Native saltwater

Frillfin goby - Bathygobius soporator


Porcupine Puffer - Diodon holacanthus


Mangrove snapper - Lutjanus griseus


Speckled sea trout - Cynoscion nebulosus


Sea anemones

cool. i was gonna ask if many people do this.

is this tank 210g

Sean, were these all caught in your area?

I won't point out the defects in that system, but what type of anemone is that--and do you have adequate lighting for it?

is this tank 210g

Yep

Sean, were these all caught in your area?

All were down here except the Diodon, but they can be found here.

I won't point out the defects in that system, but what type of anemone is that--and do you have adequate lighting for it?

Don't know what kind they are. They were collected from a rock wall on a barrier island, they were mostly on the underside of the rocks out of the light. They were collected the beginning of summer and were housed in a 20 long with low light until their move into the big tank. They seen to dislike bright light. The ones that were in direct light moved into the shade of the rocks within days. I know nothing about keeping them, but they seem to do ok feeding on the feeder shrimp/fish we grow and whatever is in the water column. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

CPR Bak-Pak is probably less than optimal for a 210. Your rock probably isint the best either--it's mostly non-porous man-mined rock...you might want to look into collecting something a little more suitable; however, if you're trying to re-create the native habitat it's probably just fine, although I would probably throw in some bottles and perhaps a tire (kidding!).
Many of the non-photosynthetic anemones are fairly difficult to keep and require a steady food supply (I'm still hesitant to say that it might be non-photosynthetic). I'd try feeding frozen silversides as often as the anemone would accept it, assuming you can handle the bioload.

Where exactly were they collected? Do they still have a strong stinging response? (Are the tentacles "sticky"?)
The sooner you can identify their species, the sooner you can provide adequate care for them.

CPR Bak-Pak is probably less than optimal for a 210. Your rock probably isint the best either--it's mostly non-porous man-mined rock...you might want to look into collecting something a little more suitable; however, if you're trying to re-create the native habitat it's probably just fine, although I would probably throw in some bottles and perhaps a tire (kidding!).
Many of the non-photosynthetic anemones are fairly difficult to keep and require a steady food supply (I'm still hesitant to say that it might be non-photosynthetic). I'd try feeding frozen silversides as often as the anemone would accept it, assuming you can handle the bioload.

Where exactly were they collected? Do they still have a strong stinging response? (Are the tentacles "sticky"?)
The sooner you can identify their species, the sooner you can provide adequate care for them.

They are definitely "sticky". They are fed almost every day. I assume they are doing ok, we had about twice as many as we collected when we took them out of the 20g. As far as the rock goes, its not the best or really natural. There is little natural hard bottom around here. They were collected here and I like the oysters on them.

With a good stinging response, and them being fed every day, it's probably safe to assume that they are doing well

I was doing a fair amount of searching around google for Gulf native anemones and can't quite come up with much literature...
I should probably pick up a book before I go collecting for myself this summer.

Any clue to what type of anemone it is? What else do you have? (invertebrate-wise)

I gotta say that is pretty cool. So how did you get the right parameters for the fish? Did you like...test the ocean water or what?

With a good stinging response, and them being fed every day, it's probably safe to assume that they are doing well

I was doing a fair amount of searching around google for Gulf native anemones and can't quite come up with much literature...
I should probably pick up a book before I go collecting for myself this summer.

Any clue to what type of anemone it is? What else do you have? (invertebrate-wise)

I have no idea what species they are, but I will look them up when I a little time. We have not put many inverts in the tank yet, we will get more as it warms up. There is a small species of pistol shrimp that I see often while collecting, I may tey that after I do a little reading. Right now the only other large iverts that I know we have are an unid'ed xanthid crab species and some barnacles. The gobies are picking off the barnacles quickly though. We have a huge male blue crab in a large tank is filled with Lepomis spp. I will have to get some pics of him, he is a real monster.

I gotta say that is pretty cool. So how did you get the right parameters for the fish? Did you like...test the ocean water or what?

We usually measure the salinity and temp when we collect. The salinity fluctuates so much in the areas that we collect that it is usually different from what we have in the tank (around 30 ppt righ now). The fish found in these areas are used to rapid shifts in salinity and seem to do well when acclimated slowley to the tank water.