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**TheOldSalt** · 12-29-2005, 02:43 PM

Anemones are difficult critters to keep alive in a tank not built with them in mind from the start. Virtually immortal in nature, living hundreds of years, most of them won't last a year in captivity. One of the reasons is that, despite their size, anemones are still only 3 cells thick. Big cells, yess, but still only three. ( a whole Caulerpa plant is only one cell. A big Ostrich egg is only one cell. Cells can be huge ) Anyway, having literally 2/3 of it's entire body exposed to the water directly and shielded by only a cell membrane and a bit of slime, the anemone is perilously vulnerable to everything that can go wrong in an aquarium, and of course, things always go wrong in an aquarium. The problem is that while other creatures have a comparatively huge tolerance for such things, anemones don't.
Only bona-fide experts with topnotch tanks should even try to keep anemones. There's just no room for error. They have lighting requirements ranging from coral-supporting daylight to near darkness. Their zooxanthellae give them as many problems as benefits, and while in the sea they can constantly flush away their troubles, they can't in a tank.
You can help with that problem a bit by feeding your anemones only at night, but that will only go so far if you have nitrates or other problems.

An anemone that moves around all over the place is an anemone in trouble, desperately seeking some place where it can get the right combination of proper lighting and water movement. When they change color, it's due to either an increase or decrease in UV protecting pigments, or an increase or decrease in zooxanthellae colonization. These changes aren't always bad in themselves, but whatever's causing these changes might well be very bad indeed. It pays to really look at your system to figure out what the problem may be.

Anemones that shrink & waste away are doing so because for some reason they can't utilize their food, and are as a result digesting themselves in an effort to survive until conditions improve. They're supposed to do that, but YOU'RE supposed to find the problem and fix it.

Anyway, there are a number or crabs and shrimp that love to munch on anemones. I don't know if sargasso shrimp fall into that category, though.

The new skimmer you added should likely help quite a bit, along with some water changes and improved lighting.

12-29-2005, 02:43 PM	#5
TheOldSalt Darth Ichthyos Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,250	Anemones are difficult critters to keep alive in a tank not built with them in mind from the start. Virtually immortal in nature, living hundreds of years, most of them won't last a year in captivity. One of the reasons is that, despite their size, anemones are still only 3 cells thick. Big cells, yess, but still only three. ( a whole Caulerpa plant is only one cell. A big Ostrich egg is only one cell. Cells can be huge ) Anyway, having literally 2/3 of it's entire body exposed to the water directly and shielded by only a cell membrane and a bit of slime, the anemone is perilously vulnerable to everything that can go wrong in an aquarium, and of course, things always go wrong in an aquarium. The problem is that while other creatures have a comparatively huge tolerance for such things, anemones don't. Only bona-fide experts with topnotch tanks should even try to keep anemones. There's just no room for error. They have lighting requirements ranging from coral-supporting daylight to near darkness. Their zooxanthellae give them as many problems as benefits, and while in the sea they can constantly flush away their troubles, they can't in a tank. You can help with that problem a bit by feeding your anemones only at night, but that will only go so far if you have nitrates or other problems. An anemone that moves around all over the place is an anemone in trouble, desperately seeking some place where it can get the right combination of proper lighting and water movement. When they change color, it's due to either an increase or decrease in UV protecting pigments, or an increase or decrease in zooxanthellae colonization. These changes aren't always bad in themselves, but whatever's causing these changes might well be very bad indeed. It pays to really look at your system to figure out what the problem may be. Anemones that shrink & waste away are doing so because for some reason they can't utilize their food, and are as a result digesting themselves in an effort to survive until conditions improve. They're supposed to do that, but YOU'RE supposed to find the problem and fix it. Anyway, there are a number or crabs and shrimp that love to munch on anemones. I don't know if sargasso shrimp fall into that category, though. The new skimmer you added should likely help quite a bit, along with some water changes and improved lighting.