Anemone ID, please?

[crd_kats]

Hi! We are sooo, so new to this hobby. My husband, Mike, and I were gifted with a 20 year old sw 55 gallon whole system. We have lots of questions and for the most part are finding answers on the net and here on Reef Central. Thank you!

So far, the tank and all life in it have survived the move from friends home to ours (30 minute drive away) and Mike has already decided to upgrade to a 110 gallon. I'm in favor as I'd like to have a few more fish and coral.

In the meantime, can anyone please tell me what kind of anemone is hosting our maroon clown? Here's a pic:

 

[OrionN]

I don't think you anemone is in the best oh health. It does not look infected but his tentacles should be a lot longer.
I am almost certain that he is a M. doreensis (Long tentacles anemone)

He should live in the sand, have red foot and white up on the column. The top of the column have white verrucae. Look up some pictures of Doreensis or LTA to see what he should look like

Sorry I used my phone and did not re-read what I wrote before I posted

 

[crd_kats]

I don't think you anemone is in the best oh health. It does not look infected but his tentacles should be a lot longer.
I am almost certain that he is a M. doreensis (Long tentacles anemone)

He should line in the sand, have reed foot an white up on the column. The top of the column have white verrucae. Look up some pictures of Doreensis or LTA to see what he should look like

Thank you! We were given this tank on the New Year and this anemone did look sickly. We've been feeding it mysis shrimp and believe it or not, it's tentacles have gotten longer and looks like it's growing more. It's color has darkened some too. I'll try and find a pic of when we first received it.

 

[jahjahwarrior]

Thank you Orion! (I'm the husband of CRD_KATS)

The anemone was in the sand once and on the rock before as well according to the prior owner. Should we move him to the sand??

The previous owner rarely fed his anemones and after our care for a month, he's perked up a lot but not nearly as full as your examples.

Thank you again for the examples that helps us confirm!!

 

[jahjahwarrior]

here it is from one month ago!

 

[Ron Popeil]

i would disagree with minh, in spite of his highly qualified expertise. i would suggest you have either heteractis malu or crispa. based on the purple tipped tentacles as well as their layout and structure, these indicate heteractis rather than macrodactyla.

feed that anemone and give it some light!

 

[OrionN]

Ron maybe right. It is hard to ID this anemone with any certainty. IMO, it is unlikely to be a H. crisp, but possible H. malu. Feed him and give him good water and light. After a few months, I am sure we can ID him for certain.
Any picture of the column would add a lot to help ID him

 

[jahjahwarrior]

They are under t5 actinic and daylight one bulb each, for 12 hours a day.

Feeding twice per week with mysis or prime reef or marine cuisine, thinking to go to feeding every other day.

 

[garygb]

It's H. crispa.

 

[crd_kats]

Thank you, Ron and Gary... I'll call it Crispa and post another picture in a month. We fed it and the purple tip anemone a chunk of shrimp a piece. They gobbled it down.

 

[ThRoewer]

Looks like a H. malu to me. Even an unhappy H.crispa usually has much longer tentacles.

 

[phender]

Whether it is H. malu or H. crispa, you should probably double the amount of light you have over it. 4 HO T5s (2-actinic, 2-daylight) is about minimum to keep that type of anemone in that tank healthy over the long run.

 

[jahjahwarrior]

Thank you Phender, we are working on upgrading the lighting in 2-4 weeks! Glad to hear better lights might help it!

 

[crd_kats]

Update

Update

More food and more light. Crispa is improving...

1st pic on Jan 2, 2016
2nd pic on Jan 31, 2016
3rd pic on Mar 2, 2016

 

[Jonathan1992]

Turn your lights up.

 

[garygb]

Looking better.

 

[crd_kats]

I have completely forgotten to post a pic! Will do so tonight.

 

[jahjahwarrior]

A little more time, and a little more light, an the anemone looks better.

We added one more dual T5 fixture so now we have two actinic, and two daylight. We have dual 165w LED ready to go for the new 110 gallon tank we are setting up in about 1-2 weeks, only working to finish the stand for that beast.

We moved this anemone up higher in the water as well, and it's stayed put.

We also inherited 14 anemones with the 110 gallon tank we purchased. We traded one back to the fish store because it was HUGE, and we lost 3 others. Two didn't come off of the rocks in the old tank very easily (needed to get off as the rocks on the old tank were covered with aiptasia) and even though we started treating with Cipro, they declined very quickly. One went from looking ok to completely disintegrating, making the water cloudy like milk, in just a few hours while we were out. Then, a third wandered into a powerhead and that's all she wrote.

Around the same time, our Condalactus stuck his arms into the pump for our HOB protein skimmer. We turned it off and he pulled them all out slowly, some looking trimmed but even with a few shorter arms, he looks happy,

The other bubble tips that we inherited, we don't need all of them, and we don't want them attaching to our liverock, so we've segmented the tank and have them on one side of a grate, with a few live rocks we could sell them on. So far, so good, all of them are doing great.