Anemone advice needed

[JJohn]

Hi, brand new here and need expert advice.

I have had reef tanks for 15 years. Currently: a 80 gallon, soft-coral tank with a few small polyp hard corals. This tank has been established for ten years. MH lighting, lots of rock, many corals, a protein skimmer, and nothing else. Low fish bio-load with: two ocellaris clowns (added 9 years ago), a tang (four years ago), and three little chromis (brand new).

My anemone was one of the first things in the tank. I got him ten years ago and he was 5" in diameter. He grew to 7" when I was feeding the tank. I stopped routinely adding food to the tank over five years ago. I add one pinch of a flake food once every week or two. I completely stopped feeding the anemone at about the same time. After these five years, he has shrunk back to 5 inches but seems pretty healthy. He has never wandered around after the first week I got him.

I am contemplating starting to feed him again so that he grows. Is this a good idea, or should I not change what has worked for so long? I would not have noticed that he is smaller if I hadn't looked at an old picture the other night.

If I do start feeding him, should I go really slow, like once a week or once a month, or every other day? Again, I am afraid to change things as I have had great luck with this guy.

I think he is Heteractis crispa (not sure though). He has 3" long tentacles, is beige with some light green coloring on his tentacle, short body, and his pedal disk is burried under the sand at the edge of large rock.

Please, any advice from people who really know anemones would be of great help to me. I consider this life precious and do not want to risk changing things when nothing is really broken here. He hasn't shown any sign of stress. Do I start to feed him again? Do I start slow? Any other concerns? Any suggestions on choice of food?

Thanks,
John

 

[jjackson]

I am no expert but congrats on a healthy long lived tank. Sorry no advice on the anemone but someone will help you I am sure.
and welcome.

 

[BonsaiNut]

Congratulations on keeping an anemone 10 years. If you want to start feeding your anemone again, just start with SMALL pieces of food at first (size of pencil eraser). I regularly stop feeding anemones when they get too large - sometimes they continue growing even with no supplemental feeding.

Do you have a photo for ID purposes?

Typically anemones can be fed small cubes of fresh marine fish, shrimp, scallops, mussels, etc. If you want, you can soak the pieces in a reef supplement first (I often use Selcon) but it is not required. They will also eat pieces of frozen marine food (Formula One or Two, etc) though frozen food should be thawed first and may get a little messy.

 

[JJohn]

Thanks for the advice. Tonight, I will try to figure out how to post an image. Any suggestions as to how often I should feed to start? When I first got him I fed once a week and used a Formula-One like frozen food and a piece of a silverside every month or so. Do you think I should slowly work up to that or just start where I left off? I am glad to hear someone else has experience with stopping and starting feeding again.

I am somewhat surprised that when I discussed this at my local store they were shocked it had been in my tank ten years (actually 9 years 10 months) I found my first pictures with dates on them. Are others having less luck with anemones? I know of no other reef nerds to talk with so I just assumed that these days with good lighting that most people can keep LTA's or BTA's alive for as long.

I am glad I found this site.

Thanks again,
John

 

[phender]

If you begin with small pieces of food, you could feed as much as every other day, but there is no need to over do it. When I really wanted my anemones to grow, I fed as often as 5 times a week.

You have to realize that to have a 10 year old anemone you would have had to start keeping it 10 years ago. The hobby was not nearly as advanced then, as you know. There are several people on this forum that have anemones that are over 10 years old, but the majority of reef keepers haven't been doing it that long.

We are glad you found this site too.

To post a picture, it must first be on the internet. You can load the picture to your gallery or if you already have a website, you can link to that picture.

 

[cweder]

Love to see a pic of the anemone as well as the rest of your tank inhabitants. Mature tanks are seldom seen over a few years, so please post. Awesome to here of your long term success.

 

[55semireef]

Personally, I wouldn't radically feed him a lot. I would start real slow with small feedings. Watch and see how the anemone does. Then gradually over time if results are going good, feed slightly more frequently and larger feedings. Then watch how it does and etc.

 

[JJohn]

I will post a picture as soon as I figure out how to upload a jpg to my host. I would love a positive ID for the anemone. I studied several books and have not been able to identify it.

I am afraid my tank will be a dissapointment to many of you. What I have learned is that over time, a few species become dominant. I was/am constantly clearing my tank of "pulse corals" xenia sp., sarcophytons, colt coral, and my worst plague: Zooanthus. I had to scrape several rocks and the back glass, and give away other rocks because they kept taking over (the zooanthus that is). Early on, I gave corals to anyone who would take them, I sold some to local stores, and yes, I flushed a lot. I am hoping that this website might help in that regard. New homes would be welcome. There doesn't seem to much interest in the more common soft corals that I keep.

Anyway, it is a long story. My twin boys were born 5.5 yrs ago and at that time I stopped taking care of my reef. The skimmer pump stopped, I topped of the water with tap water, I didn't do a water change for several years, and I let some corals grow out of control. Now my kids are in school and life is getting back to normal I am again starting to take interest.

Surprisingly the tank did not get bad in my neglect. Some algae issues but the only deaths were my favorite purple acropora and my clam. None of the softs died. I could not remember the last water change I did but, I also rarely fed. The only fish were a yellow tang and the two clowns for my anemone. The message here is that with great lighting, lots of rock, and low fish population, a reef is very easy to keep. The anemone and soft corals are healthy but they are also not growing and maybe they are in a very very slow decline. I hadn't realized how much he shrank until I found an old picture.

Last week, I did a massive clean-up and I am going to replace 1/3 of the rock. At this point, the tank still looks good but, not where it was. I fed the anemone last night after reading your comments (thanks again). He eagerly took the food. I will give him a small piece in two days and see what happens.

Thanks again,
John

 

[dantodd]

Sounds like an ad for a Deep Sand Bed.

The first thing I'd do is get a good test kit and see how your water is.

I'd guess that you have relatively high phosphates. I'm guessing that the tang has really been enjoying the algae!

 

[JJohn]

Good idea. I have never tested for phosphates. Would activated carbon reduce phosphate levels or just water changes?

I do have a four inch deep sand bed but no plenums or anything. I restarted the skimmer (it has been off for years) and am now topping off with RO/DI water. We will see how the tank improves. Only a real reef guy would notice that I haven't done anything for a long time. Most people comment that it is beautiful except for those "green balls". Yes, the bubble algae was a problem. I hand picked out two big glass-fulls this weekend. I still see a dozen or so left. Still, progress.

On your tank for your son's school, do you want or need any sarcophytons or xenia?

 

[dantodd]

Thanks J,

I have PLENTY of xenia. I will probably take some sarcophytons off your hands though. We haven't acquired a tank yet (close though) so we're a bit off from being ready for livestock.

 

[JJohn]

Just an update and a "Thank you" to all. After almost two weeks of feeding very small pieces of Formula One to my H. Crispa anemone, every other day or so, he has shown good growth. He appears about 1/2 inch bigger in diameter and he is simply looking better (more green color and more fully extended tentacles).

Thanks,
John

 

[dantodd]

glad he's looking better. I didn't reallize I missed a Q in your last post. only ways to get rid of phosphates are water changes and phosphate absorbing chemicals, used like carbon. Be careful though, some will re-release the phosphates or worse if left in too long. Phosban is the most popular version and can be used in a reactor much like a kalk reactor.