How Hard Is It To keek A Carpet Anemone

jdog6973 · #1 05/21/2007, 10:05 AM

Every one is telling me that I don't want a Carpet Anemone because of the care level! I have had salt water for 1 year now and have had fresh water tanks for over 17 years. How hard are they to keep?

cb747 · #2 05/21/2007, 11:36 AM

Before you keep a Carpet id try a bta of some sort. Also a carpet will outgrow both your tanks you have listed so keep that in mind as well.

jdog6973 · #3 05/21/2007, 12:54 PM

How fast do they grow? Do you think I could get a year out of one in my 30 gal tank. the one I am looking at is about 4" around.

bencozzy · #4 05/21/2007, 01:03 PM

depends on the species of carpet?

whats your current stocking level with other corals?

a haddons carpets average size is 20" so technically it can be done if you aquascape right and dont have alot of other stuff in the tank.(carpets in general also tend to have a high "bioload" which can tax the biological abilities of most smaller systems.)

i have mine in a 20g long with a 25g refugium.

heres a good pic to show how much of the tank it takes up

Mr Bojangles · #5 05/21/2007, 08:37 PM

well, here is mine, he is about 18 inches. He has probably has grown about 4 to 5 inches since I got in in a year

woodycb · #6 05/21/2007, 08:55 PM

The research I did said these things were difficult to take care of. He is pretty dang easy to take care of and is doing great.

Mr Bojangles · #7 05/21/2007, 09:02 PM

as long as you have stable water parameters, the right light, and the ability to rearrange all of your corals and have some fish eaten, then they are easy

ViPeR_930 · #8 05/21/2007, 09:49 PM

woodycb, is that even a carpet anemone?

delsol650 · #9 05/21/2007, 09:59 PM

VIPER_930, sent you an email through hotmail....

JxMetal · #10 05/21/2007, 10:10 PM

woody that's a rock/flower anemone. I kept one under a 28w light.

yes they are very easy.

Toddrtrex · #11 05/21/2007, 10:20 PM

I only have experience with Hadonii carpets. I have two of them, one for at least 6 years (perhaps longer) and the other for about a month now. Assuming that you get a healthy one to begin with, I have found them pretty easy to keep. I am not saying that is the norm, but just my experiences with them. My yellow/tan one has been kept under both PCs and MH, in both cases I never noticed any difference in how it looked and or acted.
On average I feed it twice a month -- sometime more sometimes less. I am currently in a more phase. Right now both are in my 75 with 6 *65 watts of PC. (( currently saving up for 2 *250watt MH ))

Here is a recent picture (2 weeks ago) Both are normally more open, but had fed them not to long before the picture.

A close up of the blue one, (( need to get a close of the yellow/tan one)

Bugs825 · #12 05/22/2007, 06:35 PM

I have a Carpet (Sorry, don't know the name. light and dark green stripes) in my 29 gallon. I have had it for over a year and he grows slow because I don't feed him much. I feed him once a week and he is under 130 watts of pcs. he is happy and doing great and only ate 1 lawn mower blenny.

:-)

Nathan

55semireef · #13 05/22/2007, 07:55 PM

bencozzy and Toddrtrex were the only ones that actually specified what kind of carpet anemone they were talking about. When someone says "carpet anemone," they are referring to three different species of the genus Stichodactyla. S. Gigantea, S. Mertensii and S. Haddoni are three carpet anemones so when you use the term "carpet," you could be referring to anyone of those species causing confusion.

jdog6973, when people say "keeping a carpet anemone is difficult" they are probably referring either to S. Gigantea or S. Haddoni since those are the most commonly sold carpets. S. Mertensii is not as frequently sold in the hobby. In my experience, I have kept two S. Haddoni and one S. Gigantea. I have found that under the adequate condtions, keeping a Haddoni is relatively easy. That's not to say that they are easy because what might be common sense to an experienced anemone keeper might not be to an average aquarist. Most anemone keepers in general do not know how to care for one long term which is why statistically 1 out of every 32 anemones kept in captivity only lives passed two years.

However, when I attempted to keep a S. Gigantea, I only managed to keep it alive for about two weeks. These carpet anemones are INCREDIBLY difficult to care for. The chances of having success with this species of carpet is lower than 10% and that's no joke. I would definately avoid even trying S. Gigantea unless you have been keeping anemones for a while.

If it were me, I would do more research on carpet anemones before you buy one. Usually when members here ask questions such as "how hard are they to keep alive," they usually do not know what they are getting into. There are plenty of threads in the "anemones and clownfish" forum to look through that can provide you some information.

woodycb · #14 05/22/2007, 08:49 PM

At least I know what it is now.

elegance coral · #15 05/22/2007, 09:16 PM

If you are looking at a 4" carpet it may be an Atlantic carpet. If so you dont want it. This is the meanist criter I have ever seen in an aquarium. I had one kill a 6" Lion fish. If its not an Atlantic carpet then it is most likely a very ill anemone and you don't want it either.

55semireef · #16 05/22/2007, 10:04 PM

jdog6973, what kind of lighting do you have and how deep is your sandbed?

cook · #17 05/28/2007, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 55semireef
However, when I attempted to keep a S. Gigantea, I only managed to keep it alive for about two weeks. These carpet anemones are INCREDIBLY difficult to care for. The chances of having success with this species of carpet is lower than 10% and that's no joke. I would definately avoid even trying S. Gigantea unless you have been keeping anemones for a while.

I agree.

jdog6973 · #18 05/31/2007, 09:45 AM

My sand bed is about 2" deep and I have 4X24" compact florescent lights. the tank will be established for about 1 year in Aug. I do appreciate all the feed back every one has given me on the forum!!!!

jer77 · #19 05/31/2007, 01:11 PM

You could keep a haddoni with that lighting and substrate. It will eventually grow and take over the whole tank so be careful.

55semireef · #20 05/31/2007, 03:59 PM

Keep your Haddoni well fed and it will grow fast. In my experience, Haddonis acclimate faster too once they start eating and that rule of thumb applies to all anemones as well.

jdog6973 · #21 05/31/2007, 04:33 PM

Sorry

BonsaiNut · #22 06/01/2007, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr Bojangles
well, here is mine, he is about 18 inches. He has probably has grown about 4 to 5 inches since I got in in a year

Hey Bojangles;

I'm pretty sure that is a S. gigantea. You know that right? (Hate to ask, because if you can keep it you probably know what it is).

- BNut

55semireef · #23 06/02/2007, 12:24 PM

BonsaiNut, I am pretty sure this is a Haddoni. I remember Bojangles posted a video of this carpet feeding and it looked just like a Haddoni with no verrucae under the oral disk. Not to mention, this carpet also snagged a purple tang in the tank just like a Haddoni would. I could be wrong though but I am still pretty sure this is a Stichodactyla Haddoni, not S. Gigantea.

elegance coral · #24 06/02/2007, 03:17 PM

Looks like hadoni to me.

ReefingIt · #25 06/03/2007, 07:32 AM

Just a gigantic Hadoni....very nice.