E. crucifer, formerly Phymanthus crucifer
Hi Bob/Anthony/Steven/Whoever was shanghaied into answering this.
PF here,
<Antoine here>
I've decided to take the plunge into the world of keeping anemones,
but since I don't want to orphan clownfish I've decided to try my hand
w/E. crucifers since they are:
A: locally available, B: pretty darn cheap, and C: have aesthetic
appeal. 
<agreed... a good choice among many/most bad anemone choices>
The tank is now 8 months old, the lighting is high powered (175w
MH & 2 VHO Actinic03's), parameters are good (nitrates are at 3-4), ph
is 8.3-8.5 depending on the time of day, salinity is 1.024-1.025 and
everybody is looking much happier now that the dog days of summer have
passed. Using a Prizm skimmer part time (6 hrs a day) 
<heehee... I won't even go there :)>
with an Ecosystem
40 as the primary filtration (with carbon in the return chamber). From
what I've read, this sounds like a good setup for them. 
<agreed>
I'd like to know
what they eat so I can include it into the general reef diet I feed the tank, 
<I'm not familiar with a specific fare of delicate parameter of their diet. They are very successful photosynthetically (shallow water and high light). Dissolved organics are no doubt a measurable nutritional need (if nitrates are too low, consider this)... still: very finely minced meats of marine origin get my vote. Most or all I suspect you have already (Gammarus, mysids, Pacifica plankton, etc>
what a reasonable stocking level would be (there's room for roughly 4 of the ones I've seen on sale, and that would leave them in a
very roomy situation). 
<the seem to be VERY tolerant of each other unlike many other anemones>
Are they known to breed in marine aquariums, and is it vegetative reproduction or is it sexual?
<no knowledge here... some fissionary mode would not be a surprise>
Cnidarian tank mates would be: 2 Sarcophyton colonies, an unknown
species of brown/green zoanthids from the Gulf LR in the tank, xenia
elongata, a chili coral (not in contact w/anything else, it's hanging
form an arch), and a species of red epizoanthids from GARF
(http://www.garf.org/baja1/500red.html), and a species of cup coral that
came in on the Gulf LR.
<I believe you are good about water changes and this reassures me of concerns that I have with the poor skimming and accumulating compounds of the cnidarians>
inverts are some peppermint shrimp, red legged hermits, a queen conch (a
very small queen conch), several brittle stars, snails, pods, worms,
etc. (sand bed critters & small inverts from the LR)
currently 1 false perc clown is in the tank, along with a lawnmower
blenny. I plan on getting another clown or two to get a breeding pair
going. I was also considering picking up a pair of Pseudochromis
fridmani.
<gorgeous and peaceful Pseudochromis>
Thanks again for your time,
<Best regards, Anthony>
PF

Re: E. crucifer, formerly Phymanthus crucifer
thanks Antoine!
(is that kind of like me going by Miguel or Miesh at home?)
those buggers go quick. came in on TH, gone yesterday.
<no worries... they will come again. My favorite color is the metallic peach>
hopefully, I'll be able to pick some up soon. going to sweet-talk the
wife
into photoshopping a pic of a clown in one (from pg 158 of CMA) to
convince it
to host. we shall see what we see, I'll let you know how it turns out.
<I have heard some zany tricks for this... have you heard the spotlight on the anemone at night one? Seriously... sort of a larval trigger mechanism. Do consider>
water changes are every 2 to 3 weeks, leaning towards the 3 week mark.
depends though, if I spend a fair amount of
time in the tank (cleaning powerheads, algae scraping, the war with
Caulerpa, etc), I'll usually pull off 1/2 a gallon and replace it.
<I can't knock it if it works. Extra cnidarians and a weakly performing skimmer concerned me for the long term effects of silent chemical aggression>
Thanks again!
PF
<ciao, bub>