Anemone tank with no rock in display?

[sonofgaladriel]

Hello all.
I'm considering moving all live rock out of the main display tank to the sump. Leaving just the gigantea and sand. Maybe keeping a single, small, centralized rock dead center if the nem needs it, but the periphery will be wide open water column and sand.
Trying to recreate something like this on a super small scale:

Anyone else here done this? Would love some links to pics of similar set ups. Success/failure experiences with this set up?
Projected issues?

 

[this is me]

If it's a gigantea, it'll need some kind of rock to attached to.
If it's a haddoni, it still like some rock around it even though its foot is in the sand. I think you would have more success with no rock on a haddoni than gigantea.

 

[MelloW33]

I guess you could start out with some rock in the tank then slowly remove some that isn't near the nem. That could help you get the look you're going for. That is, assuming your sand is alive enough or there is plenty live rock in the sump for biological filtration.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Like "This is me" stated, you need to attempt them with an S. Haddoni, and not a Gig. Not sure why, but every S. Haddoni that I have kept over the years would move to the rock/sand interface, even when it could have stayed in the open sand.

 

[BonsaiNut]

Understand that in your picture the S. haddoni is anchored to rock - it is just rock under a layer of sand.

 

[this is me]

That red is SUPER saturate in that photo!

 

[jestr]

Probably will need a deep sand bed.. watch your flow in the tank since it might make a sand storm. Also you can try the pvc foot trick.(I never have)

 

[miniwhinny]

I think it's an AWESOME idea and will look incredible when done. I don't think you'd need rock for the nem to hold on to...it can hold on to the glass bottom, I have nems happy to attach to glass. In fact I'm building a carpet of glass attached carpets lol

 

[Winwood]

I have toyed with this idea in the past and actually at one point had a very similar display with 2 haddonis in a 40 gallon breeder. This made for a fantastic display. From my experience there are several things to consider.

First, like previously stated, start with a species that naturally inhabits and feels comfortable in sand ie. S. haddoni, M. doreensis etc..

Second, you will need an anchor point. With my display I used two moderately sized rocks buried in the sandbed. The problem here was one of my haddonis was quite large and very powerful. It would actually push the rocks around the tank. I solved this problem by building a sort of christmas tree stand out of acrylic tubing, dug a depression in the sand bed, placed the anemone's foot in the tubing and then back filled with sand. This kept the anemone right where I wanted and worked out well.

The third thing that I had to adjust after having this display up and running for a while was water flow. I had a pretty hefty return pump providing the entire flow for the system and was actually a little much for the anemone. If the anemone is not provided with a rock shelter it is pretty easy to blast them with too much flow and they "feel" the need to uproot themselves.

I really do like this idea and hope to see some photos if you decide to go this route. Good luck!

 

[sonofgaladriel]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm going to think it over a bit more and I'll post some pics if I decide to move forward with this idea.
I was hoping there might be some photos of other tanks with the same idea, for inspiration.

 

[jonnybravo22]

That red is SUPER saturate in that photo!

seriously! the rest of the ocean is drab and muted but that thing is IN YOUR FACE!

 

[sonofgaladriel]

seriously! the rest of the ocean is drab and muted but that thing is IN YOUR FACE!

I just pulled the pic from google images as reference to the idea I was trying to get across. I didn't take the photo or enhance it.

 

[phender]

That red is SUPER saturate in that photo!

What's the point of posting something like this? Have you seen this anemone in person? Do you have some software that detects when pictures have been enhanced? Have you seen the video that this pic was pulled from?

 

[jonnybravo22]

I just pulled the pic from google images as reference to the idea I was trying to get across. I didn't take the photo or enhance it.

yeah, not saying anything about you. just saying that picture has quite a visual impact given that color!

back to OT though, i think others have said it well - a gig would probably be better with rocks (IME they like to be attached to rocks). no experience with haddoni's but others have chimed in already.

i love the idea of recreating what occurs in nature. good luck.

 

[this is me]

What's the point of posting something like this? Have you seen this anemone in person? Do you have some software that detects when pictures have been enhanced? Have you seen the video that this pic was pulled from?

My point is exactly that. The red is SUPER saturated. What don't you understand?

 

[BonsaiNut]

My point is exactly that. The red is SUPER saturated. What don't you understand?

I have seen this photo numerous times. It sorta floats around the Internet Part of the problem with photos you find electronically is that you never know how accurate they are to real life coloration. Many electronic cameras have cheapo sensors. Additionally, because of how water filters sunlight, some cameras may auto-adjust to saturate reds because of the lack of ambient red light in water. Maybe people saturate the reds in post-processing because they see the photo and think - that anemone was MUCH redder in real life that it appears in this photo.

Or maybe the anemone is really that red

I think I know who took this photo and I just sent him an email. He lives in the Marshalls and I just got an email from him last night so I am hoping he can shed a little light on the subject.

 

[phender]

My point is exactly that. The red is SUPER saturated. What don't you understand?

I read your statement to mean that you think the picture is fake or enhanced in some way to make the anemone to look brighter than it actually is. If that is not what you meant, I apologize.
If it is what you meant, I wonderd what would motivate someone to state an opinion as fact when it has nothing to do with the thread.

 

[this is me]

Why would you take my opinion as fact?

 

[phender]

That red is SUPER saturate in that photo!

I did not take your opinion as fact. You stated it as a fact. There is no "I think" or "IMO" or "looks to me like" or "does anyone else think this is photoshopped?"

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I too have seen this photo many times (even posted it myself, I think), but if you look closely at some of the anemone edges (like 4 o'clock) there is a weird haze of red that extends beyond the true anemone edge. Seems unusual to me, but I'm not a photo expert to comment on what that really means.