who's kept tube anemones?

[harleychic]

I would like to hear from anyone who has kept these long term. I had one in a 10g, but lost it due to a power surge/heater malfunction after 6 months or so. I've since heard that they need to have a drastic reduction in tank temp for a few months every year in order to survive. Is this true?
I would also like to know if anyone else has ever kept one in a small tank with any other inverts besides corals.
What has been your experience with their aggression as far as capturing fish/inverts in any size tank?

[dragonette]

Hello.

Ive had mine for 6 months maybe? not sure exactly.

he eats what I give him- I feed him like a normal anemone because I fear he is starving lol.

He will grab little peices of food out of the water when I feed the rest of the tank.

he has never grabbed a fish or invert in my tank. He does have 'wandering' fingers but, even my "SLOW-minded" mandarin swims right past his tentacles without a bat of the eyelid.

Mine was in a 44g up until yesterday when I condensed to a 24g AP,

he seems happy. He is sedentary so I dont think size matters- as long as he has space to spread out at night (he extends more at night time)

here he is:

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u311/jm_willer/My%20reef%20aquarium/DSC01130.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u311/jm_willer/My%20reef%20aquarium/DSC00840.jpg

Good Luck!
Jess

[harleychic]

They are BEAUTIFUL critters! Anyone else with experience (good or bad) please reply, thinking about setting that tank back up!

[Dizzle63]

I have one a beautiful neon pink one. I have had mine for 8 months. It is one of the easiest animals I have to take care of. It has never harmed any of the other residents in the tank except for some zooanthids that were too close to it. I think the rumors of it grabbing small fish and invertebrates are simply not true. Mine is very content to eat mysis, cyclopeeze, or any other small frozen food that is in the water column. I never spot-feed mine. Make sure that the sandbed is sufficient though.

[harleychic]

what about the "yearly reduction in temp" ? anyone?

[mikchabe]

I've had three of them for about 1 1/2 years. They've been in a 10 gallon tank with the temp around 78-80 degrees. I have not heard of the "yearly reduction in temp", and they are still healthy.

I have small fish (mostly cardinals and gobies) and shrimp in the tank, and they all seem to avoid the tube anemones. As far as I know I haven't lost any fish or shrimp to the anemones.

Hope this helps.

[LeslieH]

Tropical areas don't have drastic reductions in temperature for a few months every year so that "requirement" seems rather strange.

They should be reefsafe as far as agression goes. Some species have nasty stings and could do a lot of damage if they contact clams or other organisms but I don't think these show up a lot in the trade. It would be interesting to hear if people have seen this in their tanks.

[Freed]

I think someone was either pulling your leg or didn't know what they were talking about when they told you they needed to be cooled every year. That would more than likely hurt the rest of the tank inhabitants than help the anemone.

[Atarax]

I had a beautiful pink one with a purple body myself. it absolutely devastated my mushrooms and some zoos. it never moved though, where i put him is where he stayed, it just opened up a LOT more than i thought i would and my corals paid the price. thats why he went back to the LFS.

[LeslieH]

So it does happen. That's a good cautionary story for the others, Atarax.

[dragonette]

It does expand more-so at night than during the day.

This can add to the misconception of the animals predatory routine.

It does not MOVE. But, it WILL take up more space than you think it will. So make sure when you get one that you leave a GOOD 6" between it and other mounted corals/inverts/critters.

Just like any other stinging 'coral' or anemone, it has the ability to damage other critters, USE common CORAL PLACEMENT TECHNIQUE and give this guy room to stretch its legs without coming in contact with other corals.

Jess