Anemones

Anemones for Sale

Most people buy an anemone for a clownfish, and that is the first thing to get right: not every anemone hosts. Bubble tips host clownfish. Florida rock flower anemones do not. Every anemone here is photographed in our Key West systems, and WYSIWYG listings are the exact animal you receive.

Bubble tip or rock flower

Bubble tip anemone

Entacmaea quadricolor, the most common clownfish host in home tanks. In the wild it hosts maroon, tomato, Clark’s and several other clownfish, and in aquariums ocellaris and percula clowns often move in too. Not every bubble tip has bubbles, and the bubbles come and go for reasons nobody has fully worked out. Shop bubble tips.

Florida rock flower anemone

Phymanthus crucifer, native to Florida and the Caribbean. It sits with its column buried in sand or a crevice and only the colorful disc showing. It is not a clownfish host. People buy it for color, and because it usually stays put once it settles. Shop rock flowers.

Anemone care, in numbers

• Bubble tip light: strong. Most keepers run them around 220 to 350 PAR.
• Rock flower light: moderate, around 80 to 150 PAR.
• Flow: medium for bubble tips, gentle and steady for rock flowers. Too much flow and either one lets go and drifts.
• Feeding: a small piece of chopped fish, shrimp or clam once or twice a week. Rock flowers also take mysis.

Before you add any anemone

Cover every pump intake and overflow with foam or a guard first. A wandering anemone pulled into an intake is usually killed. Keep heaters in the sump or in a guard for the same reason.

Expect a new bubble tip to walk for days or weeks before it picks a spot. Constant wandering after that usually points to a problem with light or water stability. Swings in temperature, pH or salinity set them moving.

Common problems

It keeps moving. Normal at first. If it never settles, check light and stability.

It turned white or pale. That is bleaching. Hold light and water steady and keep feeding it.

It split in two. Bubble tips divide in good conditions, and sometimes under stress. You now have two.

Questions we get asked

Will my clownfish host it?

A bubble tip, often. A rock flower, no.

Will it sting my corals?

Yes, if it wanders into them. Anemones sting other anemones and corals. Plan the spot before it goes in.

How it ships from Key West

Anemones ship UPS Next Day Air on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only, so no box sits in a hub over a weekend. We ship to the lower 48. We do not ship to Alaska or Hawaii.

• Shipping charge: $30 for qualifying Florida livestock orders under 6 lb, and $50 elsewhere in the lower 48. The shipping charge is per order.
• Free livestock transportation: on qualifying livestock subtotals of $299 or more. WYSIWYG pieces count toward the $299. Dry goods do not.
• Box & Handling Fee: $10 per livestock box, and it still applies on orders with free livestock transportation. A box carries up to 6 lb of packed livestock. Heavier orders go out in additional boxes, each with its own $10 fee.
• Live arrival: if something arrives dead, photograph the animal inside the unopened bag within 4 hours of UPS delivery confirmation and send it with your order number.

Keep reading

• Bubble Tip and Rock Flower Anemone Care Guide
• Anemones: Bubble Tips, Rock Flowers, and Honest Warnings
• Reef Tank Lighting: PAR, Spectrum and Photoperiod
• Bubble tips · Rock flowers · Florida Keys livestock · WYSIWYG