How to Take Care of Salt Water Anemones

Many people mistakenly believe that a sea anemone is a plant due to its plantlike shape. Sea anemones are actually an invertebrate animal that is closely related to coral and jellyfish. They live attached to rocks in the sea or aquariums and use their stinging tentacles to capture and eat small fish and worms. Sea anemones are popular additions to larger salt water aquariums due to their interesting nature and wide range of colors.

Things You'll Need

  • Aquarium, minimum of 30 gallons
  • Rocks
  • Clown fish
  • Small fish
  • Shrimp
  • Worms
  • Metal halide light
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Place the sea anemone in at least a 30-gallon salt water aquarium. The larger the aquarium the better, since at full maturity a sea anemone can grow to be up to 1 foot in diameter.

    • 2

      Place three to four large rocks in the bottom of the aquarium. The sea anemone spends most of its life anchored to rocks, although it moves around occasionally.

    • 3

      Provide an abundance of light for the sea anemone. The sea anemone needs at least 2 to 5 watts of light per gallon of water. Because of this, the best lighting option for the aquarium is a high-watt metal halide light.

    • 4

      Place at least one clown fish into the the aquarium along with the sea anemone. Clown fish like to eat algae from the surface of plants and will keep the sea anemone clean and healthy. In addition, the sea anemone will eat the leftover food from the clown fish.

    • 5

      Feed the sea anemone once per week by dropping the food into the aquarium near it. The anemone's diet should be comprised of small worms, fish chopped into tiny pieces or small shrimp. The anemone does not need to be fed more than once per week because it will eat the leftover particles from the clown fish.