Can an anemone kill any of these fish?

Question

I recently purchased a 72 gallon bow-front aquarium. I have not yet stocked it with fish. I want to get a yellow tang, a blue tang,a few snails, a sea star,some shrimp,2 clown fish,a damsel fish, possibly a seahorse.I am worried that if i buy an anemone it could kill them. Does anyone have any advice on anemones?I would love to add them to be a beautiful pair with the clown fish but do not want to jeopardize the other fish.

Answer 1

Some comments on your proposed setup. There's a possibility in such a small tank (and for tangs, this is small) there may be some territorial disputes between the yellow and blue tangs The yellow will be fine in that size, but this is the minimum for keeping a blue (hippo) tang. Keeping the seahorse with them isn't a good idea either. Seahorses are slow swimmers and have trouble competing against faster fish for food. In tanks with other fish, they often die a slow death of starvation. If you're like to keep seahorses, get some experience with the others first, then set up a tank for seahorses and compatible fish (pipefish, some of the smaller gobies, jawfish, dragonets).

Anemones kill fish by stinging them. A large fish and a small anemone would probably be okay. But depending on the type of clownfish, and the type of anemone it uses as a host (and there are specific relationships here, you can't just buy any anemone and any clownfish and expect them to pair up), you might get one capable of growing a foot or more across. At that size, it could kill your fish, but if they grow together in the tank, they'll learn to avoid it while it's small.

To keep anemones, you need to have very intense lighting. With a tank the size of yours, and considering bowfronts tend to be deep tanks, you may benefit from having a metal halide light (or at least a metal halide and compact fluorescent or T-5 in combination).

Answer 2

The seahorse is out of the question because the other fish would stress it out and it would never have an oppurtunity to feed.

Snails, shrimp, clowns, damsels, and stars should be fine depending on the type of anemone housed with them. Don't house them with any tube anemones as these will likely eat them if the fish gets too close while investigating it.

As for the tangs, I'd pick one or the other but not both. The tank is just not large enough for both of them.

Since you've just begun with this tank, you need to research all these potential fish/inverts BEFORE you purchase any of them.

The anemone requires high lighting so you may want to look into buying metal halide lighting. I'll warn you, though, using metal halide lighting may also warrant the purchase of a chiller.

Answer 3

The fish you have are smart enough to stay away from the anemone. The only one that I would worry about in that tank would be the seahorse. I have only had success in keeping and getting babies from seahorses in a dedicated tank just for them. If you must have a seahorse with the other fish you have mentioned, be sure to have a sea fan and some other items which they can wrap their tails around for their "perch." That's kind of their security blanket!

PS And what the other person said about the anemone killing those other fish, shrimp, etc... The anemone is an invertebrate. It will not jump and attack your fish. The only time the anemones "eat" fish is when the fish is dying or dead and current in the aquarium happens to pull the fish to the anemone.

Answer 4

i'd bet on it killing the seahorse.
Possibly the shrimp,and damsel too.