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Anemones are fun. They do unexpected and occasionally stupid things, like trying to explore the pump intake with their tentacles. One of the anemones in the photo survived the HOT Magnum, chiefly because I got home and unplugged it, then let the anemone spend 3 days removing its own tentacles. They enjoy $9.00 a pound shrimp and guppies. They climb the walls and prevent decent water changes. They flush themselves out and scare you to death. And they are marvelous indicators for the condition of your reef tank. The anemone often provides the first visible clue that a contaminant has gotten into the tank, or a pump has been left unplugged and caused an ammonia spike. Anemones are intolerant of dechlorinated tap water's hidden contaminants, and dislike the buffers required to get tap water to hold pH. Getting one to live for over a year has meant learning and re-learning marine chemistry, refining my understanding of minimum maintenance, water conditions, lighting, supplements, etc. It meant going to nothing but RO on water changes, switching the skimmer. (VisiJet is much better than a back mounted air driven counter current, and the new one is better still.) Coral Vital has produced marvelous changes in the vitality and lifespan of all my corals, and the anemones seem to approve of it. (Coral Vite smells like my chemical vitamin B6 supplement. It flunked the test.) Getting anemones to thrive also meant removing all anemone predators from my reef, one at a time. I wouldn't be surprised to find a few bristleworms are still in there, but all the crabs, from small to large, are gone. The chocolate chip starfish is gone. The pencil urchin is gone. (The urchin was actually after the corals rather than the anemone.) One of the clownfish has moved to another tank, to prevent fighting too near the anemones. These are obviously my pampered pets or total addictions. The quality of the digital camera was dictated by the desire for an anemone T-shirt. The color printer was necessary to print the image for the shirt. And it goes on and on. Here are the photos. Tank: 55 gal reef with u/g, 2 powerheads, HOT Magnum, VisiJet Skimmer, Homemade Normal Output 3 bulb, 120 watt fixture, 1 actinic, 2 balanced daylight. Glass canopy over front portion of lighting only, well vented back. Reef started in August 1995 and the educational process began. First anemone added in October 1995. We've kept (common names here) Long Tentacles and Sebaes. Long Tentacles are usually hardier. Tank stocking and maintenance by Alice Burkhart. Photos by Jim Burkhart. Tomato Clownfish was a refugee from a rough tank. He has healed well in ours, and caused my sebae clown to migrate to another tank.
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