well the other day their was a garage sale and they were sellin a perfectly good protien skimmer for 20 dollars!well i bought it of course.i checked on the internet to see how much it was and it was 200 dollars!!!!!!!she asked do you want a 50 gallon fish tank for 30 dollars?i said no. i think i have too much tanks in my house.anyway what types of corals and anemones should i put in my tank.i am thinking about ordering a hatian anemone from saltwaterfish.com they have really good deals!!!it's only 10 dollars.but its really small.

What brand is the skimmer???? How long has your tank been set up and what kind of lighting do you have???

Ditto on Reefmans comments, the biggest killers of anemones are immature tank and acclimation, changes in salinity are not tolerated well at all, recommend you do a drip slowly for several hours, water conditions,lighting,shipping trauma are all factors in early losses but salt is the fastest, good luck Steve

I tell anyone who wants to do anemones that their tanks should be at least one year old. In a small tank they can easily pollute the whole tank and kill everthing in a short amount of time. Also they need lots of light and feedings to remain healthy. You should block all the inlets to filters and powerheads with filter pads or something that allows water in and anemones out because the anemones like to move around and get sucked into them.

JD

Thats not necessarily true. I had my tank for less then a year and have 3 different kinds of anemones living in it.

And even though I do have a great lighting system now, I didnt when I first got them and they were just fine. I really believe the lighting is more important for the corals then the anemones.

For a beginner you should wait. If you are knowledgable about tanks and the wastes that can build up then you should be ok. In small tank anemones can get close to each other and they will fight and sting each other and when one dies it will release ammonia and can kill the rest of your tank. Even in large tanks I have heard of this happening. Carpet anemones are the worst, they like to send of chemicals in the water to hurt the other anemones, but their chemicals can hurt other corals too.

Lighting is very important for your anemones as well as your your corals. Both have zooxanthellae that need to be fed by the light. Some anemones can survive without light if you feed them enough food.(squid, mysis, krill,or brine shrimp). Also the anemones like to move around a lot. If you have corals that have a better light source the anemone will move there and kill the coral. Sometimes they will move into a filter inlet or a powerhead and it can be messy to remove them.

That exactly what the stupid guy at my lfs said!!!!!!!!!!Well not exactly.But it meant the same meaning. Well he sold me one anemone.Its still alive. I drop feed it every 2 weeks. sHOULD I RETURN IT?

O YEA and the corals were too expensive. I only had 30 dollars since im only a kid so i could only get the anemones. No corals 4 now.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Well, time if very important for people that are just getting into keeping these kinds of wonderful critters... You should always start with the easy to care for corals...to see how to maintain water quality...if you kill the shrooms then you are not ready for anemones.... A year is good advice as the more mature your system is the more capable a reef keeper you have become and the environment for the anemone is much better....,

Lighting is very important for anemones...they need good lighting to maintain their food source...You may have keep anemones with poor lighting...they may have survived...but they certainly will not thrive under those kinds of conditions.... Being able to do something doesn't mean you should!!!!

Here is what a healthy thriving RBTA looks like under proper lighting and a very mature tank...





And here is a vid of this tank with the RBTA....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsb1eeF7E7Q

Off topic, But Reefman, are those pics from your tank? Thay are amazing.

I personally would not suggest getting something that you might not be able to care for properly. Since you already have it, just research it, and do your best to keep it alive.