anemone newbie questions

[thallone]

In order to satisfy my family members, I will be getting a clown down the road probably a Percula (I have kids. they and the wife want a 'nemo')

Since it is much better to get the clown after the anemone is settled in, I got the anemone yesterday. Anything I do is probably better than it had. It came from the red cyano tank that passes for an invert tank at the pet store.

Now I have a few questions.

1) Is it normal for a sebae to fully deflate at night? About half of the tentacles have deflated fully after lights out. I assume this is pretty normal, but I want to be sure.

2) When I got it, it appeared healthy in every way. about 6 inches fully inflated, nice tight mouth, no damage of any kind that I could see. Today, however, I swished the water near him doing maintenance, and I noticed a very small amount of tissue coming out of what must be a tear in the foot. Now, I'm inclined not to worry, since the damage spot is smaller than a split pea, but I thought better to ask than have trouble down the road. Should I worry?

3) How long should a 'nem keep food down. I gave it some fish - maybe the size of a lima bean. It took a bit for it to eat it, but it did. Later I saw it had spit out a ball of white that I can only assume is what was left of the fish. It was down the gullet for maybe 4 hours. Again, not sure what normal is. Should I worry? I hate to be consigning the poor guy to death.


Probably should give a few tank stats.
58 reef ready, 20L sump, reef breeders Photon 24 lighting, 2-3 inches crushed coral substrate, about 20lb liferock, just a Bicolor Blenny for fish - so far.

Input appreciated.

 

[worm5406]

Few questions:

Tank age
temp
ph
nitrate
nitrite
salinity
light cycle (hrs)
light type (led/t3/t5/mh) -- Photon 24 -- LED
last time fed (prior to this time)
Why is foot torn?
type of food fed already?
How long in tank?


Nems when first acclimated into a new area expell existing water and intake sournding water, this takes several times. Sometimes it get irriteated with this water and has to get used to it.

Anemones love light. They will enlarge and collapse until they get used to the light. Mine (Ritteri) expands to over 18" in the 'daylight' of my tank and goes to about 10+/- inches in the 'night'.

Expelling food depends on last time ate and nutrients/junk with the food. I have seen mine take food in before and spit it out within an hour. It did not even eat it, it was still working on the previous food. You have to lear and understand the speed to which it eats everything.

 

[bradleym]

You are off to a bad start.

1) It should not deflate, except to expel waste, or when it is new, like the first few days.

2) A tear should be carefully monitored, and a new tear is especially bad, since something in the tank caused it. A torn foot can easily lead to death in a new anemone.

3) Usually it takes more like 12 - 24 hours to digest food. Also, the food should be smaller, like pencil eraser size, especially with a new anemone. FYI feeding is not strictly required for a healthy anemone.

I would have to recommend that you list the following info so we can help better:

How long has the tank been set up?

Why so little live rock?

Parameters? Specifically temp, salinity, alkalinity, pH, nitrates, phosphates, and ammonia.

 

[bradleym]

Few questions:

Tank age
temp
ph
nitrate
nitrite
salinity
light cycle (hrs)
light type (led/t3/t5/mh) -- Photon 24 -- LED
last time fed (prior to this time)
Why is foot torn?
type of food fed already?
How long in tank?


Nems when first acclimated into a new area expell existing water and intake sournding water, this takes several times. Sometimes it get irriteated with this water and has to get used to it.

Anemones love light. They will enlarge and collapse until they get used to the light. Mine (Ritteri) expands to over 18" in the 'daylight' of my tank and goes to about 10+/- inches in the 'night'.

Expelling food depends on last time ate and nutrients/junk with the food. I have seen mine take food in before and spit it out within an hour. It did not even eat it, it was still working on the previous food. You have to lear and understand the speed to which it eats everything.

Ha! Great minds think alike. I just type slowly.

 

[lil_man72]

i think it should be ok, but tears in the foot are not good. i'd just keep an eye on it and be prepared to do a big water change in case things do go south.
anemones can cause big problems when you least expect it. i once had one take a swim right into the koralia in the middle of the night and get ground to bits. i woke up to a cloudy tank that needed a huge water change. i'd also watch out for that blenny, he might come up missing.
i can't keep anemones and blennies at the same time. they always seem to land on the anemone and end up as food.
i don't mean to scare you, just thought you might want to know what can happen just in case.
as long as your anemone is attached to something and eating he should be ok as long as your water params are good.
one last thing i've heard but don't have proof of is, don't over feed anemones. i've heard of people killing them by feeding them more than they can absorb continually and it rotting inside of them.

 

[worm5406]

Ha! Great minds think alike. I just type slowly.

LOL....

True... Lets see how this rolls.

 

[thallone]

Thanks for the quick answer.

Few questions:

Tank ageabout 3 mo.
temp80
ph8.0
nitrate40 ish need a easier to read test.
nitrite: unknown
salinity 35ppt
light cycle (hrs) 6 hr max light at 50%5 hr to twilight on either side, I run moons early and late for 2 hr
light type (led/t3/t5/mh) -- Photon 24 -- LED
last time fed (prior to this time) Unknown, new to me. I doubt they ever fed it.
Why is foot torn? damn if I know. It wasn't attached there and it hasn't attached yet here. I didn't see any damage there, but I may have missed it. It's a pretty small injury
type of food fed already? I fed fish, cod. It's what I had.
How long in tank?1 day


Nems when first acclimated into a new area expell existing water and intake sournding water, this takes several times. Sometimes it get irriteated with this water and has to get used to it.

Anemones love light. They will enlarge and collapse until they get used to the light. Mine (Ritteri) expands to over 18" in the 'daylight' of my tank and goes to about 10+/- inches in the 'night'.

Expelling food depends on last time ate and nutrients/junk with the food. I have seen mine take food in before and spit it out within an hour. It did not even eat it, it was still working on the previous food. You have to lear and understand the speed to which it eats everything.

The answer about the food makes me feel better, because I honestly don't know how much of a meal actually gets 'eaten', and how much expelled.

As for the injury, AFAIK there's nothing in the tank that goes after 'nems. There's barely even worms. A couple crabs, a few snails. pretty bare. It probably had the injury prior to me getting it but I didn't notice. Appears like a puncture or something. hard to say.

As for the water expelling, it has not fully deflated the disk that I have seen since I got it, except on the way home. At least half of the tentacles however have deflated at night both nights, not with the light on that I have noticed.

 

[thallone]

You are off to a bad start.

1) It should not deflate, except to expel waste, or when it is new, like the first few days.

2) A tear should be carefully monitored, and a new tear is especially bad, since something in the tank caused it. A torn foot can easily lead to death in a new anemone.

3) Usually it takes more like 12 - 24 hours to digest food. Also, the food should be smaller, like pencil eraser size, especially with a new anemone. FYI feeding is not strictly required for a healthy anemone.

I would have to recommend that you list the following info so we can help better:

How long has the tank been set up?

Why so little live rock?

Parameters? Specifically temp, salinity, alkalinity, pH, nitrates, phosphates, and ammonia.

The lack of live rock is because I want to slowly add rock as nice pieces strike my fancy. I suppose I should also count the 10 or so lb of rubble in the sump.

 

[thallone]

FWIW, the anemone is doing fine not that I've found a place to keep it from drifting into the rocks. Even 20lb is plenty to wash back where the light can't reach. The small wound seems to have healed quickly. Either that or the anemone had been holding a small bit of fish with it's foot. I try not to pick at the injuries of the critters, so it's pretty hard to say.

 

[worm5406]

Can we get a picture?