What? An anemone anchor!?!?!....that's it, Dave has SURELY had far too many mouthfuls of siphon sewerage! Right?! Maybe not.. read on.
IF you've heard the latest and greatest TR Podcast, you would have heard Rob mention some KEY issues regarding the keeping of anemone. More specifically, his notes on keeping Bubble Tipped Anemones or "BTAs". In that podcast, Rob mentions that
BTAs are more prone to "wandering" than other anemones. I agree whole heartedly with that. It is for good reason. They are particular about water flow, lighting and the placement of their "foot". Just because YOU think that your new Rose
BTA looks good in the center of the tank, and the lighting and flow seems just perfect, doesn't mean that "Mr. Tentacles" thinks so.
It is a little easier to figure out the water flow that your
BTA needs. It should sway, gently, in the current. It should NOT be blown like a bad hair day in Chicago. Nor should it be so low that the
BTA is motionless, or it will not be fed properly, and will literally sit in its own waste. We can all create that happy medium with powerhead or any other flow adjustment.
You can also predict the proper spot for lighting, in order to meet the photosynthetic needs of your
BTA. However, as Rob rightfully noted in the podcast, while the
BTA needs light and prefers to have its tentacles exposed to said light, they prefer NOT to have "hot foot". They really do need some nook or cranny to hide their foot in and keep themselves both secure and comfortable. This is probably why you note that while the
BTA is green, red, or other color, the foot is often pink, light red, or creme colored. It lacks the same density in
zooxanthellae and therefore reflective qualities etc. So, bottom line is, they want to bury that foot and you have to help them do so.
I had major problems with nomadic
BTAs for months and couldn't figure it out. Again, the flow, lighting, etc. could all be found to be "compatible", but the darned things just kept moving...So....I made "anemone anchors". I didn't have enough smallish nooks and crannies in my rockwork for the anemone to find a decent, well lit, and proper flow, home! I built them.
If you are lucky enough to find a nice piece of Fiji, that has a natural hole in it, you are golden. Otherwise, I simply took a hole cutting drill bit (have used both 2 and 3 inch versions) and drilled a hole in the rock. I rinsed the rock and put it in the center of the reef, where I WANTED the
BTA to be, but it refused to stay and viola...it LOVED it. It stuck its fat foot right in the hole, and stuck there for the life of the reef. (I actually sold the anemone and its anchor).
Drilling into dense rock like Fiji is pretty easy. I'd not want to try this on the lighter density rock out there (ie. Caribbean). I did blast apart a good 3 lb chunk of rock doing this, but if you take it slow, use light pressure and wet the rock from time to time, you can make a great cut. Your
BTA will thank you for it.
Dave
