[Finsky]

Originally Posted by maxxII

Finsky,
I am not now, nor have I been or claimed to be a Marine Biologist. I have taken Marine Biology in both high school and in college, but that’s about the extent of my formal education in it. Like you and 95% of the rest of the people on this board, I consider myself to be a hobbyist. With that mindset, I have studied up on aspects of this hobby that interest me. I’ve been keeping salt water aquariums since I was 12 years old and my parents were stationed in Hawaii. I used to collect critters and bring them home. I’m now 38 and over the years have learned things through experiencing both success and failure. I find it hearbreaking and frustrating to lose an animal in my system, therefore I’ve studied up and tried to learn best practices to be successful in the long term care and health of my critters. I don’t claim to know everything, nor do I claim that I have even most of the answers. There are some very, very smart and experienced people here on the board (Joe Yaiullo…goes by JustJoe here on the board who maintains public aquariums,), Phil Henderson, (Phender here on the board) is a science teacher in California and is quoted and referenced in many books about anemones and clownfish, Rod Buehler, (Rod’s Food fame, breeder of Rod’s Onyx Percula clowns, and the only person I know who has personally kept an S gigantea anemone for well over a decade)…goes by his name here on the board, I have absolutely NO idea what the real life names of Bonsai Nut, Marina P, or delphinus are here on the board, or what they do for a living, but they are extremely knowledgeable and experienced. These are just a fraction of the “talent pool” here on the board. There are many, many more here whom I cant think of just at this moment...all of whom happen to be much more knowledgeable and experianced than me.

Since it is cheaper for you and anyone else here on the board who bothers to read my posts to learn from my mistakes vs. repeating them for yourself, I feel that sharing my knowledge and experiences is a good way to further this hobby. With that in mind, I wasn’t intending to “correct” your “errors” but rather to point out that you were misinformed.


Up above you refer to “sick” anemones. I referred to weakened anemones. I live in St Louis MO. For me to receive any anemone, its been shipped all over the place and is in a severely weakened state. In many cases they are sick from disease as well. My point was that adding clownfish to an anemone in either a sick, or a weakened state, (or both) before it has a chance to get healthy, can be detrimental to the anemone. I explained how and why I came to this conclusion. By all means, feel free to disregard any and all of my comments or posts and do as you see fit with your aquarium and your critters. I wish you nothing but success in your endeavors.

With regard to the link you provided…I hope it wasn’t written with input from one or two Marine Biologists, because there is very little information in that article, and the list of clownfish and their host anemones in the wild is incorrect.

Here is a list of online articles you can read at your leisure and a list of books you might want to check out at the library or purchase on your own:

Here is an online abridged version of the book DNAK recommended above.
FIELD GUIDE TO ANEMONE FISHES AND THEIR HOST SEA ANEMONES

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen8.html

http://www.breedersregistry.org/anem...veyresults.htm

http://www.netpets.org/fish/referenc...ref/heter.html

http://www.amazon.com/Reef-Aquarium-...283155_b2_15_p

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Coral-R...2058232&sr=1-6

http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-An...phne+G.+Fautin

http://www.amazon.com/Anemone-Fishes...phne+G.+Fautin


To be honest with you, these books and links are a good start when it comes to learning about anemones, but the best source of knowledge you’re going to find is right here on the web.

Best of luck to you.

Nick

Golly. I am glad you are around to identify misinformation.

Since I am misinformed according to you, I hesitate to share my knowledge and/or experiences with you or any of your "numberous?" devotes.

Hogwash, semantics, sick/weaked, is not my game, as I work in a different field than English Language Arts. I was talkiing about one and the same when I referred to "sick". An anemone that is not healthy.

Today I did my weekly anemone feeding of razor clam and silverside . I usually break up into small pieces any razor clam I have left after feeding half inch pieces to my anemones with plastic tongs. My female Tomato clown took one of those small bite sized pieces into her mouth and then spit it out. She did not bring that back to her anemone to keep it safe and eat it later? Could there be "any" truth to the possibility that a clownfish will feed its host anemone?

I also feed my fish with Vita-Chem soaked food three times a week with the weekly dosage required for a 125 gallon tank. I also feed the corals, invertebrates, and polyps Kent Marine Phytoplex, Chromoplex, Zooplex, and Microvert twice per week. The these liquid foods and vitamins perk up my anemones.

Good luck and I wish you success in your world of "correcting" what you thought/think is misinformation.

When you assume, you make and ?*$3 out of you and me.