Heteractis magnifica

[Gannet]

H. magnifica is certainly regarded as "difficult", at best. There have been at least several reports of at least some success, however, so it's likely not "impossible".

Taking that as a working hypothesis, if you were to design a species tank for H. magnifica, what would it be like? What would your "best effort" be?

------------------
fwiw, imo, ime, ymmv, etc.
when in doubt, change water

[BristolWorm]

Ok... I have a buddy who has one of this big guys and from what I have seen I would have a very large tank 120+, an alternating surge device or something, MH lighting (upwards of 8-9watts/gallon), nice rock for him/she/it to attach to, varying food supply (shrimp,squid,fish) fed daily or every other. And a clown fish, it seems that some anemoneas do better with a friend.

Just some inital thoughts

------------------
BW

[horge]

I have NEVER been able to keep them alive for more then 45 days. By 30 days, I feel compelled to return them to the wild (with their attendant Amphiprinids).

BristolWorm touched on the surge device. The fact that these big basts seem to love situating themselves out in the open, in good current, suggests one major deficiency in the systems I've tried to use: lack of robust water movement. Considering the feeding regimen I imposed (and I did check the excreta for degree of digestion) I'm hard put imagining a missing link, nutritionally speaking, unless it is something they sorb directly from real seawater.

I would love to examine the guts of these animals in the wild, but can't think of a responsible way to do it. I have tried inducing "panic-crap" in the wild to collect feces for testing. Doesn't work, and the fish get really hostile. On top of that, currents where they are common can be treacherous, and I don't scuba --just snorkel I'm afraid.

FWIW

[odenwell]

I kept one of these for about six months before selling it to a fellow reefer. It did great for as long as I had it. Granted, 6 months is not a true test. It was on a rock at the top of my reef structure, about 6" below a 175 watt MH bulb. It was in a mild current. It did not eat for the first 3 weeks. After that, I fed it one 2" frozen silverside every week. It was about 6" - 8" in diameter. It had a relationship with a pair of A. percula clownfish. Water quality was very good. Carbon and a large protein skimmer were used continuously.

------------------
Visit My Reef (http://www.dimensional.com/~odenwell/Reef)

[RT]

Hello,

I've had the pleasure of keeping or observing 3 of these guys. The first was in a 58 gallon with moderate current and 250 W MH. It recieved no supplemental feeding other than an initial feeding to help situatate the anemone. My corals overgrew the tank and in a brief state of madness, I gave the anemone to my friend and replaced it with a bubbletip anemone. The anemone has now been in captivity 4.5 years and is my friend's 75 gallon with 250 W MH + moderate current (mainly an LPS tank with a few SPS).

The second anemone is my present anemone and resides in a 165 with 400 W MHs and moderate current. The system will have more current added soon whenever I get a chance to hook up a surge device (someday I'll find the time <G>) It was previously in a 75 with a 400W MH and has been in captivity 2.5 years.

The third is in a LFS display I helped setup. It has strong current and 400 W MH. It is the yellow variety and has been in captivity 1 year.

I have had some friends attempt these anemones and fail but in the two cases, major problems existed in their systems and other corals also did not thrive (One tank had a faulty heater that drove temps to 90F and the other had major water chemistry problems).

I believe that these anemones are fairly hardy provided you

1) Purchase a good specimen. They don't ship terribly well and must be babied at the beginning. Look for tears in the foot. In a new specimen, these are usually the sites of bacterial infections. In fact, I think bacterial infections caused by shipping are the reason for the lack of success with S. gigantea but that's another story.

2) Keep the anemone on a rock separate from your reef structure and feed initially to insure it stays put. Direct current around it but not at it. Occasional direct current (surge, wavemaker, etc) seems to be appreciated but laminar flow seems to cause wandering (anecdotal evidence)

3) Of course you need good water movement and lighting. 250 W MH in a 24" deep tank is the least light I've seen success with, though I haven't tried less.

4) Get host clowns. The clowns are essential for acclimation IMO due to the husbandry they perform on the anemone.

That should be it. I'm not sure why some people have so much trouble with these anemones as I've found them to be on par with E. quadricolor and S. haddoni as far as ease of husbandry.

regards,
Roni

[J]

I want to get one of these, any advice when I am looking at them at the LFS? What should I be looking for? Most LFS's I have seen keep the anemones under insufficient lighting, so I think it is hard to tell whether their anemones are healthy. Any signs to look out for with these?

[hesaias]

What about water temps? Do you think +-400w VHO would be sufficent in a 45 gal tank? I tried 2 specimens with much less light, at 80-81 degrees and about 1/2 the water flow I have now(10x then, 20x now, constant flow)
These guys are REAL beautiful, but I dont wanna kill anymore because the tanks not right and I forced the issue.


------------------
hesaias

My Homepage (http://www.angelfire.com/on2/hesaias/index.html)

[odenwell]

I'm thinking these guy like the intense light of MH. Before I sold mine, it used to hang out as close the the 175 watt MH as possible. The intensity of that light was much higher than 400 watts of fluorescent.

[horge]

Lots of light. But H. magnifica doesn't seem to care for warmth. Just anecdotal (any experience based on less than 6 identical trials is anecdotal for me :)) but IME anything over 82 of your Farenheit yields an unhappy H. magnifica.

Hard to reconcile the lighting and temp reqs where I live.