Hi Andy,

I thought I would continue this thread on wet-thumb as it is a more appropriate
forumfor this sort of thing.

I thought I would share with you some of my observations on keeping anemones in
aquaria. I have had great success keeping snakelock anemones Anemonia viridis
they have grown and grown and split and grown and so on and I ahve had then for
probably 5 years. I have had a good light set up over the tank with a
coral-light tube and a 50/50 actinic tube I think and they were on for about 10
hours a day. I have fed them well regularly with frozen artemia and live mussel
directly from the shore chopped open and fed directly - they will each half a
mussel each once a week maybe. they have kept there lovely florence green and
purple colours. The tank is in my living room and Im sure the temps get into the
low 20s. I dont have masses of water movement. the larget ones had a tentacle
width of 15+cm I should think. I have lost a small dragonet and corkwing wrasse
to them in the past. It was very sad to see my dragonet inadvertantly swim into
a coupleof them which wrapped their tentacles around it. the fish was too long
to fit inside one so eqach anemone had an end each until they met in the middle!

Beadlets Actinia equina do fairly well as well again feeding on small bits of
chopped up mussel. when there isnt food in the water aor much much water
movement the tend to retract their tentacles. if fed lots the produce lots of
little offspring! If they`re not fet so much gradually get smaller and smaller
:-(

I havent had much luck with Dahlia anemones Urticina felina I think because my
tank is too warm. they never seem to open out and look as fantastic as they do
in the sea. they wouldnt feed even when chunks of food were placed directly on
the, they just gradually get smaller and smaller over a period of months.

The daisy anemone Cereus pedunculatus does well in a bright tank and will grown
and split to carpet the tank floor. the attach to the tank floow and pop up
throught the barnacle gravel

Sagartia troglodytes are quite happy in the tank too but I have never got them
to split or reproduce. I never fed them individually.

I would like to know if anyone has ever kept Cerianthus lloydii, Corynactis
viridis, or Protantea simplex? I would love to give some of these a go as they
can look so great in the sea.

Anyone else had similar or differing experiences with these anemones? Got any
other anemones experiences to share?

Best wishes,

Charlie

>>> "Andy Horton" <Glaucus@...> 07/05/07 9:13 am >>>
Hello James,

All species of the common sea anemone found around the British coast (except
the ones containing zooxanthellae) have fared well for over a year in home
aquaria and for as long as 20 years in aquaria that undergo frequent water
changes (average 10% per month). The conclusion I drew was that excessive
nitrate was not a problem.

The problem keeping the species the Snakelocks Anemone, Anemonia viridis,
for periods over a year in good condition in indoor aquaria, I have not
resolved.

Dahlia Anemone, Urticina felina, die in sustained temperatures over 22° C,
and probably stop feeding at a lower temperature. Occasionally, they are
difficult to feed. However, you should note that another reason for them
finding difficult to feed can be disturbance by other inmates of the tank,
e.g. the Blenny, Lipophrys pholis.

There is a separate forum called Wet Thumb for aquarium enquiries.
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/wetthumb/

This has not been very well used since Smart Groups folded.

Cheers

Andy Horton.
glaucus@...
><< ( ( ( ' >
British Marine Life Study Society (formed 6 June 1990)
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/
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