anenome colors

K

kanalgabi

New member
hey guys/girls-

i bought a condy anenome (condylactis gigantea) about six months ago from my lfs. when i bought him he was white with little purple tips like expected, but his color slowly faded in my tank. he's now an ugly brown color.

i also bought a bubble-tip (entacmaea quadricolor) who was originally green and has since turned the same as condy (brown). what's up??

i feed both of them chopped pieces of frozen krill daily. they also catch frozen pieces of bloodworms, mysis shrimp, and brine shrimp that i feed to my fishes. i have about 5watts per gallon compact lighting, and they are both mid level in the tank. their health is excellent but their color isn't. any suggestions?

thanks for the response(s)
-brandon
 
actually, that brown color is the color of a healthy anemone. Its a sign of the cells that use light for food (just brain farted and can't think of the technical name!). It is also possible that your bubble tip was dyed.
 
The reason that the anemones have browned out is because of the low amount of light that you have. When an anemone is not receiving adequate light, the zoozanthellae in their tissue become over-productive and over-reproduce themselves as a last ditch effort to make use of the light they are receiving. Do as AllenFord said and check out that thread.
 
Yeah, it works the same with SPS coral. If they are not receiving adequate light, they will brown out due to the over-production of zoozanthellae.
 
The other possibility is the high nutrient levels in the water. Again, same principle, more nutrient for the zoozanthellae will cause them to reproduce without the need to generate photosynthesis color pigments. (I suppose they are lazy, they will get food from whatever is the easiest way.) This again happens to SPS corals too.

Actually, if they don't receive enough light they will bleach out, expel of zoozanthellae.

If you want them to show the color, you need to give them the right type of light. More UV light, and less daylight will trigger the zoozanthellae to generate more color pigments.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6603861#post6603861 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kanalgabi
ahh....didn't know the zoozanthellae were brown :(
Click to expand...
zoozanthellae can produce color pigments to absorb light of different wavelengh. They can actually change colors depend on the environment (even from one tank to another). Brown is just the boring base color.
 
Last edited:
Actually, I just have to say that it is a relief to hear for once that a "problem anemone" turns out to be one that is improving in health rather than bleaching... so depressing, but many posts are like this. All I have to say is good job, even if you did arrive at the results accidentally!
 
"white with little purple tips": that's not bleaching either. White is a color, bleached anemone appears to have clear/transparent tentacles. kanalgabi anemone appear to be healthy but has changed colors to adapt to a different tank condition.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6604785#post6604785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dchao
"white with little purple tips": that's not bleaching either. White is a color, bleached anemone appears to have clear/transparent tentacles. kanalgabi anemone appear to be healthy but has changed colors to adapt to a different tank condition.
Click to expand...

The "adaptation" is the healthy inclusion of brown zooxanthellae after they were expelled. There is no difference between "white" and bleached in reality... some species of anemones simply have more translucent base tissues when bleached than others, so some species appear more transparent than others while in an unhealthy state.

This is the natural appearance of a healthy C. gigantea:

bright_condylactis_600.jpg


There is no such thing as a C. gigantea that is naturally white with purple tips when healthy. The confusion comes from the fact that many pet stores receive them this way and pass them on to the customer this way.
 
Pandora, thank for sharing the picture, you have a beautiful Condy Anemone there. Thanks for the explanation.
 
No problem dchao, though it is not my pic :) I commonly "steal" pics from the web for use in the forum, but only for educational purposes.... no one tell on me, ok! ;)
 
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