alittle help with a h.crispa (sebea)

SDiver

New member
i bought a sebea on wednesday and slow aclimated it to the tank. i can't get it to eat. i put a half peice of silverside on its tenacles and it just sit there until the clown or shrimp moves it.
 
you may try smaller foods like mysis shrimp at first. I have not always had luck getting anemones to eat the larger foods at first.
 
it has been over a week and it still hasn't ate anything! it was in the corner of the tank. i moved it to a more open spot and the next morning it has moved to my rock and has been in different places on my rock. will it be ok on my rock? someone said if it attached itself to a rock something was wroung with it. it should be on the sand.

here it is still in the bag from the lfs.
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in the corner a few days later
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today on the rock

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H. crispa is found on rock or sand. If it wants a rocky environment, let it be :>)

It appears bleached, quite stressed. Clowns may or may not be helpful at this stage. Shrimp are definitely not helpful.

Stable conditions, proper lighting, etc., it should color up soon.
 
I would just leave it alone. The more you mess with it, the more stressed it is going to get. I have a Sebae that has always been attached to rock. I have had it for over a year and probably only fed it directly <20 times. It grabs mysis, etc. out of the water column when I feed the tank. It is about 18" wide now (about 6 when I got it) and even spawned not too long ago. Just give it time and maybe once a week try to give a little piece of food. It is a small anemone, so I wouldn't feed it anything larger than 1/2" by 1/2" right now. Maybe try some mysis like JamesJR said. Just put a little in a baster or something and squirt it LIGHTLY onto the anemone.

I would definitely only try to feed once a week at the most so you aren't stressing it if it isn't ready to eat. They can go a very long time without eating because they get a lot of their energy from the lighting as well... HTH
 
I would just give it time. Sebaes are challening especially one that is in that shape... When it is happy, settled, and healthy it will have more of a brown or toupe color fill in the tentacles the wont be white anymore.

as long as its mouth is relatively tight and not gaping i wouldn't mess with it at all, just keep it clear of powerheads as it looks for the best place to go. If you want it in a certain spot you can try to help it by digging out a bit of sand by some rock and gently placing it in the little crater to see if it wouldn't stick its foot down into the groove but they really wont acclimate well if they're always being poked and prodded :(
 
The sebae in my avatar looked just like yours when I first got it, very bleached.
It's stressed right now from new environment as well.
Leaving it alone is best.
I've had luck making a little nook or cave, at bottom of tank so it can be protected, moderate flow, good light.
If it detaches try that.
Light is huge energy source, so don't stress on feeding right now, let it settle.
 
What are your water parameters (temp., ph, lighting, alkalinity, gallons per hours turnover, etc)? It could be still acclimating, or it could be floating around because some conditions are not to its liking.

Gary
 
temp is 78, ph8.2, lighting is 2 14k 250watt metal halides with 2 48" super atinic vhos. mag9 as a return and 2 sureflow 1200 mods as powerheads
 
Your parameters sound ideal, have you also measured for phosphate and nitrate readings? Sometimes there can be an underlying cause that may irritate certain more sensative creatures and you'd never know it with hardier ones seeming to thrive in a tank.
 
It is a bleached H. crispa. You can only leave it alone and hope for the best. You can put it in a basket will some rock and give it gentle flow and hope it attach to the rock. Feeding it small food like Mysis shrimps and protect it from fish and shrimps.
If it still float around after three weeks, I think the chance that it will live is exceedingly small.
 
Sounds like your water is in good shape as far as ph, temp, salinity, etc. It might just take it a little while to find a spot with the right conditions for it to stay put.
Gary
 
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