great for beginner anem?

I dont want to get to crazy with me tank corals unless i have an anemone! whats a good starter one thats NOT a bubble tip that also doesnt require a metal halide light? anything will do and care for it isnt an issue for me at all. but my wholesaler who carries them has such a huge selection its unreal no idea what to get!!!

any suggestions?

An anemone that DOES NOT require MH lighting? I'm not 100% sure, but I think you may be $hit outta luck there. I think they ALL require high intensity lighting. Correct me if I'm wrong. BTA are the easiest for a beginner.....I'd say get some MH lights and go with a BTA(rose bubble tips look sweet). That's just my opinion though.

I believe you can use lighting other than MH. I think you can use T5 or T8's(I'm not.100% sure though, I have MH myself). I don't think I have ENOUGH lighting. My tank is 24" tall and I only have 4-175w MH and 4-96w PC. I have 3-400w MH to put up, just gotta get off my lazy a$$ and pick up 3 reflectors. Hopefully someone else will jump in and share their knowledge cause I may be wrong about using T5's or T8's. Hope you find what your looking for. Good luck.

How much light do you have over your 65g?
Anemones are not considered a beginner addition. They should only be added to a well established tank with pristine water quality. I have a friend that got a RBTA from me (I had 4) and I thought he was going to put it in his main DT, he didn't. He put it in one of his smaller tanks with t5 lighting and it doesn't look bad but it sure doesn't look great either. Most anemones get 90% of their nutrition from the light source and MH is recommended. The other 10% comes from supplemental feeding of silversides, squid, clam etc.
My remaining 3 RBTA's have located themselves at the top of my reef and are under 2 X 250w MH to get as much light as possible and they look great compared to the one I gave away.

Here's a pic to show how happy and bubbly they are:

LiveRock wrote:I dont want to get to crazy with me tank corals unless i have an anemone! whats a good starter one thats NOT a bubble tip that also doesnt require a metal halide light? anything will do and care for it isnt an issue for me at all. but my wholesaler who carries them has such a huge selection its unreal no idea what to get!!!

any suggestions?

How about aiptasia

Cookieman888*Admin* wrote:

LiveRock wrote:I dont want to get to crazy with me tank corals unless i have an anemone! whats a good starter one thats NOT a bubble tip that also doesnt require a metal halide light? anything will do and care for it isnt an issue for me at all. but my wholesaler who carries them has such a huge selection its unreal no idea what to get!!!

any suggestions?

How about aiptasia

I wouldn't wish those lovely little PITA's on my worst enemy

i had a few already my pep shrimps atethem up in like 30 seconds lol. and i have 4 t5 bulbs 2 blue 2 white. 4 feet long

my tongue coral and hammer coral seem to be loving it my hammer has been in there for like 1 week and its already getting bigger

Glad to hear that your shrimps took out the Aiptasia, but your shrimp may disappear once that not so invert friendly Bamboo shark gets a hold of them. I still dont think you should be considering adding a nem at this time and hopefully some one with experience caring for a Nem with T5ho's chimes in soon.

I think you should hold off on the anemone until you can get some halides. You don't wanna get yourself a anemone and have it die a couple weeks(or days) later, and wipe out your whole tank. All the $$ you've already spent would be gone, with nothing to show for it, but a re-cycling tank. Take you're time, if I remember correctly, your tank is still quite new isn't it? Don't make a costly mistake, upgrade the lights first.

2Frosty4u wrote:Glad to hear that your shrimps took out the Aiptasia, but your shrimp may disappear once that not so invert friendly Bamboo shark gets a hold of them. I still dont think you should be considering adding a nem at this time and hopefully some one with experience caring for a Nem with T5ho's chimes in soon.

I do have a bubble in my 90g under T5's (6 bulb HO). Not my smartest move I must admit. I wouldn't say the anemone is suffering, but its certainly not thriving either. Been in the tank for the beter part of 2 years now and about doubled in size. Colour is okay but not great. Doesn't exhibit bubbles very ofter or for very long.
I definitely wish I would have gone with the 8 bulb unit (maybe even the 12).

Hey Matt I hear ya..
I have my gbta in my biocube, color is good, but no bubbles anymore...

so i have a nice red long tentacle anemone now!!!! this guy has been sitting under t5 bulbs for 2 months at my wholesaler! so i know he'll be ok! i'll have some pics of him up on my 65 gallon reef build thread soon