Curious about a dedicated anemone/clownfish tank

[boogs]

AFter keeping a reef tank for a few years, and seeing so many incredible anemones, i'm considering starting a 30 (tall) gallon tank with a pair of clowns and a host anemone. I know little about anemones, but i do know they need decent lighting and feeding. So....is a 30 gallon too small for any long term success? It would be lit with a 175w MH and 2 20 watt NO actinics and is drilled with a 10 gallon sump. Any and all opinions greatly appreciated!!

TIA

Scott

[jbf16falcon]

I don't see a problem with that set-up at all. At least for BTA's, I'm not sure if there are any added concerns for other types of anemones.

[delphinus]

The only other concerns about other species would be size. Some species would be a definite no-no in a tank that small.

I've come to the opinion that for optimum conditions for anemones, tank breadth (the front to back measurement) is probably the most crucial. A lot of tanks particularly <50g sizes have a breadth dimension of 12" and this can pose headaches down the road when the anemones are happy and thriving. Even BTA's can get pretty large. I just traded in two of my BTA clones (left one for myself) because they outgrew my 50g tank.... (it took four years to happen but it happened nonetheless -- so even with BTA's there is some concern about space -- espescially if they divide on you -- you might be trading in some clones yourself eventually). So my advice is consider a tank that has a large front to back measurement. Consider the "footprint shape/size" as well as the "gallonage/volume" when considering a tank.

FWIW, one of my tanks is a dedicated species tank for a Stichodactyla haddoni carpet anemone. It's a 20g tank lit by a single halide (175W). I've had the anemone about 18months so far. For the moment it's working out OK ... I seem to be getting away with it for the time being, but I have to point out that there really is nothing else I can do with this tank. It has some rock, the anemone, and a couple of frags that I'm trying to grow-out. There really isn't even the space in here to do the frags properly -- if the anemone touches them then they don't do so well. And fish would be a definite no-no in this tank (guess what carpets eat?) So success is possible but you have to really keep your goals in check and not try to do too many things at once. The only possible downside of this situation is for the cost of the halide every month in electricity and that this money is sustaining really only a single animal, as opposed to a more typical reef structure where that cost is spread out over many different organisms.

HTH/IME/IMO/etc.....

[steph30]

That is exactly what I set up. It's a 30g long with 175 watt 10k and 2 30 watt 50/50. It's worked out good so far, but I definately see having to upgrade the tank down the road as the Bubble tip is growing a lot faster than I expected.

This isn't a very good pic of it, but it will give a general idea of what it looks like...