Two Anemones in the same 30 gallon tank??

[reefvilla]

I had a lady come in to my office and she just loved my tank.
She started telling me about all the problems she was having with her 30g "reef". Any coral she adds to it seems to die off. She then told me she had 2 different Anemones in the tank, one on each side.

I didn't say anything but I thought I remembered that two Anemones will fight for territory chemically and cause harm to other corals???

Yes/No??

[IPowderBlueTang]

I have three ananomes in a reef tank with no problems. Corals are jam pack in the tank.

[SNAKEMANVET]

I guess it would depend on which anemones she has.

[reefvilla]

I have no idea what type... I just thought I remembered something and was going to pass it on if it was correct.

Guess I was wrong..

[Poonaka]

are the anemones touching the corals?

[elegance coral]

I have never seen evidence that an anemone can chemically effect a coral without actually touching it. I have seen symptoms that lead me to believe that chemical warfare between anemones is possible. I personally doubt that the anemones are causing her coral problems.

[reefvilla]

I really don't know much about her tank.
She's a regular customer and we just happened to talk about her tank.
She asked if I would come over and test her water for her so when I do that I can get a good look at her tank.

I know for sure she uses well water with no filtration.
A HOB filter
A single fluorescent light that im sure is not right
And from talking to her, I don't think water changes are something she likes.

I was leaning towards the well water for her problem but I just wanted to ask about the Nems.

[arioch]

If she doesn't do much water changes and her lighting is terrible for a reef then that's the problem right there. She's probably not maintaining adequate water parameters (ca/alk/mag, and nutrient levels) and her corals can't photosynthesize and uptake/deposit calcium and die offs are inevitable.

The water source itself is not an automatic red flag.

[reefvilla]

If she doesn't do much water changes and her lighting is terrible for a reef then that's the problem right there. She's probably not maintaining adequate water parameters (ca/alk/mag, and nutrient levels) and her corals can't photosynthesize and uptake/deposit calcium and die offs are inevitable.

The water source itself is not an automatic red flag.

I think its a mixture of all of it. She just doesn't know and the local pet store that has one saltwater tank is giving her advice.
This town is a population of maybe 15,000 so the pet store is not much.

[WaffleWalffle22]

I have 6 in my 34g. I've had up to 12. No problems. A bunch died from overfeeding. Now I just have 5, and whenever I add something new to the tank that has tentacles, everything closes, sheds tentacles, stresses, grows back, and gets along. I no longer add stuff unless I find an AMAZING dead. :spin2:

[taylor t]

I've seen chemical fights happen. I've watched a well established mag go down very fast after the addition of another gig. It had a gig, haddoni, and crispy in the system with it, and was fine for months, but with-in a day, down, and fast. Water changes didn't help. Everything else was "correct". That mag was removed. None of the other 3 were affected though. Go figure. Mag has a new happy home, doing well.

I have in 1 system a gig, hadonni, and a crispa. Not an issue, everyone happy.
I have in another 1 pizza, 2 BTA, 1 malu, 1 LTA. Issues are pizza walks daily. It's about to get transfered.
I've also had gigs and haddoni flop back and forth on top of each other, like no big deal, no reaction from either. I think it depends on the individual, and type.

I've seen chemical fights happen. I also know different species can co-exist together, but it's definately not for a beginner to figure out. More like rolling dice...

Why can't these things come with instructions???!!!!