Anemones, Anemones, Anemones

[jdthomas]

Many people have anemones. Some people have them because they were given bad advice that they were a good beginners animal. Some have them because the clownfish/anemone symbiosis is worth the(large) effort required to keep them. What I'd like everyone to do is simple. Just post here what experiences with anemones that you have had. The good, the bad and the ugly. What did work, and what was an utter failure. Knowing what doesnt work is as important as knowing what does. Maybe with enough input, a few common keys could be found to help people who have anemones.
I'll start it off with my experiences.
Light: 5500k bulbs-yes, 10000k bulbs-no. Mine just dont seem to like the higher color temps.
Food: Same as lot of other hard to keep items-feed those things. I suspect that too-clean tanks are a part of the reason that most anemones dont do well. Mine have done well with a very poor skimmer(I'm not sure why I even run it). The amount of food that an anemone can eat will shock many people. Haddoni carpets are notorious for eating med/large fish whole. Yellow tangs seem to be a favorite :). One note, even though my particular tank is not heavily skimmed, and has a bit more algea than most people like, my sps corals are thriving right along with my softies & anemones.
If it wants to move, let it. You have to be prepared to change the whole tank around to suit the anemone. Dont try to force it into any one place.

Even a healthy anemone is a lot more work than the average coral. You should be responsible when buying, and be sure that you are willing to give it the effort.
Those that have gotten anemones because of bad advice(but dont want them to die), try these things, and other peoples successful attempts at keeping them.
If you want to read more of my rant :), check out the open brain post.
Jon

[The Shaman]

Here is an account of my attempt of owning an anemone:

Thinking that my Tomato Clown would be much happier w/ a host anemone, I bought a Condy at my LFS. After a brief acclimation period, in the tank it went. "Wow!", I thought. "It sure does look pretty." Two days later, it had laid over on its side and had shrunken to less than half its size. On the next day, it had become a foul-smelling, gelatinous blob on the bottom of my tank. No more anemones for me.

I now know that: A) I had chosen the wrong anemone. Tomato's are normally paired w/ E. Quadricolor. B) The change in water chemistry from the LFS's tanks to mine was such a shock to the creature that it didn't have a chance. At the time, my alk. was about 13dKH, Ca. about 180ppm. All other stat.'s were fine. My temp. stays b/w 79-81 F. My lighting consists of 2-27W 5000K PC's & 2-18" NO actinics. This is in a 10g tank. I have had an ongoing problem w/ algae, although I feel that had very little to do w/ the demise of the Condy.
I'm not sure what else to say in regard to my tank.

Even though the Condy was only $7, I still feel like **** for killing it. I should've known better.

Oh yeah, the Condy was white which leads me to believe that it had expelled it's zooxanthellae. I believe they are supposed to be tan in color.

[alde]

Hi All,

Before a move from California to Washington I had a nice big Carpet Anemone in my reef. It was in my tank for 4 years and was healty looking when I gave it away. That was 7 years ago when wet/dry filters were still in fashion for reefs.

I now have a Bubble Tip that has been in my tank for 8 months and looks great. It has done nothing but grow. It is under 4 48" VHO tubes in a 65 gallon tank. The tank is skimmed with a Knop and the anemone is fed squid, shrimp, clams, Prime Reef and whatever else I can find about 3 times a week.

I know 8 months is not long and 4 years is not really a long time, but I don't think it is too bad.

Best regards, Al

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He who feared he would not succeed sat still.

[Dolemite]

My sordid anemone past:

Bought my first Condy about a month into owning my first tank. It did very well hosting my Tomato Clown. It was in a 29 with a skilter and 15 watts of light. It was fed 2-3 times a week and stayed in the same place for 2 months. Then one day it spit out its zooxanthellae and wandered into a power filter..... Dead.

In my ignorance I refused to be discouraged. Bought another condy which slowly died in about a month in the same setup. It wasn't fed with nearly the same frequency.

I decided I needed more light in order to keep one so I waited before my next anemone purchase until I got my VHO's.

I got 'em (1 50/50 and 1 actinic 75 watt bulbs). Went out and bought another condy. Clown wouldn't accept it. Decided to give it to a friend because of this.

Replaced unacceptable condy with a beleaguered long tentacle anemone. Very white and the oral disk was translucent. The clown immediately accepted it and began feeding it. Initially, in its dilapidated condition, I thought it was a Heteractis malu. It began to brown up and expand in the favorable conditions (I guess). The clown fed it Formula One just about every day. It grew to over twice its size and developed a very pretty iridescent green tinge. I was very heartened by my success, as by now I knew more about keeping these and how difficult it was. Once it was healthy it was evident that this was a Macrodactyla doreensis. The anemone became my pride and joy of the tank. The oral disk fully expanded which happened every day was about 10" across. I switched additives from the Seachem line to C-Balance. The anemone clearly didn't care for this and showed it and I switched back to Seachem and the anemone displayed its approval. Don't know what the difference b/w the 2 was but my anemone clearly did. Switched the 29 into a 46 with no complications. After about 10 months of what I would call clear success disaster struck. In the hot days of August our air conditioner went on the blink and I was gone for the weekend. The tank temperature rose and the anemone (which almost NEVER wandered) decided to pick up and move for cooler waters and headed straight for one of my powerheads. A 10" wide anemone was shredded and spread all across my tank. Came home from the weekend to a Brown tank. I was too crushed to even begin cussing.
Death Toll is as follows:
Acropora frag
Montipora
3 Xenia colonies
Pagoda Cup Coral
Euphyllia Ancora colony
2 Leathers
Assorted Shrooms
Gorgonian
Acanthurus Chirurgus
Tomato Clown
3 Green Chromis
Cleaner Shrimp
All Snails

Survivors:
Snowflake Eel (Amazing!)
hermits
Live rock (bleached coralline)

I still have not re-stocked after this crushing defeat. I still am foolish enough to want another anemone but will not get one until I know of a surefire way of preventing them from wandering into pumps. I have heard bridal veil or screening recommended to avoid this but have been told by my Local Reef Store (As opposed to an LFS they REALLY know what they are talking about) that this is not a very effective preventative measure either. To me, the pump issue is the most daunting issue to overcome in keeping an anemon long term. Other than that mine seemed tough as nails.

[caver]

hey i have a bubble anemone that i got with the clown fish already at home with him, brought them home and placed them in the tank. they appeared to be doing well and all untill today. the anemones tenticles got small and all, and havent extended all day, i was wondering if he just might be moveing or something he still has his color, and i dont think he has expelled his zooplanktin or what not, his base is still large and firm looking and all! but any advise and help would be nice!!! i worry he's trying to go behind the live rock structure which means its going to be a pain to get him out if he does go back there! i had a few condys that did the same but shortly there after died!!! i worry the same fate there too! also is feeding these guys brine shrimp enough? and a little help in technique would be grateful also, do i need to hand feed him??? i was once told that the rotting food on them would cause rot spots and all is this true? thank you all for your time and all i really appreciate it! hopefully he wont surcomb to death like the little condys i had!


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caver

[jdthomas]

Caver,
Its hard to tell too much since I dont know anything about your setup(light,water quality, etc), but it really could be several things. It is even possible, because bubble tips do it often, that it is preparing to divide.
There is only a couple of things I can say for sure: Dont feed it if is shrunk up. There has to be a better term than 'shrunk up' :). It simply wont eat at that time, dont try to force feed it. If you have a lot more light than the lfs, or a longer photoperiod, then it probably just needs to adjust. Also, while need for current varies, most dont like heavy,direct current. Make sure that there isnt a powerhead blasting it.
IME, anemones need more food than they can get picking small amounts of brine shrimp from the water. Give it a shrimp tail or other meaty(non-oily) marine food. If it is ready to eat, just touching the food and moving it gently will be enough to make it 'capture' is prey and eat.
If you have given it more food than it needs, it will simply spit out what wasnt digested. I havent heard of rot spots before. Maybe someone else has??

If this one doesnt survive, dont go out and get a new one. Wait, let the tank age a while. Make sure the lighting is up to snuff. Make SURE that you dont have a nitrate(or any other kind of) problem. If you then do decide to get another, look it over carefully, and look at the environment it is being held in, too great a change at one time can kill.

[caver]

ok, as to date the anemone has just moved behind my live rock to the back of the tank! he opened back up and seems to be fine, but however i am concerned at to thats where the condys went before they bit the bullet :( as for the tank all nitrite and nitrate and amonia and ph levels look good! mid line all across! but what to do with him sould i move him out front again or let him be to decide where he wants to be! the only problem with getting him out is that i kinda have to dismantle my aquascapeing to retrive him! as for the lighting i have 2 48 in tubes one full spectrum lighting and one attentic tube and then 2 24 in tubes behind them! the only thing i can think of is i went out of town for the weekend and left the 2 24 tubes burning while i was gone! when i got home i turned the 2 48 in tubes on and the 2 24 in tubes also for lost light time for 24 hours is this a good idea? untill i get the 2 48 in tubes on a timer too i didnt know what to do so i decided on that! the other question is my live cup coral, it slimes at times is this normal also??? it apperars to be thriving in the reef environment of mine!!! so i assueme its ok! you guys are a great help thanks alot

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caver

[Dolemite]

First off I am assuming you have a 55 since you have not said what size your tank is. Second off I am assuming that you lights are normal output, as well.

Conclusions:
-2.2 watts per gallon is not near enough to keep a bubble tip anemone alive for any long period of time. Bubble Tips should be in a tank with at least 4 watts per gallon
-I'm not sure what mid line across means as far as your tank parameters go. In order to keep one of these they need to be as follows
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate <20ppm
-Your posting betrays a lack of knowledge/experience (I apologize if I am wrong on this). If you are not successful with this anemone, do not purchase another one until you have the requisite experience and knowledge in order to attempt one of these knowing the full implications of what you are trying to do.
Feeding your anemone will help make up for a lack of photosynthetic nutrition in the short term but is not a suitable substitute for the required light in the long term. You will need to upgrade your lighting within the next month in order to have a real shot at keeping this guy alive long term. Do not attempt to move your anemone. It will go where it wants. Try to provide the proper environment for it and it will place itself in the best place fot it. You cannot make up for lost lighting time by increasing your photoperiod. Nor can you make up a lock of light by extending it. Intensity of light is an important factor in the photosynthetic health of all cnidarians, hence the reason for so much wattage.

[Chad]

I have a rose colored bubble tip anemone that has been in my tank for over a month and is doing extremely well.

-I have a 58 gallon tank with 4 VHO's giving me 380 watts (2 super actinics and 2 actinic whites).
-Water conditions are zero, zero, and low
-pH 8.4
-Salinity - 1.024
-Bak Pak 2 and 3 powerheads
-Temp 80
-Dose EVS B-Ionic

The anemone has been extremely healthy since the day I got him MO from Inland Aquatics. He is about 6 inches across and growing fast. My female maroon has taken up residence, but won't let her male mate near it. I feed it a piece of krill every other day. It also gets some of the brine shrimp and other food I feed the tank. The anemone is on a flat rock and has his foot deep between two rocks. I can see the foot with a flashlight, and it is long and well attached. I could never move this guy.

If you want to try anemones, I think a bubble tip is the best place to start. There is an excellent article in Aquarium Frontiers about the Rose Anemone. Check it out at:
http://www.aquariumfrontiers.com/fish/aqfm/1998/aug/features/2/default.asp

[Canadian]

Why does everyone still talk about watts/gallon? It just doesn't make any sense. The important factors are depth, water clarity, lumens, etc not gallons! For instance, 6 NO fluorescent lights over a typical 90g aquarium (48x18x24) pales in comparison to 6 NO fluorescent lights over a "flat" 90g (48x24x18).

This hobby is in a constant state of ideological fluctuation, yet it never ceases to amaze me that people continue to use 10 year old "wisdom" in watts per gallon...think about it.

If we are going to attempt to get technical and serious about succesfully keeping anemones in captivity we have to ensure accuracy and continuity. While getting a PAR measurement may not be simple I'd venture to say that it is the only reliable measurement pertaining to lighting that will ensure success in regards to lighting issues.

Canadian

[Aquaman]

My experience with the anemone... By Aquaman :)

I first got interested in keeping them when my father-in-law purchased a Carpet Anemone for his 125 FOWLR. Now his tank consisted of TBSW LR, a 150gal wet/dry with BIO-bail and a LG 3md pump running half speed, and 3 NO lights "over a year old". His fish were several damsels,a 6" lunar wrasse,a 6" niger trigger, and a couple of clowns. I admit I didn't know anywhere near the amount of reef knowledge as I have now, BUT I thought cool! and trotted of to the LFS and got one myself. Ha, I thought. I have more water flow than him, more lights than him, I dose additives each week and my rock looks better! and I test all my parameters each week! No problem right!. Killed it within a two months. Found out my PH was a little low but my ALK had taken a dive to the 1.0 range! Definitly not good.

Now my 55 reef was only 8 months old and I was constantly upgrading this and that, changing lights, pumps, even switched stands which required the tank to be emptied. After the 55gal passed that magical first year mark, things started to settle in and I had all the changes done that I wanted. I started to purchase corals for the tank as my knowledge grew leaps and bounds.

My father-in-laws tank looked worse and worse, So my ever fathful wife convinced DAD to let me have the carpet anemone, Which had shrunk from its origional 12 to 14 some inches long to about 6 or 7.

The carpet settled right down in the front of my 55reef where there was the most room and enjoyed the glow of 2 175watt 10K MH lights and 2 atinic Blue VHO's as well as received the current from 3 maxijet 750's and 1 Rio 600 powerhead. My sand is a fine grade mix of argonite and FLa LS and I had a large population of copopods and other night crawling creatures. I feed the little monster a mix of fresh squid,shrimp and LFS bought "Lance fish" each week.

The carpet seemed to enjoy the light and as I read more I began to feed more and more often, until I was doing small feedings once to twice a day. He began his growth from about 7 to around 8 to 10 inches within a six month period. I kept a close eye on all my parameters, with him and my corals I didn't want a repeat of the last epasode! I knew if it did I would never hear the end of it from "DAD" nor my wife! "the ultimate critic"

I found that not all clowns that are suposed to host with the carpet will. I lost a female 4" T purcula clown to the monster, and over the next six months lost a Sailfin tang, Regal tang, Kole tang.

After a year and a half my wife agreed to let me have a larger tank, Thanks in part to a rather dedicated reefer and well respected LFS employee. It was his old tank I bought. I moved my 55gal reef to my "NEW" 125gal custom tank 60x24x22 drilled in the back, Complete with sump and ETS style "home made skimmer, pumps lights the works. I was very hesitant to move the monster over to the new tank but as I had no other tank with the "RIGHT" equipment IN he went.

Monster Doesn't like large Fla crushed coral! but did settle against my rock and is happy! I even found a pair of saddle back clowns that have taken to him like a duck to a pond. after 1 year in my care he has grown back to almost his origional size and seems very healthy happy and "Hungry". It is a joy to watch the interaction between the clowns and the anemone. I have decided not to move him into a specality tank at this time.

Now I know that this guy has only been in aquarium water for just over 2 years and his life span has been reported to be over 100+ years, I will keep spending whatever I need to make him continue to grow.

Hmm... now I do have some room on the right side of this tank for a small cluster of Goniporia. :)

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Teach what you have known for years as if you learned it yesterday,
Teach what you learned yesterday as if you have known it all you life.
Life is short so Reef Hard

www.magicnet.net/~jwhite/aquamans.html (http://www.magicnet.net/~jwhite/aquamans.html)

[Erica]

I have a 20 gal tank (need to upgrade to a bigger one) and I have 20 lbs of live rock, crushed coral substrate, sea clone skimmer, 2 powerheads, 4 75 watt VHOs, etc etc. Let's just say I would do many things different on my next tank but what I have now is working. I have a purple, flat anemone. (Macrodactyla doreensis?) and it has grown 4 times the size it was when I got it about 8 months ago. As soon as I put it in the tank it attached to the bottom glass through the sumbstrate and there it has stayed since. I have a percula that does not leave it except to get it food and the percula does not let anyone near his anemone including my hand. I feed my anemone prime reef soaked in kent zoe overnight in the fridge. All I do is drop the stuff in (broken up) and let the clownfish feed it. The darn anemone takes up like 1/4 of the bottom of my tank now and can't wait to get the new tank set up and everything so I can let it grow even bigger and maybe get a mate for my percula. I must say not all has been succesful with me and anemones though. I have learned 2 things that you must do to keep an anemone alive. One is feed it ALOT. Two is have a very good heater. I had a crappy heater before with too much fluctuations in temp and it killed 2 anemones. Then I got an ebo jeager and have never had a problem since. The first anemone I had was a condy wich did well for a long time with two dominoe damsels that it hosted belive it or not. But when I had to move the tank it didn't like that and died. Anyways, that is my experience with anemones.

Erica

[caver]

as for my setup i have a 75 gallon tank, with 2 wisper 550 filters and an excalabur protien skimmer with a rio 600 power head runing it, or i should say im pretty sure its a rio 600! i have a penguin power head, 550 for current and stiring of the water. as for lighting im meeting bare requirements for reglular output lighting! i think my tank looks great and all for the current setup, however i am planing on going vho in the next couple of months, once my custom hood is finished being built and assembled! so in time this will come! just need to be patient! as for my levels being across the line, i mean nitrites and nitrates are on the money as well is everything else! right where they should be. forgive me i am not good with numbers there for i will go into and abreviated way of talking about my chemical perameters in my tank! i apologize for that!!! as for the anemone, he is fine, just moved to the back of the tank in the shade more! mabe he got to much light, i dont know, mabe he wanted a change of scenery or something, but ill let him stay untill i see a decernable reason to move him! bums me out that he hides with my clown and all, but his comfort comes first! so there he will stay for at least a while! anyways ive had this tank up and running for 3 years now and is doing well except for finishing up the aquascapeing and all! as for the inhabitants, they are all thriving right now dont have alot of corals yet, just a few and they are thriving well too, especially my cup coral and the bubble coral!!! two of my favorites! i got a new one tonight for 7 dollars it looks like a mushrrom rock, but is turquoise blue with the little bumps on him, didnt get the name of him but is a fine little attraction to the tank also! i hope this helps you out on my tank and all, i just want my reef to be the nicest looking thing in my house is all! thanks a bunch again

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caver

[Christine]

Mine's a failure post. I think this is why it's good to read these bulletin boards. I bought it before I knew anything about anemones other than what I saw in nature films. Bought the anemone (carpet - I think haddoni) on October 21st, 1999. This was very soon after setting up my tank (around the 15th). I put the anemone where I thought it would look good, not where it would get the most light. I had very little flow (just the return from the sump) and only two VHO bulbs (1 50/50, 1 Blue). I was not feeding any phytoplankton. At no point did the nitrate in my tank excede 5 ppm (as it has not to date). The anemone appeared to thrive in the first month, even growing a few inches. I fed it a little squid once a week. When the anemone began to move (trying to get closer to the light) I put rocks in its way so that it wouldn't move. Once I realized the mistakes that I had made, I moved the rock, increased the lights and flow. When I increased the light, I didn't know to do so gradually, so the anemone began to hide under the rock during the day, and then wander at night. It still looked healthy though. On Christmas, it was dead. It looked like a picture of a bacterial infection in The Reef Aquarium. I'm not saying that I will never have another anemone again, but I will research the needs of anemones before I make a rash purchase. I even brought a friend to the LFS to help me resist purchasing one this past Wednesday.

[odenwell]

Christine,
Are you sure your anemone was a S. hadonni? I would be willing to bet it was a Gigantica. Did it have tentacles longer than a 1/4 inch? Did the tentacles twitch? Did it climb on the rocks? Was it brightly colored, like blue, pink or yellowish green? If the answers to these questions were yes, then it is very likely that your carpet was the very difficult to keep S. gigantica.

I would like to hear from people that were sure they had a S. haddoni that were not successful with it. IME, these things are easy to keep. That does not mean that I recommend everyone should go and get one.

Here is a link to a couple pictures of a rare red S. haddoni anemone that I picked up a couple weeks ago: http://www.dimensional.com/~odenwell/RedCarpet1.jpg http://www.dimensional.com/~odenwell/RedCarpet2.jpg

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

[Christine]

I'm pretty sure it was a haddoni. It had short tentacles, was a light green (not bright) with white stripes radiating from the center. It always stayed on the substrate. It looked almost identical in pattern to the picture on p 402 of The Reef Aquarium, vol. 2 of a S. Haddoni. I had just added more flow before it died. I think that it may have been blown too much and could have gotten a tear. But that's just speculation.

[Christine]

I'm pretty sure it was a haddoni. It had short tentacles, was a light green (not bright) with white stripes radiating from the center. It always stayed on the substrate. It looked almost identical in pattern to the picture on p 402 of The Reef Aquarium, vol. 2 of a S. Haddoni. I had just added more flow before it died. I think that it may have been blown too much and could have gotten a tear. But that's just speculation.

[horge]

Macrodactyla doreensis
in the Philippines
22 (23?) months and counting

Saltwater chemistry varies like a rollercoaster (as I am a lazy Pinoy and do weekly kalked top-offs only plus water changes of about 2% every 6 months or so). Temperature tops out at 90 degrees of your Farenheit daily, and settles at 72F at night. You can imagine evaporation loss over a mere day. Lighting is natural.

Daylight where I live is fairly intense, rich with yellow wavelengths (I would be more specific, but do not know how to go about taking a spectrograph). M. doreensis is a shallow-water mud-dweller, so I figure it has no trouble with either the light intensity or the wild swings in water chem. the water column above it is a niggardly 8 cm, and I see no sign of UV damage or ejection of either zooxanthellae or oxygen-burned tissue

The container is a blue plastic(HDPE)laundry tub (part of a linked chain of former, outdoor Stylophora-frag grow-out basins). Total system volume is 58 of your gallons when topped off, and the tub it is in has a max diameter of 80 cm (it tapers vertically somewhat). The last basin contains about 5 kg of 'live rock' (what a curious term). The bucket sump has a mineral-water-bottle jury rigged into an in-line skimmer (airstone driven), with a powerhead to uplift the water back to the first of 5 basins, loosely covered with bookwrapping plastic (LDPE).

Discussing growth is almost pointless with anemone morphology. It has swelled to an oral disc 15cm wide (rarely) and will shrivel to 5cm dia when it sees fit. There are no clownfishes (A. clarkii or otherwise) hosted. It is on bare tub-plastic bottom with a few rocks about.

It will reject most foods, save freshly killed marine protein. (A. clarkii juveniles that have inadvertently died of shock are quickly consumed. Only the head, vertebral column and tail are left on ejection 18 to 30 hours later). I find interesting a local (Philippine) study that links the breakdown of ATP as the key factor in palatability of protein to some marine carnivores (lobsters, squid : they like their meat fresh and apparently, M. doreensis does too) Other M. doreensis specimens left unfed faltered within 5 months.

The advent of anemone-friendly lighting is important, though irrelevant to my case, but I believe the failure to keep/propagate these animals centers on proteinaceous nutrition. I keep hoping for meiosis, but I'm unclear on the reproductive tactic preferred by this species (Sexual broadcast of gametes? eggs? Are they hermaphrodites? brooders?). Any info would be appreciated.

I received this animal (and its departed mates) only because the prior owner wanted to throw them away. I've been keeping an Entacmaea quadricolor under similar conditions, in a separate system (despite its different natural habitat), for the past 3 mos.

HTH


[This message has been edited by horge (edited 01-03-2000).]

[LarryB]

Here is my story:

Never have been able to keep an anemones until this one. I tried a few of them about 15 years ago. I tried a singapor anemone this summer in my 45 gallon tank. At the time I had 100 watts of NO lighting. The anemone appeared to do will untill it got sucked up into the power head. I even had a really big prefilter on the powerhead but it managed to wrap itself around the whole 6 inch prefilter.

I then received a long tip anomone from Odenwell when I purchased some live rock from him. I don't know the scientific name for the anemone? I've had it in my 120 gallon tank with 384w of PC and 160w of NO lighting. It's about 10" under the water. I feed it Prime Reef frozed food every day. It looks great. It's off to the side of a power head that comes on for 30 minuites every hour during the day. It's been alive for three months in my tank and I don't know how long in Bob's tank? It looks great! :rolleyes:

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http://www.angelfire.com/co3/PieceOfReef/

[Green Lantern]

My LFS sold me Stichodactyla mertensii. I had continually questioned him on the survivability of these guys but he assured me that my ocellaris and mertens would get along fine and that he, knowing my tank and parameters, felt I would do fine with it. My captive bred clowns have not gone near the 7 month old Stichodactyla haddoni!!! It has taken up residence on the side of the tank half way up the rock and underneath the overflow of my ASU hang on skimmer. I have excellent parameters (battling slightly low alk.) and 440 watts of VHO lighting on 48x17x17. The anemone seems to be doing fine. I feed it weeklyish, it is sticky and always excepts the food eagerly. It has not grown and may or may not have changed colour slightly (he/she is a green and white). I thought it may have been darker green with some browns in it but can't be sure. I read extensively before I got it and after. I can only say that though it is alive I wish I'd gone with my gut feeling and not purchased it. One hundred plus years is a long time for a thirty year old.

Troy

[odenwell]

Troy,

I may have already asked you this in another thread, but I don't remember. Is your mertensii anemone mostly white in the center with several white stripes going out toward the edges? If so, then it is a hadonni. I have never heard of a two tone mertensii, that is not to say they don't exist.

On a side note, my A. percula and Tomato clowns have both taken up residence in their respective haddoni anemones. Niether of these fish and anemone combos naturaly pair up in the wild. My Tomato clowns are tank raised.

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

[jdthomas]

Troy,
I'd say that they told you wrong. A mertens looks a lot like s.haddoni/s.gigantea, but all I can find on it says that the mertens should not have sticky tentacles(Baensch). I havent had one of these before, so I dont know for sure.
There is no reason to feel guilty about having it, it you are willing to take care of it properly. At least, you shouldnt feel MORE guilty than you do about having coral. Anemones live >100yrs(best guess), but a coral can live forever. Thats a LOT longer for a 30yr old ;).

[horge]

JDThomas:

Hans Baensch or his flunkies lost me there. The nematocysts of Stichodactylids ALL produce some sensation of adhesion, alhough admittedly, the sensation is much greater for S. haddoni, and yet more for S. gigantea.

Tentacle shape and comport is a better distinction between S. haddoni and S. mertensii. Exocoelic tentacles are robust in S. haddoni, and it apparently has a Stichodactylid copyright on the frequent radial variegated coloration (reflecting endocoelic/exocoelic distribution) mentioned by odenwell.

[Green Lantern]

Odenwell, yes I think we mentioned it before but my memory is short. It is white in the center with radiating streaks. I am postitive it is haddoni, (as positive as I can be anyway). The reason I feel guilty is that as a beginner I choose corals that were easy to keep and did my best to get the proper equipment to keep everything I have. The corals should live as long as I choose to keep them barring unforseen difficulties. On the anemone however, I read all sorts of information talking about the challenges of keeping them and the incredibly shortened lifespan in captivity yet I got one anyway. I watch the little fellow closely all the time and I think now he may even be showing signs of bleaching. I don't know. My experience being limited I should have waited until I had more skill and knowledge at my disposal. Thank god for books and these boards.

Troy

[odenwell]

Here is my anemone story. Way, way back, say 5 years ago, when I was a newbie, I tried a "seabae" anemone. I was drawn in by it's white tenticals with purple tips. Unfortunately, as with most other people, it met an early death in my tank. Then I mail ordered a stunning white carpet anemone. I didn't know it at the time, but it was a difficult to keep S. gigatica. It lasted about 1 month. Then I discovered the newsgroup reef forum. I learned more about the moral dilema surrounding anemones. I learned that bubble tips had a fairly good survivability ratio, so I purchased one. After a while it split into two. I only wanted one, so I gave one to a close friend. Mine died shortly thereafter. My friends is now huge, 4 years later, despite being under the same 175 watt MH bulb for 2.5 years. At this point I had become somewhat discouraged with anemones. While visiting a LFS, I saw this beautiful pair if True Percs and, in another tank, a lime green carpet anemone. I couldn't resist. Well, I've had this carpet for about 4 years now, and it looks better than ever. In fact, last night it released sperm or eggs into the water, not sure which. Quite a site to behold. Unfortunately, I lost the True Percs a couple of weeks ago to a new pair of Black Percs, but that's another story. Now the story gets a little more gruesome. Recently, I decided I wanted to try another carpet since I have had such great success with my green one. Over the past few years I had learned that there is a great difference amoungst carpets. I learned that hadonni's are much easier to keep, albeit less colorfull, than S. gigantica. I guess I got a little ****y though. Despite my better judgement, I bought two S. gigantica anemeones, thinking I was up to the challenge. Well folks, this story has a sad ending. Neither anemone lasted more than a month. I have now vowed never to buy another S. gigantica and will try to steer other people away from these anemones as well. At this point, I decided to stick with the tried and true S. hadonni. I purchased a bright green and yellow varegated haddoni anemone and a few tank raised tomato clowns. This was over a month ago and the anemone is eating like a pig now. About a month ago, I went to a LFS to trade in some coral and ended up leaving with a very small but very bright red hadonni anemone. It, too, is now eating like a pig and seems to be rapidly growing. I now feed all three of my hadonni anemones at least once a week using frozen silversides.

IME, there are two anemones that I feel comfortable recommending to the intermediate to advanced aquarist. That would be the bubble tip or the haddoni carpet. I don't, however, recommend any anemones to anyone that doesn't already have an interest and lots of experience. I have no regrets or misgivings about the three hadonni anemones that I have in my tank. I feel that I can provide the optimal environment for them. I also hope that I can learn more about them and educate other people about their needs. I regret my failed attempts, but I do my best to keep others from making the same mistakes I did.

BTW, my current tank is a 200 gallon with strong protein skimming and about 1500 watts of lighting.

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

[jdthomas]

I wonder at times how much of the problem with anemones is collection. It seems that 2 anemones, even the same type will do completely different in the same environment. These things are pretty easy to damage, and even a little can kill it.
If only the people who see them regularly(collectors, retailers, etc), could tell us the little signs(if any) there are to determine the health of the animal.
Anybody here know any small, subtle things to determine health. Most people know the major warning signs.
Green Lantern, the point about feeling guilty that I am making is that everything that we put in our tanks will have a shortened life span. I just dont feel that we should feel more guilty because we now have, or in the past have had, anemones. All of these animals could outlive us by a factor of 10. When I see stories about depletion of the ocean, I feel some guilt. But, I dont feel more guilt for the anemones that I have than for the corals that I have.
Horge, maybe Baensch just meant that there is no sensation of stickiness to a humans touch. I'll have to defer to you, I havent ever owned a mertens. btw, not sure that all (or even most) of the marine atlas was written by Hans Baensch ;).

[reefgal]

My anemone story is a "coming back from the brink of death" tale.....but first, a disclaimer for people new to the hobby...I bought the anemones in my first month of reefkeeping. That was before I read all the books, and knew who to trust for advise. I would not buy them today. I will not replace them if they die. My reasons are:
1) They DO NOT stay in one place and it can wreak havoc on your aquascaping.
2) If they really are as long-lived in the wild as they say, I would consider anything less than 25+ years in captivity a personal failure

I bought two bubble-tipped anemones (one rose {you can see a picture of the rose on my website}, one green) in May 1999 for my 30 gallon reef. They both seemed to be fine for the first two months. Then, the green one got chased out of his cave by a long-tenacled I tried briefly (it went back to the LFS) and went downhill in a hurry. It expelled it's zoozanthellae and started moving around the tank. It was pale and shriveled and I didn't know what to do. I was sure it would die. I visited all three LFSs asking for advice. It was suggested by one that I add phytoplankton to my tank. (I had never used the stuff before then.) After a week of adding DT's, I saw a slight improvement. In a month it had regained it's coloring and was eating small bits of food I offered. It was moved to a 90 gallon tank in November and it's about 10" across when open.

Was it the phytoplankton that did the trick? I don't know. I just count me and "Green Gus" lucky.

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Now, how do you pronounce (and/or spell) that again?

Reefgal in the desert
http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/DeckDr/desertreefer/reefcover.html

[Mushroom Boy]

What corals have you successfully housed alongside your anemones? I'm in the process of planning a 29 gallon that will be lit by 2 24" VHO (1 actinic, 1 50/50). I think it would make a nice species tank, but was wondering if there were any considerations when adding corals (i.e., Xenia and other softies). How do they fare with some of the LPS? BTW, I'm interested in E. quadricolor or S. haddoni or possibly a long tentacle (what's the Latin name on that one?) Thanks!!

[horge]

Long tentacle? Hmm.
Could be Macrodactyla doreensis (soemtimes-corkscrew tentacles), Heteractis crispa or Heteractis aurora (beaded tentacles)...

Has everyone heard about odenwell's S. haddoni "spawning"? The observed broadcast of gametes(?) is exciting news.

[odenwell]

I guess that was my que. Here is a copy of a post I made to one of the 'other' message boards (sorry, what was I thinking :) ):

My green haddoni anemone released some sort or sperm or egg, I'm guessing, into the water tonight. It's column swelled up considerably, lifting the oral disk up and away from it's usual position against the rocks. It's tentacles started to randomly twitch, much like that of a S. gigantica. Upon close examination, there was a milky white substance eminating from it's mouth. I guess that this will make the filter feeders in the tank happy for a while.Now if my other haddoni anemone is the opposite sex, maybe someday I'll have babies. I won't hold my breath. I'm sure my protein skimmer would take care of everything before the larvae would be viable, but you never know for sure.

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

[simon]

i cant really give you exact water parameters because i never test, but, i do know that my Macrodactyla doreensis, at least that what it looked like when i bought it, has been very happy 9in my tank for 2+ years now. when i first purchased it it was for my tomatoe clown, priscilla, who was hosting in a smaller sarco. i bought it in the hopes othat 'cilla would leave the sarco alone. i had done my research and found that my tank would have been fine for him for a while. i didnt have that much light 5 NO of various brands, coralife actinics and tritons..etc.well needless to say that with such low light i needed to feed the damn thing. and i did, everyday, a pc of shrimp or a whole scallop. when i bought it it was its usual color, pink base with brownish green tentacles. it did well for about 2 weeks, stayed put. but then it up a left to the back of the tank. i fished it out many time(it was freefloating on the gravel) and tried to place it somwhere secure where it could bury its base. many weeks of this annoyed me to the point(i know bad move) of just leaving it in the back of the tank to die! but finally after a week or so under the rock work i decided to pull it out and place it somewhere for good. i turned off the flow and placed it againstthe left wall of the tank. needless to say, with all of this going on, the clown didnt even look at the damn thing! finally it based into the gravel and stayed there for good. by this time the anemone had bleached and was all white. i fed it daily and watched it as it grew new algae and in size. under NO's "elvis" got to be 12 inches wide. the color change was amazing, from brown to purple yellow and lime. i was happy to say the least that he finally stayed out and is now much prettier than before. i decided to move from a 29 to a 30g for the sake of the anemone. i know it wasnt much but its all i had and 6 inches was better than nothing. along with the move i added vhos. the increase in light and the new tank made elvis alittle unhappy. the move also made the sarco close up for a few weeks and so 'cilla finally found elvis! hes not 12inches anymore more like3-4 inches across! but the color is amazing and has been doing well for about a years in the new tank. i dont mind elvis so small cause it makes more room for the sps's. he does tell me when the sg gets a little high(forgot to top off) and goes yunder the gravel for a day or two. here's what i know about the tank:
30g glass tank, 29 gallon as a sump
4 95 w vhos, 2 actinic, 2 actinic white.
skimmerless, just live sand and live rock
i feed phyto almst daily, at least every other day.
i had a battle with nitrates when i moved over. but now they have since gone down to nil.
tomatoe clown resides in the anemone.
funny thing is she actuallly doesnt let it eat. she is quick to remove anything i put in its tentacles, and she doesnt feedit herself(selfish b$#ch!)
temp is at 80-82
salinity is at 1.025
base is attached to the bottom glass with 3 inches of geo marine on the bottom of the tank.
well sorry for sucha long story, but i hope someone can get something outta it!


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suck my fish

[DebbieB]

Hi All,
I've had a Green Haddoni fot about 23mo. now.
It expands to approx. 18" dia.(warning to those with small tanks).
I've got a 180 gal. tank w/50 gal. refugium,approx. 30 gal.sump.
2-250 watt 5500k MH and 2-165 watt VHO.
HSA1000 protien skimmer.Nitrates have always run high in the tank, currently around 25ppm with no ill effects. Tank has about 300lb. live rock,about 1" live sand in 180 and 5" live sand in refugium.High fish load.
Haddoni wandered occasionally for around the first year, then we "helped" it into a cheese crock (no kidding) that was just the right size for it and it hasn't moved since.It has spawned four times now. There is a pair of clarki clowns that live in it,a must to keep other fish out.
Tank is heavily fed with formula 2 flake,frzn brine shrimp,and nori daily.About once a week chopped frzn shrimp for corals,fish,serpent stars,and an eel that came in the live rock.The haddoni gets a whole shrimp about once a week.
When I slacked off on feeding the anemone for awhile it started to expand to only about 8" or so. When I started increasing feeding again it was fully expanded the next day. It has eaten a few fish, but the clarki keep most at bay.
Debbie

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[J]

For those with S. Haddoni - how many of you have percula or ocellaris clowns using this anemone as a host?

[odenwell]

I had a pair of True Perculas with my hadonni for about 4 years. The Perculas are gone now thanks to a pair of A. polymnus. :( See my website for some pictures, look in the livestock section.

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

[J]

Odenwell, beautiful tank and I love your dogs. What a gorgeous anemone, so, your percs no longer hang out in the haddoni, that is too bad. I was considering the purchase of a Ritteri, but I think I am going to get a haddoni even though they are not a natural host to my ocellaris clowns. The haddoni anemone seems to be hardier - anyway, great pics - thanks - J

[odenwell]

My true percs are dead. :( The lime green hadonni is now home to the A. Polymnus (black perc) pair. I also have a variagated green hadonni that is home to three tank raised tomatoes. Finally I have a small rare bright red hadonni that is right next to the green variagated anemone. I agree that hadonni anemones are hardy if given the proper setup. They also tend to eat tangs if they're not carefull. :(

[J]

Odenwell, what would you define as the proper setup for haddoni carpets? Where did you get a red one? I've read they come in other colors such as purple and blue, I've only seen them as a dull green at LFS.

[odenwell]

I don't do anything special for my anemones. I use RO/DI, no supplements, Ca reactor, UV sterilizer, occasional carbon, heavy protein skimming, MH/PC light, and feed them a silverside once a week.

I found the red hadonni at the LFS (Debron Aquatics). They had no idea it was rare. I paid $40 and it was about 3.5" dia. It is now about 4.5" dia. The dull green ones are OK, but if you look around a while, you'll eventually find a lime green or a variagated one. The silver/grey variagated are fairly common. The pink/purple/blue carpets are probably gigantica anemones. I would stay away from them. I have never been able to keep one of those alive.

[J]

Sounds good, I have a similar setup - so hopefully I will have the same success you have had with these anemones. TRA VolII says there are haddoni carpets that are more colorful - hopefully I can find one that is healthy. I've seen a few Gigantea anemones at LFS, never looked good, they seemed doomed for death. Thanks for the info - take care

[gojira]

howdy all!

im kinda new at this, but would like to share my experiences. First off, after me 28 gal hex tank cycled for 2 months i added (along with the already present four damsels) two anenomes: a carpet (haven't ben able to positively id...its tan with a blue foot...hangs on side of lr and has to bend to reach up...but hasn't moved in almost 2 months) and a ritteri.

Im sad to say that snap judgement and lack of good information lead to the demise of the ritteri after a month. And after reading that these creatures live 100+ years in wild, did i feel BAD.

anyway, im trying all i can to keep the carpet alive. I feed it every week some shrimp and it seems to be happy, expanding to 6 inches when fully open, which it has only been doing recently since i got pcs and feed it on a regular basis. Plus my true perc that use to reside in the ritteri now hangs happily in the carpet.

the only filtration i have is about 25# lr, 1.5 inch sand bed (going to be expanded to 3.5 this weekend), a bakpak2 and two powerheads. All water parameters are good with NO3 around 10 ppm.

thanks for all your experiences...

cheers,
gojira

[J]

Well, I got a nice green haddoni carpet, and I placed it on the bottom, on the sand and some small rocks. well, it has now moved up the rock work a little bit, and is sitting sideways. For those that have these carpets, where did they settle in your tank?

[AnemoneKing]

Let's see,

I have a white based ritteri that has been with me since the 1st week of setting up my 180. It was all white when I got it, it's now creamy brown on all tentacle. It's about 6 inches across then, now is about 2 feet. It's home to a pair of mated Clarkii clown. It's take up the whole 1/3 of the tank fully expanded.

I have another purple based, greenish yellow tip, peach tentacle ritteri. It's with me about 6 months. 8 inches across and hang high up in the wall.

These are two different kind of ritteri, 1 have long tentacle ( 4 inches) the other have short tentacle ( 1 inch). It's touching the other ritteri, this is a vacation home of the Clarkii.

I have a sebae that's has been with me about 8 months. Bought it about 1 inches, it's now 4 inches. White based and cream entacles. Currently vacant, need to get a clown for it.

I have another sebae, white base and white tentacles with violet tips. Have it for about a month. The tentacles is slowing turning brow which is a good sight. Home to the small ( 1 inch) black sebae clown.

I have 2 brown bulb tips about 5 inches across. Have it over a year. Originally one and it splits into 3. 1 die, leave me 2.

I have a rose anemone about 5 inches across. Just got it last week. This and the other 2 bulb are home of a single perky fire clown. He makes a regular visit to every single one of them in turn. At night, he's more at home in the brown bulb as it's lower in the aquarium.

My tank is a 180 all glass. Lightning is 2 250 PFO with Iwasaki and 1 250 icecap also with Iwasaki bulb. Skimmer is home made and not very good. About 150 lbs of Fiji liverock. I dose kawaz when I have time. Water use is tap with RO. The tank has been set up for almost 2 years. I also keep an assortment of soft and hard corals : finger, tree, xenia, star polyps, button polyps, buble, sps, ec...

All of anemones are on the rock. The sebases are inside the hole and they like it that way. The bulb tips like to be under ledge and expand tentacle outward and up. The ritteris just on rock where they have more water movement.

My takes on anemone keeping:

Ritteri is easy to keep provide that strong water movement and bright light. The big guy ( we call them so) has been with me when my tank was cycling which tell you how hardy it is. The trick is to get a healthy one.

Bulb tip is easy to keep also. Just amke sure that they wont hide completely out of light then slowly shrink and wated away.

Sebae is harder to keep. I think the problem with sebae is that they tend to hide and die of starvation. I choose the rock with hole poiting upward and put them in. If they stay, pretty much they will survive. They dont seem to like much water movement. Just enought to sway them back and forth. Too much water movement and they will move.

I dont like carpet, they move too much and doesnt have longer tenticals. So I have not really try. I think carpet is easier than heteractus amemones.

[Ne'erEnuff]

Great BB y'all, thanks to the moderators and the contributers!

I've had what I was told is a Green Carpet, for about 2 months. It was about 2" across and a dark green color, at the store. In my tank, it has expanded to over 6", and still has the green coloration on the tentacles but barely noticeable. Is now mostly brown with broken white rays from the oral disk to the edge. It has fed on one goldfish intended for a lion fish. It digested all of the fish, no bolus was ever expelled. I fed it an uncooked shrimp 2 days ago and it expelled the shrimp after about 10 minutes. Did Not like that one!!
I have one Domino Damsel, about 1 1/2", that has taken up with the anemone, as would a clownfish. Neat to watch!!!
My tank is a 15 gal high. Lighting is MH, 250watts, 12" above water surface. One 50/50 actinic/daylight. All water params test great.

I know that anemones are not supposed to live long in captivity, and I will provide for this one as much as it needs. It seems to be quite happy.

BTW my tank can be seen(sorta) at
http://members.xoom.com/NeerEnuff/

Thanks to all for the great BB
David


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But hone, can't you see how terrible the tank conditions are here? If I take just this one home it'll have a better life in our tank. Maybe that one too.....

[Danny B]

I got my first anemone about 10 years ago, a seabe. It was about 3 in across and it grew to about 24 in within a few years. This was in my 75 gal reef tank that I had just set up. Back then i had only kept fish only tanks for the fish I had cought while diving on the reefs here. I didn't know much about keeping them except they needed good lighting (ranging between 440 to 800+ watts over my ever changing tank) and in my ignorance it thrived. It lived for about 8 years befor shrinking down to nothing because of a then unknown small amount of metals that was getting into my tank. It stayed in the same spot for the whole time and was extremlly beautiful with two percula clowns in it(the female is still in my tank now :) the male died about a year ago :() I fed it sporadically, sometimes not for months. Maybe it was just dumb luck but I didn't have any trouble keeping this Seabe. I would bet that most anemones die so soon because of how they are collected, as long as their basic needs are met they should do fine in a tank. As for those of you who feel bad for killing an animal that could have soposedlly lived for 100 years in the wild, i think this is unjustified. An anemone may have the potential to live that long just like in extreme cases humans can live 120+ years, but how many do. As I learned in science class long ago, if any living thing lives long enough to produce one offspring that inturn lives to do the same, it is successful. If it produces any more than that the whole world would be taken over in time. Just reading the stories above on how many are reproducing in tanks shows they are prolific reproducers and the one that may die in our tanks would most likely have died in the wild just as fast. You or I would never have had the chance to see first hand the beauty of these creatures and develop a love for everything in the ocean. How can you expect people to care for something if they don't know anything about it?

[J]

Does anyone have 2 ritteri anemones in the same tank, near each other? Obviously they would have to be small ones.

[JSC]

I currently have two bulb anemones. One is 5 years old the other about 2.5 years old. The 5 year old was in a tank with 3 watts per gallon for about 3 and a half years and is now in one with about 4.5 watts per gallon. The 5 year old has grown from 4 inches across to about 16 inches across. The two year old is about 10 inches across. I have not directly fed these for years. I do however feed on the side of the tank that they are on and they get bits several times a day. My current 125 is slightly overstocked so nitrates tend to stay around 25 on tetra test. The old reef it was in for a couple years registered near zero always. It has been in the 125 for a little over a year and doing great. The 5 year old has gotten caught in the overflow once and ripped about a 1/4 inch gash on its side. It retreated under the rock pile for a couple weeks and came out looking fine. A couple monthes ago it got sucked into a powerhead lost about 50 tentacles and got another small gash. This time it curled up that side but stayed visible. Currently has recovered great but has a lot of stubby tentacles. Yes I have anemone proofed everything now. I was stupid not to have already after the first incident. Anyway previous to that I had a carpet for 3 years until I moved out of state and sold to LFS. All in all my experience has been very good with anemones in fact I have not had any die on me of the 3 I have kept. Here is a pic of the 5 year old taken a year ago with the female of a breeding pair of percs.
BEWARE OF OVERFLOWS AND POWERHEAD INTAKES. They always seem to move when your not home! The picture seems to keep showing up and then not working for me so not sure if you will be able to view.

http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/BoomerSt/jasonchizzy/Clown.JPG




[This message has been edited by JSC (edited 03-29-2000).]

[rayjay]

My sebae anemone and it's original sebae clown were the very first purchases when I first started up six years ago. For the first year and a half, it lived in a 30g with NO fluorescents. Since then, it's a regular in my 90g reef tank, again with NO fluorescents. I got rid of the sebae clown as it drew blood every time my hand was in the tank for something. Now the perc who has taken over, is getting as aggresive, but not yet drawing blood.
In the very early stages, I fed the anemone occasionally because I thought it was neet to watch it each whatever I fed it. Since then, I feed the fish in the tank and don't feed the anemone directly. I'm afraid that if I feed it directly, it will get even bigger and it's too big now when it's fully expanded, which is most of the time.

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ICQ #30079114
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/index.html
Web Site updated March 2000

[jimmy n]

Wow, great line of discussion.

I have failed with a green carpet years ago when I shouldn't have had an anenome of any sorts. I may try my hand in the future, the anenome's in the fish store will be sold to someone or die, and i figure in experienced hands at least it has a chance (of course some would argue my buying an anenome would encourage the fish store to purchase more, creating a vicious cycle, but I don't see it that way).

In any case, I do have a bubble tip that I have had for 7-8 months. A very interesing tale. I bought him with a gs maroon that were already paired. He shrunk up initially and then found a spot he liked and set up camp. He has allways been small (1-2" max) and has not grown despite weekly-biweekly plankton, silversides, brine). When I upgraded my lighting to 510 watts over a 4 foot 20" deep tank, he shrunk away from it into a rock. He has been there for two months and still opens up to his 1-2" span and the clown still goes to his host and defends it. I am wondering if this is a deep water variety that I have heard about and is not so happy with the lighting, or is just taking a long time to acclimate to it....

Just my story, and I'm stickin to it...