Rainbow Anemone

Rainbow Anemone is the rainbow color form of the bubble-tip anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor: a host anemone whose tentacles run purple, green, and pink, often all three on a single animal, with the swollen bubble tips the species is named for showing under strong light. It is the anemone most reef keepers mean when they say rainbow nem, and it is the natural home for clownfish in a home tank.

Care is intermediate. A bubble-tip needs a mature, stable tank; new systems swing too much in chemistry and lighting for an anemone to settle. The entry lists medium-high light, medium flow, middle placement, aggressive reach, and moderate growth. Give it a rock face with crevices it can plant its foot in, then expect it to walk: a new anemone moves until it finds the light and flow it wants, and where it stops is its choice, not yours.

Flow should be moderate and indirect, enough to keep the tentacles swaying without blasting the oral disc or lifting the foot. An anemone that keeps letting go and drifting is telling you the spot is wrong, and a drifting anemone can reach pumps and powerheads, so foam guards on intakes are cheap insurance.

Feeding is optional but speeds growth: a small piece of shrimp, mysis, or silverside once or twice a week, placed on the tentacles and left alone while it eats. Overfeeding fouls the water and makes the anemone shrink rather than grow, so small and occasional beats large and often.

Respect its space. A settled bubble-tip still wanders after changes in light or flow, and its sting damages corals it parks against. Keep prized pieces out of its likely paths and judge spacing by where it could go, not just where it sits today. A healthy, settled animal that eats well commonly splits into two, which is how one rainbow becomes a rock of them over a year or two.