Tank of the Month - May 2005

[Skipper]

This month we are featuring Kevin Kuykendall's (Anemone) beautiful anemone-dominated aquarium:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/totm/images/RChomepage.jpg (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/totm/index.htm)

More details can be found here (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/totm/index.htm) or by clicking on the picture above.

Congratulations, Kevin!

[JB NY]

Good Job Kevin!!! I really enjoyed the article. :thumbsup:

[MarksReef]

Very nice tank and article,Kevin. Congratulations.

[AJP]

Great Job Kevin. It is nice to see something besides the SPS tanks we tend to see. Also it is great to see a fellow law man, laying down the law.

[DEA_MT]

nice i bet those clownfish are having a blast!!!

[ctsieber]

great tank. Nice article, and its nice to see something that breaks the typical mold.

[saltyunderground]

Kevin,

I have two large long tentacle anemones that co-existed nicely side by side for a long time. Recently, I noticed that one of the anemones had begun pulling off the tentacles of the other one.

Any ideas on why they would be fine for a long time and suddenly begin fighting? I have removed one of the anemones from the tank. But, I'd like to have them back together.

Any ideas on why they would be fine for a long time and suddenly begin fighting? Any thoughts or tips are appreciated.

[Northside Reef]

very cool tank :thumbsup:

[Anemone]

Thanks guys!

Salty,

Two anemones of the same species, and one was "pulling the tentacles off" the other one? That doesn't sound right. Did you actually see tentacles actually pulled off, or did you see tentacle bits (something else might be responsible, like a clownfish), or just a lack of tentacles on one side of one of the anemones (anemones can pull their own tentacles in for a variety of reasons)?

Kevin

[prezioso73]

how do ou clone those suckers?

[jaze36]

Great tank!! Congrats on tank of the month!

[Anemone]

Originally posted by prezioso73
how do ou clone those suckers?

Generally, they take care of that on their own - I don't do anything special. In the past, I've fed heavily to encourage splits (heavy feeding does result in more splits over the long term than less feeding) and experimented with the "water change regimen" for stressing/cauing splits and found it works (in this regimen, you feed several times a week for several weeks, do a large volume water change 25%-40%, continue to feed several times a week, then do another large volume water change after two weeks, and most of the clones in the tank will have split. You can do this every 2-3 months). I've also found (accidentally) that temperature stress will reliably cause splits as well. I've had my chiller pump fail on a couple of different occasions, and my tank temp climbed to over 85 degrees. Both times, I had multiple splits within a couple of days of returning the tank to its regular 80 degree temp.

FWIW,
Kevin

[Azurel]

Thats CRAP man...Where is the SPS dominated tank? What this TOTM with no SPS what a let down.......:D


Just kidding.... great tank Anemone....Glad to see a little change, I love those RBTAs.

[Wazzel]

Nice tank. I have found that a disposable plastic spoons work well for removing BTA's from rock work. They are flexable enough to get in the cracks, thin enough to gut under them and soft enough to not cut them.

[Cesar357]

Geeez that must be heaven for clowns. Awesome tank.

[TippyToeX]

Congratulations Kevin!! :D :beer:

[doc1]

I HAVE A ROSE BUBBLE TIP FOR 3 YEARS IN THE SAME BARNACLE SHELL I PUT IT IN. I HAVE 175 METAL HALIDES GOOD WATER FLOW AND HOPEFULLY A MATED PAIR OF GOLD STRIPE MARROONS IN A 155 GALLON TANK. MY 1ST QUESTION IS MY ANENOME NEVER SPLIT AND THOUGH CHANGES SHAPE FROM TIME TO TIME NEVER REALLY GROWS IT IS DOING GREAT BUT I AM AFRAID TO DO ANY STIMULATION TO GET IT TO SPLIT .SHOULD I JUST KEEP WAITING OR DO I NEED ANOTHER ANENOME ADDED? ALSO HOW DO YOU GET THE CLOWNS TO MATE THEY HAVE BEEN TOGETHER FOR AT LEAST 5 MONTHS AND THE ORIG CLOWN IS 4 YEARS IN THE TANK AND MUST BE FEMALE AND THE NEW CLOWN WAS PURCHASED SMALL AND THEY SEEM TO BE TOGETHER ALOT. BY THE WAY THANK YOU FOR A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE .

[Blindmelonbob]

Cool, man. Do your clowns have a favorite clone, or do they just hopscotch around all of them?

[Anemone]

Do you feed your anemone? If not, start feeding it 2-3 times a week with a small portion of meaty food (a couple of krill, or 1/4-1/2" piece of fresh table shrimp). It should then begin to grow. IF it's a splitter, it will eventually split.

As for your clowns, it took my first GSM pairing 18 months together before they started spawning (second pair took 9 months), so if they are happy together, I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep them well fed with a variety of food and they will spawn eventually.

Kevin

[Anemone]

Originally posted by Blindmelonbob
Cool, man. Do your clowns have a favorite clone, or do they just hopscotch around all of them?

Hopscotch, unless they are tending a nest, then they stay close to the nest. Right now I only have a single male-turning-into-female GSM in the tank. It's about time for me to pair him/her with a new mate....

Kevin

[saltyunderground]

Originally posted by Anemone
Thanks guys!

Salty,

Two anemones of the same species, and one was "pulling the tentacles off" the other one? That doesn't sound right. Did you actually see tentacles actually pulled off, or did you see tentacle bits (something else might be responsible, like a clownfish), or just a lack of tentacles on one side of one of the anemones (anemones can pull their own tentacles in for a variety of reasons)?

Kevin

To be honest, I'm not sure they are the same species exactly. The species of one of them is actually up for debate in our local reeef club forum.

If they are different species, does this make more sense and can anything be done to make them get along?

[Kevinup]

Nice. Have had a few tanks in the past. Considering trying again. Great forum!!!





Link removed. Sorry, we don't allow advertising for other boards

[CPT. MURPHY]

congrats on totm !!!

:)

[dascharisma]

Cool tank. After reading the article I will never knowlingly put an anemone in my tank.

[Gawain1974]

Nice tank...it's great to see a species-devoted tank. Also, goes to show that you don't necessarily need MH to keep certain anemones. I'm a bit surprised that you need a chiller with VHO. Do the VHO's add that much heat to your system?

[Anemone]

Originally posted by Gawain1974
I'm a bit surprised that you need a chiller with VHO. Do the VHO's add that much heat to your system?

It's a pretty tight hood. The hood is 4" tall and only open at the back, plus I have the acrylic shields (from the original NO lighting fixtures) over the large openings in the tank. So the heat builds up...

Kevin

[mhurley]

Nice buddy! :beer:

[pvtschultz]

Originally posted by Gawain1974
I'm a bit surprised that you need a chiller with VHO. Do the VHO's add that much heat to your system?

I think that since his unit is more "together" meaning filtration and everything is part of the tank its self, he doesn't get as much heat exchange. I have 220W of VHO on a 55 gallon with a sump and fuge (10 gal ea.) under the tank and never had temp problems. I think that with the water flow down to the sump and and such allowed me to dissipate a lot of heat (and a gallon of water every other day).

Perfect TOTM though. There are a lot of people that want to keep Anemones and this is a perfect success story and example to lead by. Moderate lighting, right flow, and patience. I had never heard of an Anemone spawn. Great tank!!!.

Carl

[AnemicOak]

Amazing!

[jobryan26]

I found the preferences of the RBTA you mentioned very useful. I have a Sebae in my main reef tank that I have had for over 2 years and a BTA in my 20gal H tank which has only been a member of the family for less than a month. He is constantly moving or floating but recently found himself planted inside a cave like area in the rockwork. I have been a little concerned about this since my Sebae has never acted like this. I feel better now knowing that they tend areas like this and will adjust for flow/lighting. Excellent work!

[John Brancheau]

Congratulations,

It is very inspiring to see a tank that is that mature............


John

[sammie]

Beautifyl tank Kevin: One question I have is I have a large long tentacle with a pair of clarke clowns and have noticed when I do a water change the anenome gets stressed out and gets extreamely small for most of the day. It will then open up some when the lights come on but takes a while to get back to "normal" . Do you notice this and also do you use any artifical salt mix?

Bill

[OUinLA]

Good Job Kevin!!

At one time, before the RBTA's were in every LFS, Kevin supplied most of SoCal with RBTA's. Weather we got it from him, or another reefer, they were almost all clones, or clones of clones, off of his anemones.

[yh132]

The tank is absolutely beautiful. Kevin, have you kept other types of anemones?

Love seeing a species tank as TOTM. Hope to see more in the future!

[NexDog]

Great tank, great article. Wish I could get an RBTA but down here I'm stuck with plain Malus. :)

[reefarchitect]

Great tank,

Such beauty and tranquility in the pictures alone, must be amazing live.

Enjoy and congrats on TOTM

AJL

[jthnhale]

I found the most interesting thing is the tank will decorate itself. That's a big change from coral that stay where we put them.

[drewid]

congrats on TOTM.. great to see you've had such a success with your tank :D

[onefin]

Very inspiring, i'm in awe.

[mcslater]

Real nice!!! Just wondering if u and the Kevin I know(326th/709th AS) were one in the same..

[Anemone]

Originally posted by mcslater
Real nice!!! Just wondering if u and the Kevin I know(326th/709th AS) were one in the same..

That's not me... but there are quite a few of "us" around, as strange as that might seem to people with more common names... :D

Kevin

[Sregnar35]

Congrats Man!

[reefpeep2004]

Originally posted by Anemone
It's a pretty tight hood. The hood is 4" tall and only open at the back, plus I have the acrylic shields (from the original NO lighting fixtures) over the large openings in the tank. So the heat builds up...

Kevin
Having lived in Valencia, I can vouch for the fact that it's just this side of Hades in the summer :D I'm sure that doesn't help the heat factor any.

Lovely anemones and tank :)

[alphaferret]

congrats-love the pix-very nice totm-not too big!-
i have a rbta also -first night it split-i call them spike & chester from the cartoon 0 lil guy followed big guy around- both are hapily at home now. anyways yours are beeeeautiFULL!
i will check your gallery for pix of your other most likely nice tanks too!-alpha

[alphaferret]

i love that purple rimmed monti

[JHReef]

Originally posted by Gawain1974
I'm a bit surprised that you need a chiller with VHO. Do the VHO's add that much heat to your system?

Yes, I can also vouch for the need for a chiller, since I live out that way too. It so close to the desert that some of the streets deform and melt under heavy trucks in the summer. Great tank Anemone, glad to see your submission didn't get you banned for life!:mixed:

[Felix Mata]

Kevin: great job you have done, thank you for sharing the pictures, article and everything else. Congratulations.

[fcatano]

Great tank! awesome RBTA's. I have a 100 gallon reef tank that is about 7 months. I want an anemone but I'm not sure if it's the tank is mature enough for an anemone. Any advice I'll apprecited.

Thanks and congrats!

[rjwilson37]

Very Nice Anemone!

I tried the BTA's a couple times and was just not successful. My tank was not really mature at that time though like it is now, I just wonder if my water chemistry was just not right for them yet. I am not really sure if I will try it again, I mean I just love BTA's, but I don't want to be responsible for another BTA death.

[FunkieReefJunkie]

Dedicated species tanks are rare and your tank is awe inspiring. Maybe in the next few years I'll give an anemone a try.

[maxvan1]

WOW! Thats awsome! How many anemones do you have total?

What do you know, I have the same tank, but its 75 gallons... (or maybe its 65 with that overflow thing being 10 gallons?) anyways, I will try that method to get them to split (the feed heavy then do big water change)

Do you think raw cocktail shrimp would be bad for an anemone (just because they are cheaper if I am going to feed alot)

are you running skimmerless, just a fuge right?

[Gary Majchrzak]

MMMMM.....a species TOTM! Anemones to boot. NICE! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Carl_in_Florida]

Its great to see something different as Tank of the Month. While I will not go in this direction, I also will not go in the direction of the 200 gallon 4 billion watt sps tank.
Kudos to RC Staff and Anemone for showing the diversity of this hobby.
You really get a sense in this article that Kevin enjoys this tank.

Carl

[SpaceFish]

Sweet looking tank! I bet it looks very busy and action packed in there.

Two questions for you:

Are any of the other fish in there stung from the RBTA's or harassed by your GSM?

Do any of your RBTA's ever go swimming around in the current? I find mine doing that every now and again. Is stays in one spot for a long while then it'll be on the move, then in notime its floating/bouncing all around in the current for 5-10 minutes.

[rbdesigns]

Hello Kevin!

Nice tank! I also have a seaclear system II but it is 50gal. How did you turn the back into a fuge? I took out my bioballs and but in rubble rock but wanted to turn it into a fuge without modifying it, but the water flow is too high.

[maxvan1]

you put two peicees of acrylic in so its like this...

I___I____I____I ___I

The I's being the acrlylic peices that are already there, and Orange I's being the peices you have to put in.

Its sorta hard to explain lol :rollface:

[Carl_in_Florida]

[welcome]
rbdesigns

[Anemone]

LEt's see if I can hit on most of the questions:

I modified the rear-bioball area by putting a piece of acrylic at the bottom of the divider just before the pump chamber (in my system, the water flowed into this chamber through an opening in the bottom of the final divider). I drilled a hole in the acrylic a couple of inches from the top to allow the water to flow through to the final chamber (without overflowing the top). This slowed the turbelence down quite a bit thorough the bioball chamber.

- I think I have 12 or thirteen clones right now, I had a problem with my heater sticking on - couldn't figure out why my chiller was on all the time when the room temp was low 70's. So, the tank was getting up to 82+ degrees. I checked, and the heater was still on at this temp. Cranked it down a bit and finally got it dialed in again (until I can pick up a new one), but the temperature spike seems to have caused a couple of splits...

Dinner time.... more in a bit.

Kevin

[Anemone]

- Fresh table shrimp, cut into smaller pieces, is a fine meal for a BTA. Just make sure it's uncooked and not spiced in any way.

- none of my fish have been stung by my BTAs - at least not to my knowledge. My GSM only really harrasses me when I'm in the tank. The rest of the fish he-she (and them, back when) pretty much ignores.

- my anemones don't go swimming. Mine pretty much move from solid object to solid object. Sometimes they will release a part of their foot like they're "reaching," but they generally don't release the whole foot until they have a hold on something else.

- currently, I am running skimmerless, but I'm reconsidering putting a chinsy one back on the tank -the lack of skimmer has been the only real difference (as far as I can tell), between the first spawning event (where I only lost the hree snails) and the last two spawning events (where I lost fish). The thing that makies this strange and not an exact correlation, is that I actually shut off my skimmer the first time the tank spawned and didn't turn it on until a day later, and even with the fish kills in the later spawnings, all of my snails survived (when they all died in the first spawning), so I'm still confused....

Kevin

[TippyToeX]

Have the anemones ever stung you? :)

[maxvan1]

I have a RBTA, I brush by it all the time, nothing ever happends. (or at least I cant feel it.)

another question (sorry lol) when you say a temp. spike caused a split, did it split durring the spike, or after?

[george_grat]

Nice work!!!

[dc]

Gee my anemone looks just like yours! ;) I love that tank, hope mine will do the same thing.

[dinoman]

:) Amazing tank, I just keep going back to it and thinking "Wow!". I would really love to get a bta sometime, and I'm sure I will...just those first time jitters :D. Don't want it to kill over on me, the family would never let me live it down!

[Anemone]

Originally posted by TippyToeX
Have the anemones ever stung you? :)

Actually, yes. :D When I clean the acrylic, the top of my forearm brushes against several of the clones. I usually start to get a burning/itchy sensation that takes 10-15 minutes after I wash my hands/arm to subside. Nothing unbearabale, just about at the level of a mild sunburn, pain-wise.

And as far as the splits after a temp spike, it's usually within 24 hours of the spike, but sometimes (like this time) can occur during the spike - this "spike" was more of a low level one, but went on longer than the times my temp has spiked up to 86-87 degrees. It took me a couple of days to figure out the problem, so my temp was riding up for a couple of days.

Kevin

[reefofart]

Originally posted by TippyToeX
Have the anemones ever stung you? :)

I also was wondering about this since in the article you said you used your thumbnail to pry them off the aquarium sides. Wouldn't it be hard not to get stung, or is it pretty mild with brief contact?

[maxvan1]

Originally posted by Anemone
Actually, yes. :D When I clean the acrylic, the top of my forearm brushes against several of the clones. I usually start to get a burning/itchy sensation that takes 10-15 minutes after I wash my hands/arm to subside. Nothing unbearabale, just about at the level of a mild sunburn, pain-wise.

And as far as the splits after a temp spike, it's usually within 24 hours of the spike, but sometimes (like this time) can occur during the spike - this "spike" was more of a low level one, but went on longer than the times my temp has spiked up to 86-87 degrees. It took me a couple of days to figure out the problem, so my temp was riding up for a couple of days.

Kevin

Really? does the stinging become less as they clone? like a wild one would hurt more then a second or thrid generation?

[OceanproAquatics]

Nice thread. I'm going to read it all to see if I can get some help on a topic I by coincidence asked about. I think my Roses are spawning and I'm not sure but another RC member was nice enough to refer me here.

If you wouldn't mind taking a look at this link http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=4913418#post4913418 I posted about what appears to be milt or a large cloud bloom my rose's are shooting all over, I'd appreciate any advice.

Thanks!
Mike

[Anemone]

Originally posted by maxvan1
Really? does the stinging become less as they clone? like a wild one would hurt more then a second or thrid generation?

Not that I've noticed. My clones have actually gotten more "sticky" since I've had them... plus, I may be bulding up an allergic reaction to the stings as well.

Kevin

[kaweahnet]

OK, Anemone, you definitely got my attention here. Not because you have done so good with Anemone's (although I have mad respect for that also) ... but what interests me is what you have done with your SeaClear System II. I too have one that I continue to use for a FO tank with one BTA. I was convinced about 10 years ago to purchase one of these and was told that if I ever wanted to keep inverts it would be perfect. Well, 10 years ago there was not as much widespread knowledge as there is today with respect to nitrate reduction ... so I'll give the guy at PetCo a break. I got the information that I would expect to get from a minimum wage employee at a chain fish store.

We all know that the 'ole wet/dry systems are not condusive to low nitrate levels ... and you mentioned that you removed your bioballs and replaced them with a fuge. That's cool! I have thought about doing something similar. I have toyed with many ideas of getting a real skimmer on the back of it also.

I have managed to get nitrates down to about 25-40PPM by utilizing the installed Protein Skimmer (junk) with the bioballs. Currently, I have it setup as an aggressive tank (humu trigger & dragon wrasse) with the BTA hosting a maroon clown. The BTA has lived in 100+PPM nitrates before I got the skimmer working efficiently, so its very successful right now with 25PPM.

I'd be anxious to see how yours is setup (pictures or diagrams would be wonderful). I would also like to learn a little more in detail about what you did with different skimmer options. Eventually I am going to sell this tank when we start building our 200+ tank ... but I would like to sell it as something that could support <5PPM Nitrates.

Thanks in advance, Dave

[Anemone]

Dave,

"Uniquarium" makes a skimmer that is a round acrylic tube with a collection cup on one end. It is made to be powered by a Rio 600 venturi that injects the water/air mixture through a hole in the side. This acrylic tube fits into the space for the SeaClear airstone skimmer. It takes some work, but it fits. The rio 600 goes on the bottom of the skimmer area, pointed upward into the bottom of the skimmer tube. You'll need additional airline tubing, as the tubing included with the Rio isn't long enough to reach from the bottom of the skimmer area to the top (ie, to the air). I attached a tetra luft airpump to give some additional airpower to the skimmer, and it worked better than the the airstone skimmer that SeaClear sells (and I didn't have to change the wood airstones every month). The downside is that it's hard to get to the rio to clean it or perform other maintenance. The skimmer area is tough for even someone with small arms like me to reach to the bottom of...

I'll try to diagram the bioball area that I've turned into a 'fuge...not sure if this will work...



.|..|..............................|
.|..|..............................|
.|..|..|...........................|
.|..|..|...........................|
.|..|..|.........|........|.......|
.|1|2.|..3 ....|..4 . ..|..5 ..|
.|..|..|.........|........|.......|
.......|............................|

Okay, 1 is the skimmer chamber - water flows across the bottom of that chamber and up and over chamber 2 into chamber 3. There used to be a drip plate across the top of 3 and 4, and the water overflowing from 2 dripped down into bioballs in 3 and 4. Water flows along the bottom of 3 and 4 into 5, where the main system pump pumps the water back into the tank.

I took a piece of acrylic and glued it over the opening at the bottom of 4, between 4 and 5. This allowed me to put 3-4" of sand in the bioball area. I drilled 1" holes in the dividers between 3 and 4, and 4 and 5, about an inch from the top. This lowers the water level in this refugium area slightly, but helps keep stuff from running across the top of the water from 2 and overflowing into 5... it helps keep stuff in the refugium. I put a 15 watt NO fluorescent Tr-phosphor bulb directly above this refugium area, and there is some spill over of light from the VHO bulbs.

Now, to see if it gets all messed up when I post...

Kevin

[kaweahnet]

Thank you very much, Kevin. Excellent description of what you did - it makes perfectly good sense. I figured I was going to have to plug up the pump inlet (bottom of divider between 4 & 5), and you confirmed that - although I've been thinking about building a chamber around it, so that it still sucks from the bottom so that if the water level dropped I wouldn't be sucking air.

I just picked up a Coralife Protein skimmer for my frag tank (20 gallon) and it works fantastic. For a HOB deal it really does good, I highly recommend it for someone on a budget that doesn't want to do a sump. My idea is that I'm going to pull it off of my frag tank and try to cram the pump from it down into the skimmer chamber, if that works then I can effectively have a HOB skimmer for it. We'll see. The biggest problem is that I don't have live rock in the tank - so I have to have some type of biological flitration if some type, so removing the bioballs ot cram the skimmer pump down there really isn't feasible.

Therefore, I'm looking at doing something similar to what you have done, but rather than a fuge it would be a 4" sand bed and a bunch of small pieces of live rock all the way up to the top. It won't be quite 1lb/gallon, but it should provide enough filtration for the bioload in the tank.

Love that Coralife skimmer - only $99 with the pump at Aquacon.com

http://www.aquacon.com/images/coralifesuperskimmer65.jpg

[LUIZ LÜBBE]

Congrats! It's nice one. Getting momment could you tell me about the lighting used in this? Are you using T5 bulbs, what version of watting used, is it 54 version, like tank of the month, on march 2005?
In positive case, could help about where buy this lighting?
May you order an e-mail, getting me to write for?
Thanks,
LÃœBBE

[zenya]

Congrats,Kevin! http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/w/thumbs.gif

Well deserved and I'm glad to see that a species tank was recognized as TOTM. Being RBTA keeper myself it makes me feel very good. :D
I was lucky enough not to loose any of my fish when all my clones spawned(males, as you know;) ) I can;t thank you enough for providing all the information I needed at the time.

:)

[Anemone]

Originally posted by LUIZ LÃœBBE
Congrats! It's nice one. Getting momment could you tell me about the lighting used in this? Are you using T5 bulbs, what version of watting used, is it 54 version, like tank of the month, on march 2005?
In positive case, could help about where buy this lighting?
May you order an e-mail, getting me to write for?
Thanks,
LÃœBBE

No, not T-5, VHO. I have an Icecap 660 ballast. From the article:

Now the tank is lit by 295 watts of VHO lighting (a 46.5" Actinic Blue bulb, a 46.5" Actinic White bulb and a 24" Actinic White bulb) for 11 hours daily, plus two 15 watt NO bulbs (one actinic and one triphosphor) that run for 12 hours and are used for dawn/dusk simulation and refugium lighting.

The ballast I got from IceCap, and the bulbs I got from Premium Aquatics, both ReefCentral Sponsors. :D

Kevin

[BrianD]

Attaboy, Kevin :)

[LUIZ LÜBBE]

THANKS. VERY MUCH! IT'S AN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. IN THE PRESENT MOMMENT EXPECTED TO RECEIVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE LAST EQUIPMENTS USED IN THE USA AND IN THE EUROPE. IF SOMEONE HERE COULD SEND ANYTHING ABOUT THE ENIVATION DEVELOPED THERE, PELASE SEND TO: luizcl@w3tech.com.bnr

[Nem0]

I have a RBTA when fully extended can reach the size of a tyre. It has been with me for about a year now. Doesn't move around, but the tenticle is always distrubing its neighbor.

Do you know if a RBTA gets too big, it will split by itself?

Thanks.

[JHReef]

I had a huge green BTA finally split that was doing the same as yours. I kept having to move stuff around so it could have enough space. I think a steady diet of silversides did the trick for me and I got a ton of real estate back as a result.

[Fergy]

Kevin: did you receive the E quad from Sanjay as a clone out of the Penn State tank? If that's the case, it was probably a clone of one of mine, and I can tell you that it was collected in Guam, in 10' of water, off Padi Point. Just to give you a little "chain of custody" info about it. ;-)

BRIAN

[SurferStevo]

Kevin congrats on TOTM. It's the RBTA clone factory tank! How many So. Cal. reefers have an RBTA that came from that tank?
I was just wondering what the make is on that chiller you are using?

[Anemone]

Originally posted by SurferStevo
Kevin congrats on TOTM. It's the RBTA clone factory tank! How many So. Cal. reefers have an RBTA that came from that tank?

Thanks! And, um, the official number is "lots." :D

Originally posted by SurferStevo
I was just wondering what the make is on that chiller you are using?

I'm using a 1/5 HP Aquanetics, but I think Aquanetics went out of business the past year or two...it used to be based in the San Diego area.

Kevin

[Anemone]

Originally posted by Fergy
Kevin: did you receive the E quad from Sanjay as a clone out of the Penn State tank? If that's the case, it was probably a clone of one of mine, and I can tell you that it was collected in Guam, in 10' of water, off Padi Point. Just to give you a little "chain of custody" info about it. ;-)

BRIAN

Brian,

Thanks for the info, and yes, I think it came from that tank.

Kevin

[TippyToeX]

Uggghhh Kevin.. now you have me wanting to setup an species specific anemone tank. :D :rolleyes:

[Fergy]

Originally posted by Anemone
Brian,

Thanks for the info, and yes, I think it came from that tank.

Kevin

Ah, then it's a splitter also, but not a frequent one. I've had them split during moves, plus it's been known to spawn once a year. I've only had them split two or three times.

I've still got two of that same one. It was collected in 1997 by Dave Young, shipped in with a shipment of Chrysopterus clowns that didn't make it. Glad to see that clone is still out there.

[dc]

Originally posted by SurferStevo
Kevin congrats on TOTM. It's the RBTA clone factory tank! How many So. Cal. reefers have an RBTA that came from that tank?
I was just wondering what the make is on that chiller you are using?

LOL, I think Kevin's clones have gone far beyond So. Cal. I'm enjoying mine. :D

[Italian Stallion]

i didnt know that anemones were different sexes how do you tell them appart

and i didnt know anemones could pulleacothers tentacles off whats that about

[Nem0]

Originally posted by JHReef
I had a huge green BTA finally split that was doing the same as yours. I kept having to move stuff around so it could have enough space. I think a steady diet of silversides did the trick for me and I got a ton of real estate back as a result.

So it is true that when an anemone gets too big, it will split? I try not to feed the anemone too much and now a day only feed about once every 2-3 weeks. But it keeps getting larger.

BTW, how to tell the sex of anemone?

[Anemone]

Determining the sex of an anemone is easiest after it spawns - if there are eggs, it's a female, if not, it's a male. If the skin is translucent enough, you can sometimes see the egg "complex" (egg mass and related connective tissue) through the skin, but with darker skinned anems, you won't be able to see this, and even if the anem's skin is translucent, the lack of the egg mass doesn't mean it's a male, it might just be a female that isn't carrying eggs...

Here's what I can soimetimes see with mine:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/512/1075Anemoneeggs.jpg

And here's a rather unfortunate shot that shows the eggs a little better. This clone is wrapped around a fluval "J-tube" intake (the clone completely recovered, BTW):

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/512/1075040102AnemoneAccident_003.jpg

Kevin

[Thunder1ips]

Wow This tanks is one of the kewlest tanks i have ever seen!!

Great Job!!

[Silver_Stang]

hey kevin -

In your article you mentioned clownfish eggs. Did the clownfish babies survive?

[Anemone]

Originally posted by Silver_Stang
hey kevin -

In your article you mentioned clownfish eggs. Did the clownfish babies survive?

No, I never tried to raise them. No time/space to set up the greenwater and rotifer culture stations.

Kevin

[Sanjay]

Originally posted by Fergy
Ah, then it's a splitter also, but not a frequent one. I've had them split during moves, plus it's been known to spawn once a year. I've only had them split two or three times.

I've still got two of that same one. It was collected in 1997 by Dave Young, shipped in with a shipment of Chrysopterus clowns that didn't make it. Glad to see that clone is still out there.

Not really.. it came from my tank, and is the clone of the orginal ones that Dave sent from Guam. The ones in the PSU tank are still there. They are huge and it only split once.

sanjay.

[MacnReef]

Umm, okay....Congrats on TOTM.:confused:

Mike

[Silver_Stang]

Originally posted by Anemone
No, I never tried to raise them. No time/space to set up the greenwater and rotifer culture stations.

Kevin

so what happens then, they hatch and get eaten by the other fish?

[patrickstroupe]

This may be a stupid question, but how do you enter your tank in TOTM?

[Kaimana]

Wow i love your anemones, What type of light do you have your anemones under b/c i have two RBTA and mine dont look that red-pink like yours do.

[dodgerblew]

Congrats Kevin on TOTM. Its a beauty!!

[jimmyj7090]

Kevin,
that's a beautiful tank with a nice history.

Two questions about spawning.

1. In the article there was a line that went
" (I didn't know that none of the eggs could be fertile and hoped to save some of them by disabling the skimmer)." I was unclear, what did you mean/how do you know, that none of the eggs could be fertile? Can you reccomend a reference where related info can be found?

2. My understanding was that the couldiness was male spawning and the green/brownish eggs were from females. My exp was with one large RBTA sold as "a non-splitter". I had it for about 1yr before splitting. Before it split I believe it spawned once. It released contless little brown or brown/greenish eggs all over the tank. They could be seen through the wall of the body colum while they were being released. They disappeared after a day or two and there were no ill effects in the tank at all. Skimmer was running and produced average to a little above average skimmate.
question, Is it possible that the male spawn is harmful to fish and other critters but not the female spawn?

3. Do you have clones originating from a single colony that spawn male or female and not just the same as the parent (female= all female clones, or females can = male and female clones)?


Thanks for any input
Jk

[jimmyj7090]

opp's, I meant three questions

[orchidsnfish]

I just wanted to bump this thread and see if we could beg for some updated pics of this tank. It's one of my all time favorite TOTM's. So how about it Anemone? Any new pics or updates?

Thanks
Angela