a picture of my ritteri

[marcus01]

please add pictures of yours it would be nice to see other examples

[MarinaP]

Feed the animal. It is starving. PE mysis might work. What do you have for lights and current?

[shibumi]

How do you know it is starving? the color?

[speeddemonlsr]

Looks bleached to me no color.

[shibumi]

Is there any white anemone? like white is its normal color? looks very nice.

[MarinaP]

Originally posted by shibumi
Is there any white anemone? like white is its normal color? looks very nice.

No

[speeddemonlsr]

Usually with these anemones there base is a pink bold color, I think thats a dead give away as being ill or dieing, also Ritteri can take up to a year to crash and die.

[littleshark]

Wow, nice anemone. Although it is bleach. How long did u have it? With good water quality and feeding and lighting. The anemone should be as beautiful as ever. I wish i can grab myself one of those anemones

[OrionN]

Originally posted by speeddemonlsr
Usually with these anemones there base is a pink bold color, I think thats a dead give away as being ill or dieing, also Ritteri can take up to a year to crash and die.

That is not true. Base can be just tan or brown to really dark like wine red, purple or other colors.
Ritteri or H, magnifica, when not doing well can die in a few days. It certainly doesn't take a H. magnifica a year to die. I guess the anemone can do well then after 1 year problems cone up which lead to his demise. H. magnifica is one of the hardest of the host anemone to keep.

[speeddemonlsr]

Correct all anemones can come in every different shapes and colors thats the beauty of mother nature. The anemone is oviously bleached white and looks ill. As for the part the one year demise of the H. magnifica its more of a trade mark for that species, at least in all my reading and studies. Yes any anemone can die in a few days or hours, they are a harder species to keep.


I would try to feed it and we will see what kind of light Marcus has.

[reefman13]

This guy needs a miracle. They are the hardest host anemone to keep in good health by far......I can't imagine how one is able to nurse one back to health....

[maxxII]

I've kept mine for almost two years. Its brown based like yours with bright yellow tentacles...

Yours is bleached, but its regaining its zooxanthellae....thats why half the tentacles are brownish/yellow at the tips. Other than being severely bleached, it appears relatively healthy. I would definately feed it meaty foods that have been soaked in Selcon or load with something similar. Uncooked fresh shrimp or scallops from the local grocery store would be great...

How long have you had it?

Nick

[traveller7]

Originally posted by maxxII
Yours is bleached, but its regaining its zooxanthellae....thats why half the tentacles are brownish/yellow at the tips. Other than being severely bleached, it appears relatively healthy.

Not sure we can judge whether it is improving or getting worse by the single picture and details provided.

It does look like it has a chance to me as well, mouth, remaing tentacle length, partial zoox in some tentacles, expanded are all good signs. If it is actually eating and provided with decent conditions, I'd be almost optimistic.

fwiw: I have had specimens linger on, consume themselves, for 6mos and more while other magnifica in the same tank grow as if there is no tomorrow. Not sure anymore how to characterize the situation.

[garygb]

As others have asked, what type of lighting do you have? How old are the bulbs? How long have you had the anemone? Ritteries should be under very bright light (PC, t-5, or MH). As others mentioned, the combination of feeding a few times per week with things like squid, silversides, shrimp, fresh mackerel (if you can find it), chopped krill, etc., combined with bright light will help it to regrow its zooxanthellae.

[marcus01]

the ritteri has been in my tank now for around 9 months and has more than tripled in size to around 9 inchs in this time. i have twin 250 watt 14k mh bulbs over my tank which were changed around two months ago..the picture you see above was taken about 3 months ago with the flow turned off ..the ritteri has sat in the same spot for about 8 of these months which tells me it is happy with the light and flow it is receiving. i feed it on a variety of food ranging from chopped mussel to mysis to squid amongst other things.
as you can see above in the picture when i turn off my pumps it sticks out it mouth ready for food...i would have to disagree on the bleaching thing as it changes its colour from day to day,,sometimes white with yellow tips and a pink foot and other times a light to darkish brown with the foot being the same colour as the head. being in the aquatic trade i have seen many different ritteri ranging from different colours listed above. one of my customers has one with the same white tint as mine which he has had for 2 years which is kept under 250 watt 16k mh bulbs..i will post an up to date photo tmz when the lights are on.................

[MJI]

Had posted at the same time, but now I've decided to step out of this thread....

Will just leave 2 pics showing an animal i rescued, and the zooxanthellae development, even just under 150w halides. There was a 2 month gap in between these pics too.

[garygb]

"Interesting" is all I can say. I would swear that anemone is bleached from lack of light. If it has tripled in size in 9 months, I would wonder if it is panning for light. I know there are individual differences in ritteries, but mine are always the same color--interesting.

[traveller7]

Originally posted by garygb
"Interesting" is all I can say. I would swear that anemone is bleached from lack of light.

"bleaching" can also occur from too much light, chemical changes, temperature issue, lack of available nitrogen in the water, etc.

Marcus01,

If your anemone was mine, I would see if I could track down lancefish(gamma food from TMC in the UK) and feed it cut pieces a bit more frequently. IMHO the tentacles showing some zoox indicate the anemone should have it spread throughout.

fwiw: At 9 months I would expect a healthy/happy specimen to be 12-18"(30-45cm) Every one of mine that did not grow at that rate died within a year. Won't even pretend to speculate why.

[traveller7]

Originally posted by MJI
Will just leave 2 pics showing an animal i rescued, and the zooxanthellae development, even just under 150w halides. There was a 2 month gap in between these pics too.

Funny you should mention that, I have had the best success under 175wt 10K MH.

[marcus01]

thanks for the feeding tip traveller, i actually feed it lancefish which comes from tmc as part of its diet this is also the same place i picked up my ritteri at which time it was only about 3 inches and i thought a grow to 9inches in 9 month was pretty good

[adtravels]

heres mine fairly new and and is going for a few walks at the moment

[traveller7]

Originally posted by marcus01
thanks for the feeding tip traveller, i actually feed it lancefish which comes from tmc as part of its diet this is also the same place i picked up my ritteri at which time it was only about 3 inches and i thought a grow to 9inches in 9 month was pretty good

3x is not bad at all, in fact I am not personally aware of a specimen below 5" surviving as long as yours. Most of mine arrived 6"+ and grew at a similar rate as yours(or died) so I can't really knock growth rate you describe.

Make sure to follow up with pictures in next Christmas at 24" across

Wish you all the best with it.

[OrionN]

Scott,
How many anemone do you have now? Do you keep various species together?

[traveller7]

Downsizing here big time my friend and I stopped mixing species, and of late even specimens from different parent lines are kept separate. Quick count, 3 species, 15-20 specimens(you know how BTAs can be).

[marcus01]

This is an up to date photo of my ritteri. i only keep one species as i dont agree with mixing them..........