Anemone Before... and... After.

[Joshua1023]

It would be nice if the Pet shops would at the very least have a print out of proper care and requirements for each and every species they sell and require their employees to read them and or go over them w/ customers before purchase. I think that little bit of effort would go a long way in preserving the hobby.

 

[FLReefGirl]

Educating customers on the item of interest before finalizing or allowing the purchase would be a nice step. I would think at least they would want the person to know how to care for it once they have it at home. They should know by now that most purchases are impulse buys.

Lets lighten up the subject shall we.
Does anyone else have before and after success pics of their anemone? If so, show off your anemone and give us your care taking tips.

 

[rafa316]

Yeah I would like to know what are the procedres to properly take care of an anemone, I would like to have one someday but I am a bit scared now

 

[Rockhead21564]

I see from your pics that your sebae is recovering it's zooxant. Just FYI, the wholesalers strave them from light on PURPOSE to bleach them. It is very,very few that mange to regain the zoox. so they can photosynisize (sic) again. It is not really the care we give them, other than water quality, but more likely a "luck of the draw" heredity thing. Yours looks wonderful, make sure to post at 1 year, 5 years, etc.... Hopefully you are in the .5% that will be able to do so. The "myths" all the newbies seem so eager to poo poo away are general rules for the best chance at success, not gurantees. If you are so smart and learned, teach us. Having 6 months of life in a tank is NOTHING, 6 years is success. I'm not trying to be neg. person, but the people that have the least exp. telling others what to do, is sad. If you don't have a couple years of successful reefing, IMO you shouldn't be giving anyone else advice.

 

[Rockhead21564]

Sorry, care taking info.

1. test water parameters

2. acclimation - slow, slow,slow. I let sit temp. acclimating for at least 1 hour. (probably overkill, just me,lol)

3. I use a turkey baster to pull 1 tubeful out of the bag and discard. Then pull 1 tubeful from tank and put into bag. Wait 15 minutes and repeat until all the water from bag is gone. ( best guess)

4. I like to remove from bag underwater and then find the best flow spot for them.

IMO slow is the only way to go, good luck.

 

[Joshua1023]

I've taken as long as three hrs to acclimate already. I float the bag in the sump and drip acclimate while its still floating. This way you can take as long as you please without being concerned about temp dropping from sitting out of the water.

 

[cdangel0]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9794719#post9794719 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randall_James
It does get old hearing people tell others to "Go for it" when they do not have a clue...

cheers...

It gets even older hearing people say "Don't do it...becaue I read somewhere once that you shouldn't do it because someone I've never met posted on the internet that you shoudn't do it because it didn't work for them"

There are exceptions to every rule -and the day I posted I got my first Nem people went balistic on me, that I didn't know what I was doing, it can't survive and will be dead in a week.

Imagine my suprise when I went from this

to this

 

[FLReefGirl]

Rockhead21564 - Yours looks wonderful, make sure to post at 1 year, 5 years, etc... If you are so smart and learned, teach us. Having 6 months of life in a tank is NOTHING, 6 years is success. I'm not trying to be neg. person, but the people that have the least exp. telling others what to do, is sad. If you don't have a couple years of successful reefing, IMO you shouldn't be giving anyone else advice.

Thank you for the compliment and your advice. Everyone can use helpful tips to make their tanks better and more successful.

I would just like to make clear I'm not giving advice. I'm stating what I did and what worked for me. As I said before, what worked for one may not work for another. In this hobby, everyday you will learn something new and I'm still learning.


cdangel0 - WOW, it really changed colors. Looks Healthy. Congrats!

 

[FLReefGirl]

I swear it looks like mine is getting bigger every day.

 

[rafa316]

Wow it looks good,
When an anemone "bleaches out" means that it is not a tan color anymore, therefore unhealthy?

 

[cdangel0]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9810868#post9810868 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rafa316

When an anemone "bleaches out" means that it is not a tan color anymore, therefore unhealthy?

Correct. Some genius once decided that a bright white anemone is more appealing to the average consumer then a beige/brown/tan one and figured out that if you keep it in total darkness for a while it will expell all of it's internal zoo<I>(something or other can never remember the name </I> ) that converts light in to energy for it, and gives it it's color.

It is generally very difficult to get it to grow back and color-up again. It took alot of patience, good lighting and water conditions, and alot of hand feeding to get mine back to it's natural color.

One of the problems in this hobby is the suppliers and fish stores try to make things "visually appealing" to the average person in the store that will make a purchase "because it's pretty" with no regard to the actual health or well being of the animal.

See also the red and green parrot fish (FW) sold around Christmas, and alot of the "Dyed" corals.

 

[rafa316]

Wow this is very informational, know I know when the time is right what am I getting. It is so sad to have an animal get sick for profit

 

[FLReefGirl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9810868#post9810868 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rafa316
Wow it looks good,
When an anemone "bleaches out" means that it is not a tan color anymore, therefore unhealthy?

Yep! The first pic I have posted the anemone is bleached because it is white. The anemone expells it zooxanthellae when it is deprived of light. (looks like a big turd) The zoo feeds the anemone and they both need light. Unless the anemone can replace its zoo and retain it it will die.

 

[Randall_James]

They are called zooanthallae (a form of algae) and they create carbohydrates during photosynthesis.

The animal then consumes the carbs as an energy source.

Bleaching can be caused by a number of issues such as stress, poor water quality, poor lighting etc.

Clams use this same organism as a "sun block". Most corals are colored by the same zooanthallae

 

[cdangel0]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9811052#post9811052 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FLReefGirl
zooxanthellae

That's what it's called - I was trying to find it and accidentally found a link to "zoophilia" somehow I think work is not going to like that.

 

[FLReefGirl]

 

[rafa316]

FLReefGirl,
Your anemonee is a Purple Tipped White Sebae correct?

 

[Nano Chris]

Congrats! On your success on your Anemone!

 

[FLReefGirl]

Yes. From what I userstand that is one of the names for a Heteractis Crispa aka. H. Crispa. I'm not real savy on all the technical names, sorry.

Check this out
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=633

My domino damsel hosted it w/in 2 or 3 weeks. It took the clowns 2.5 months before they hosted it. But, once the clowns set up house the anemone has really taken off.
When I first got it it would shrivel up to nothing and then back to normal a couple times a day. I thought it was dead at one point. But I found that is the way they calibrate the water levels inside them. After about 2 weeks he only did it once in a while. Now he never does it. I have not had any problems with him so far. I found feeding him to be a pain at first because he was very slow to take it and not very sticky. Now I use a turkey baster when I spot feed. I feed him mysis, marine snow, & garlic xtreme when I spot feed. He's very sticky now so I squirt it right by his mouth and he closes up around it pretty quickly. You can see him grab food when I feed the fish in the mornings. I'm very happy w/ his success. I'm just so shocked at how big he is now. I'd say more than double the original size in almost 4 months. I wonder how big he's going to get.

Does anyone know if these anemones split?

 

[Nanemene]

I have the same species I believe, but no purple tips. I added mine to a 3 month-old tank and it's doing beautifully. Part of the reason is probably the fact that I bought it's entire ecosystem. I bought the huge piece of live rock it was on, the anemone itself, and the paired true percs that were hiding in it. None of them liked the move, but within a day the whole system had reestablished in my tank and everyone was happy. They are now the center of life in my tank.