however it lived.. A couple of years later its still thriving and about 10x the size and has gotten so big that I now have to move it to a bigger tank.

I have read that a tank should be at least 1 yr mature before adding an anemone but in my experience as long as your tank is cycled, has good flow, lighting and water parameters you will be just fine.

In my 135g tank that I set up 6 months ago I waited for the full cycle and 3 months in before adding an RBT anemone in this tank. In the 3 months that I have had in this tank it is thriving and has doubled in size (yes it feed it often with frozen Krill).

Pic below is my anemone that I put in an uncycled Biocube about 2 yrs ago.

See I'm not the only crazy one.... [emoji106]

 

[johnny4491]

When I was a noob and first started the hobby I put a RBT anemone in a 16 gallon Biocube before the tank was even cycled. At that time I didn't know any better..... There were a few times when it was severely deflated and I thought that it was going to die however it lived.. A couple of years later its still thriving and about 10x the size and has gotten so big that I now have to move it to a bigger tank.

I have read that a tank should be at least 1 yr mature before adding an anemone but in my experience as long as your tank is cycled, has good flow, lighting and water parameters you will be just fine.

In my 135g tank that I set up 6 months ago I waited for the full cycle and 3 months in before adding an RBT anemone in this tank. In the 3 months that I have had in this tank it is thriving and has doubled in size (yes it feed it often with frozen Krill).

Pic below is my anemone that I put in an uncycled Biocube about 2 yrs ago.

Thanks for sharing and that’s awesome [emoji41]

 

[mike werner]

I don't understand how people can sit and stare at an empty tank for 3-6 months? I'm from the old school I guess. Started with 3 green chromis 20 pounds of live rock 20 pounds of base rock totally cycled within 3 weeks No3 30ppm did a water change This is 6mo 20 days. An I just turned the lights on to take these pics.

I don't think anyone said "put nothing in the tank"inexpensive starter fish and inverts are fine.i just would not recommend putting a $60 plus nem in the tank first or within the first few months.it's probably done all the time but not recommended by most reefers.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

I don't think anyone said "put nothing in the tank"inexpensive starter fish and inverts are fine.i just would not recommend putting a $60 plus nem in the tank first or within the first few months.it's probably done all the time but not recommended by most reefers.

I've been at this 25 years an have cycled 3 tanks with breading pairs of clowns before it was cool with them an host anemones never lost anything. Rearing fry with baby brine in a 2L soda bottle ...

 

[Sharkbate]

To keep it short and sweet .... cycled and stable if your in a hurry . Certain Anemones are hardier than others but they will soon turn inside out if the waters off and not happy .....