Sebae's And Anenome's

[akrimmel]

i am not familar with the relationships with clowns and anenome's they will host. i have 2 sebae's and am trying to decide the best anenome choice for them to host in. wifey wants a RBTA because they are "pretty" as she says, but i wan to know if this is the best choice for them or is there more/better choices for the sebae's to host in?

[dantodd]

The FAQ thread at the top of this forum has an anemone FAQ posted in it. This will include the natural symbiots for each anemone/clown species. Be careful, many times polymnus and clarkii are sold as sebae. Post a picture of your clowns first unless you are certain of the species. Many clowns will host anemones in our tanks that they won't be found hosting in the oceans.

[akrimmel]

let me ask you this then, the second stipe on the body at the top curves towards the back of the body, any help?

[dantodd]

probably eliminates clarkii. Still pretty close between polymnus and sebae. I'm not the best at ID'ing.

They will both host S. haddoni in nature so if you have an appropriate tank you can cover all your bases with one anemone. Haddoni are the most commonly available "carpet anemone" around here and also one of the least difficult to keep. They are usually just labeled carpet around here with no species. You'll want to do a lot of reading on how to setup your tank. Once you have the tank setup properly for the haddoni the biggest single determining factor in success is getting a healthy specimen. Do a lot of reading on how to pick a healthy anemone before you go out looking and expect to spend a couple months looking for just the right anemone. Around here they run anywhere from $60 to $250 depending on color and quality.

[highquality]

i can
where the pic?

[highquality]

if the top of second band curves back its probably true sebae. Very few people at lfs ever get a sebae when they buy one. Its mostly the light color clarkii

[highquality]

Important to note that true sebae does not have a third white band on the tail. just a yellowish gold tail. clarkki has a thin strip barely

[akrimmel]

polymnus and sebae

how do you tell the difference between these two then?

[dantodd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7843899#post7843899 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by highquality
Important to note that true sebae does not have a third white band on the tail. just a yellowish gold tail. clarkki has a thin strip barely

huh? My clarkii have white tails.


Polymnus have a bit longer body and the second stripe is typically more slanted than sebae. Often the second stripe only goes down 2/3 or 3/4 of the body on polymnus. Also, there are some different color morphs. Describe the coloration of your fish. Is the main body more brownish or black or even orange? If dark color is there any orange/yellow on their belly and if so how far up does it go? What about the fins and tail?

You can also google "A. polymnus" and/or "A. sebae" and check the pictures to see which looks the most like yours.

[akrimmel]

the female is almost a black in total body color with a slight brown to the black the fins across the back are black fading to brown dark brown rest of fins excluding the tail are gold outlined in black and the tail is white. i have a juvinile but can't describe his markings as he is still in hiding only had a few days. the female i have had for about 2 years and she has darkened in overall clolrings since i have had her. hope this helps.

[dantodd]

Most polymnus I am familiar with have dark on the inside of their pectoral fins and yellow on the fringes rather than the other way around like yours.

I'd think sebae is likely the correct ID. I still think I'd go with S. haddoni assuming you have appropriate lighting, water and tank maturity etc.

[akrimmel]

S. haddoni
this is a carpet anenome

[highquality]

yes, theres a lighter color clarks with a white tail. two bands and a white tail . think this is yours right dantold? The darker clolor clarkki have more black body or darker and two white bands and a thin white stripe at small of tail with rest tail yellowish.

[highquality]

as far as sebae they have yellow fin tail for starters. they have two white bands that form an s shape. second curves back around top to dorsal fin. yellow pectoral fins usually the one ive seen.

[highquality]

How many bands or stipres are there? I have two brown saddleback (polymnus) and theres a color morph with yellow pectoral fins (only seen once ) and the more regular in trade with dark on inside of pec like dantold said. sebae have two bars with yellow tail where clrkki should have some whitish at tail somewhere.

[dantodd]

Nope. they are black with white tails and yellow bellies.

Most anemones at the LFS labeled "carpet" are in fact haddoni. But not all. The other "carpet" anemone species are VERY difficult to keep so please be sure to look at lots of pictures so that you can pick out a healthy haddoni from other species and unhealthy specimens.

[akrimmel]

yeah her tail appears to have a start of a 3rd white stripe then fades to a lighter white for the rest of the tail, all fins except tail and top fins are gold outlines in black.top fins on back are black fade to brown and so on

[dantodd]

gold outline on an otherwise black fin or black outline on an otherwise gold fin?

[akrimmel]

black outline on an otherwise gold fin

[highquality]

nope to what?

[highquality]

I think you have a clark's . not a sebae." True sebae have two bands" only in shape of an s. "They also have yellow tailfins". J. W.

[highquality]

oh ok i see , dark clarki black with white tail. There is also a yellow tailwith thin white stripe at small . anyways good luck .

[adtravels]

Hi just to add to the discussion I think telling clarks and sebae apart is relatively easy in adult fish due to the shape of the head and body. However telling polymnus and sebae apart seems very difficult, and even some experts have difficulty. However according to fautin and allens book on anemonefish the sebae has a complete second bar which is almost diagonal and a yellow tail with no vertical bar howevr this may have some black white edging. polymnus has an incomplete second bar no yellow and white edges to the tail but it seems a little vague and. I believe seeing as their ranges overlap slightly (indonesia) and they share the haddoni anemone as a host (polymnus also hosts h. crispa and m. doreensis) there could even be hybrids of the two making it even more difficult but may explain the black and white that appears on some sebaes tails and variations in second bars.
If you have juveniles it will be almost impossible to tell between the two.

One thing both polymnus and sebae are beautiful and feisty (They have attacked me whilst diving) anemonefishes.

[akrimmel]

so if these are clarki's then what anenome will they host in? and by chance if they are sebae's is it possible for a clarki and a sebae to host in the same species of an anenome?

[adtravels]

Naturally clarks host in all 10 clown hosting anemone.
sebaes only naturally host haddoni carpet anemones.

but may host others in captivity.

[akrimmel]

so like usual there is only one way to find out.

[highquality]

And of course to make things more confusing there is polymnus ( saddle back) color morph that has like three white bars and white edge around tail fin. (two full bars and one more at small of tail and then white edging around end of tail.) Something like that anyways. Ive seen four colors in the A. Polymnus. But if your fish has start of white band at tail that fades into all white tail, and gold fins outlined in black except for on back , then thats why i would say clarki. no yellow tail and no saddle . I too think they are all great fish.

[akrimmel]

i just wanted a pair different from most as everyone has the nemos or the morphs of nemos.