most local Anemones are not photosynthetic (or not nearly as much as tropical ones) It is getting them the food and flow they require that is the tricky part. The cold water Anemone tank at the NEAQ is one of my favorite tanks...
We plan to do a local Ocean display tank at the shop.
Yah I used to hand feed mine silversides and muscles. Both of which were readily available in Winthrop year round
. You would be shocked at what you can find not only in Boston, but south Cape marshes. To be honest, some of the best looking formations I've seen were all in water less than 6 ft, below the low tide line and under large rocks. The sponge and invert growth will rival the caribean. There are more shades of bright pink, red, blue, and purple coraline algae in New England than most people think.
For flow, I kept a few at different places and lighting, the ones that seemed the "happiest" in a week or two I kept in place and moved the rest there. Seemed to work. Of course, only had to do that one time. They lasted for well over a year before I took the tank down.
You have access to cool tanks.. I had a stock 90. Get one that is half moon, or round, and you can keep mackerel. They are tough to feed because their metabolism is rediculous and need to eat all day. They also need round corners, square will kill them. But, they have a lot of attitude, agressive feeding (think tuna esque) once established. I got lucky and found some 3-4" spikes in a tidal pool once, probably chased in by stripers, and took a couple home. They were fun for a couple weeks before I let them go again because I couldn;t keep up with the food demands.
Small local sculpin are fun, they will eat crushed muscles out of your hand. Stay away from crabs. All the local varieties will more than double in size every molt when they hit the "warm" 70 degree water. They will also molt about once per month, so they get huge... fast... and eat everything int he tank.
