Advice on macrodactyla doreensis

[Nanook]

Hi,

I want to get a purple doreensis for my clarkii's and because I really love that anemone. Looking for pointers if anyone can spout out some. I have a 470g tank with shallow sand bed of about 1", so I might need to figure out what to do there. Lighting is 400 watt metal halides and VHO fluorescents. Tank is 30" tall and has pretty heavy flow except down low. I have a large, breeding pair of clarkii's as well. Thanks for the help.

 

[Blitzburggirl]

I had an LTA in my tank for about 2.5 years. When I downsized, I had to sell it

But, it was in a 180 with 4 400 watt halides. The LTA was buried at the rock/sand interface, and was in a 5-6 inch sandbed... I would recommend more sand. even if you have have to do a "retaining" wall with some rocks or something. Also, my LTA preferred very low flow, so, personally, I think you're great with low flow down low

The LTA is one of the most graceful and elegant anemones I've ever seen. And, when it's happy and healthy, gaze into it's oral disk, the sheen and internals look like a galaxy Enjoy!

 

[ousnakebyte]

If you have shallow sand or no sand, put it in a pvc tube (~6-8" length, 3"diameter) and fill the tube with sand. Let the anemone dig itself in the tube.

Mike

 

[marc price]

Advice on macrodactyla doreensis
Thanks for the help.

...if when looking for a purple LTA you came across a Blue Magenta Macrodactyla doreensis (4" - 8" $360 http://www.ibluewater.com/anemone.html ), don't buy it expecting it to stay that color, it won't. They are bleached and will turn brown with a grey bluish green in place of the skim milky translucent white / "blue magenta" when the zooxanthellae repopulate. You can find the blue ones in various stages of being bleached at Petco. Here is a bleached one i picked up for $35 at my local Petco -

And while you're at it stay away from bleached and dyed anemones, i'd say the animal pictured in post #1 of the link is a good example of such - http://www.rareclownfish.com/forums/f53/super-black-onyx-pair-4491/#post23070

Here is one solution to a deep sand bed for a LTA to burry its foot in -

This is what the LTA looked like eight months ago when i got it, you can see how it not only grew but colored up as it regained it's lost zooxanthellae (note the sand within the vase coral skeleton (the shiny reflective thing to the left is a live humpback cowrie i purchased around seventeen years ago)) -

 

[NatureNerd]

In my opinion and experience, you need at least 3" of sand to make an LTA happy. Closer to 5" is probably optimum.

 

[bradleym]

Yea, 3-4+ inch deep sand is a must for LTAs. But you can use a piece of PVC with an endcap, or a cleverly surrounded tupperware, or build a wall with rocks to hold a pile of sand together. You don't need to raise the whole sand bed.

If you can get it to bury it's foot down in the sand in a container of your choosing, try to feed it a small piece of shrimp or scallop. If it settles in and then eats ok, it should be pretty hardy. Especially knowing the stability of your system.