Any interest in anemones?

L

luvabunny

New member
I have approx 15 nocturnal anemones. (That is what I have been told they are, the species may or may not be accurate.) A description of them would be a small, clear anemone with a pink mouth, and white/pink tips on the end of the tentacles.

I got the first anemone from the president of the OMAS club. It is now approx the size of a half dollar. The ones I have available are approx the size of a penny. Most of them are attached to small pieces of crushed coral. They are very definitely nocturnal, in that they only spread their tentacle after about 8:00 pm, and close back up in the morning.

Again, I am not sure of an exact species of this anemone, but it obviously produces smaller anemones on a regular basis. I have never been stung by one as I collect them, and I think they would be ideal in a nano habitat. The original anemone is high up in the tank (4 regular 15 watt bulbs) but under a rock so the seahorses don't get to it. The babies seem to like the bottom, and at the base of rocks.

I'd like $5.00 each for them, or would be open to trades for some kind of softies. If you are interested, I will be home all weekend to pick them up. Please send me a PM or an e-mail and I will get back with you. I am posting this at work, and so will not be able to get a pic up until Sat if one is needed. Thanks for the interest!
 
No - They don't look like that, nor do they grow in groups like that. I saw a ton of those at the Jenks aquarium last weekend. I couldn't believe they had them in with the Potbelly Seahorses. I thought they had pretty good displays, with that one exception. If they actually do sting, the aquarium rating just went way down with me.

These aren't nearly as pink as those, they are pretty much transparent, and only come out when it's close to lights out. I've never seen one eat anything, even when there are pieces of mysis floating around the tank, of course they are usually closed up and asleep at that time. I have seen blue leg hermits crawl right over them with no harm to either.

The large one I've had for about 3 years. I don't think it's going to get much bigger. They don't seem to bother the seahorses, but I do try to keep them thinned out when there get to be quite a few, such as I'm doing now.

Dizzy - pics (if I can get any) will have to wait until Sat. I'm at work right now, the tank is at home, and I have a game to attend this evening. By the time I could get any shots tomorrow morning, they will probably have all closed up and gone back to bed. These are fairly tiny too, only about penny sized when fully opened, but I'll see what I can do.
 
Does it look like this?

Orange Ball Anemone
OrangeBallAnemone.sized.jpg
 
They look very much like the pic, with the exception that mine are more pinkish around the mouth, and the tentacle tips are a pinkish white. I'm sure the colors may change under different lighting.

After googling the species, it seems they are not anemones at all, but corallimorphs, a genus related to mushrooms. There is quite a bit of info regarding them under www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/invert.htm.

What I read pretty well sums up what I have - they are small, nocturnal, like low light, produce symbiotic algae, reproduce easily, and they are hardy.

Thank you Travis, for getting a pic, and helping me to figure out what these little guys really are.

Now---does anyone want any???
 
OK, the link doesn't appear to be working. I used google, went down to the advanced aquarist link and used that. I thought I copied it correctly, but it now tells me it's out of date. Sorry.
 
Orange Ball Anemone Pseudocorynactis caribbeorum
Pseudocorycarib.JPG


Does it look more like that one then the one posted above?

These anemones are really cool looking, IMO. My problem is that they are anemone-like corallipmorphs and I value my corals. I already risk keeping so many mushrooms like I do. What is in bold is what I worry about and other interesting features.

"Pseudocorynactis spp. are like Corynactis but are much larger (to about six inches (15 cm) diameter, and usually not colonial. They also reproduce by fission, but it is unusual to find more than about six clones together as a group. The so-called orange ball anemones that can be observed on coral reefs at night are Pseudocorynactis spp. The column varies in color from cryptic shades of brown to orange, red and magenta. The tips of the tentacles are commonly bright orange, but they can also be white. These tentacle tips are extremely sticky, like flypaper, due to the presence of powerful nematocysts. This fact makes the larger species from the Indo Pacific region unsuitable for aquariums housing fishes, which they readily capture. They also can catch mobile invertebrates such as shrimps and snails, and sometimes "attack" sessile invertebrates growing on adjacent rocks, enveloping them in the gastric cavity through a widely opened mouth. Pseudocorynactis spp. can be fed daily, but only require twice weekly feeding to keep them healthy. If they are not fed frequently enough, they shrink. There is a marked behavioral difference between the common Caribbean and Indo-Pacific species.

The Caribbean species, Pseudocorynactis caribbaeorum mainly opens its tentacles at night, and closes rapidly when it senses light. The Indo-Pacific species remains open both day and night, and is not sensitive to light. The presence of food smells (dissolved amino acids) in the water stimulates either species to open up and extend the tentacles, and the caribbean species can be trained to open in the light by feeding it during daylight hours. The mechanism for its apparent memory is not known." - AQUARIUM INVERTEBRATES by JULIAN SPRUNG - Advanced Aquarist Online Magazine
 
Cool though. Looks similar to my Club Tipped Anemone. Neither are tank friendly really. I feed mine Mysis Shrimp. However, it will eat anything that comes it's way.
 
I guess I focused in more on the first paragraph, as follows -

"The order corallimorpharia, in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, includes anemone-like and coral-like creatures that are very popular in the aquarium hobby due to their hardiness and fantastic range of color and form. Corallimorphs are, as their name implies, very coral-like, but they do not secrete a skeleton. They have radially arranged tentacles or pseudo tentacles, if present. The most popular varieties contain symbiotic zooxanthellae, so their maintenance involves providing sufficient light for photosynthesis by the zooxanthellae. This is not too difficult to achieve for most species, as many of them seem to prefer low light levels or indirect light. Standard fluorescent lights are fine for many, but not all varieties."

"Even the symbiotic species feed on a variety of external food sources. All feed on dissolved and particulate matter, some feed on zooplankton, and some even trap and eat fishes! Tiny cilia on the surface of the oral disc help transport trapped dissolved and particulate material to the mouth. Larger prey are trapped by the formation of a sac when the edges of the oral disc fold upwards and meet at a central point. The genera that lack symbiotic zooxanthellae feed actively on large and small prey, mostly zooplankton, using potent nematocysts located on numerous long tentacles."

Although what I have looks very much like the 2nd picture, the coral itself doesn't act much like what Travis copied over. The one I have has been in my tank for at least 3 (if not more) years, and it is approx half dollar sized - nowhere near the 6" claimed above.

The tentacles are a pinkish white, if not completely white at times, and have never been "cryptic shades of brown, orange, red or magenta.

I have touched them numerous times, and the tentacle tips are neither extremely sticky, nor have I ever been stung.

I have never seen them actively eat anything, whether it be floating mysis, a snail, or a blue leg hermit which has crawled over them. I have, on several occasions, seen a seahorses tail wrapped around one which was connected to a rock, completely covering it from view, and the seahorse gave no outward signs of discomfort.

The one in my tank has been in the same spot since I placed him there. He has never "attacked" anything, whether it be sessile or mobile. He is in a hollow in a rock, and I place a rock over him, making a cavern type affair, just to be safe and keep the seahorses away. The babies apparently float around until they land on something. Most of them show up in the water column, where they attach to my crushed coral sandbed. I do not have any attached to my rockwork near the original.

Travis - why do you say you already risk keeping so many mushrooms? I have numerous varieties and have never noticed any problems between them.
 
Luvabunny, because most of my frags are really loose, so I would hate to have something like my Acanthastrea lordhowensis get tipped over onto a nice, large, and potent Rhodactis spp mushroom. I'm more worried about deaths of LPS then anything else. Though most of the time corallimorph to corallimorph touching isn't a problem with most genuses and species.
 
Just because I have a wild hair up my rear to try to get the closest picture to your description, would it be this?

Hidden Cup Coral Phyllangia americana
clado001a.jpg
 
They sound cool. The nasty anemone I have is a MONSTER. He will eat anything. I stick mysis shrimp in his cave with tweezers and whack! At night, it extends out beyond the cave and sways in the current. He is mean though. Not like the ones you have.

I just read you have a Pistol and Mantis tank. Nice. 58 gallon reef eh? You like the size of the 58? Sorry to get off topic. I have a 58 and am always curious what others think of theirs.
 
Travis,
That's a visual I didn't really need to think about..............but thanks for sharing..............................LOL

No, your last pic doesn't look like them at all. The 2nd pic is the closest, and yes, I intend to keep the original, so I'm sure there will be others you could get when the time is right.

Monkey - the pistol and mantis tank actually belong to my son, but being a newbie, I'm pretty much his mentor. The 58 is our original SW tank, it's 3' long, and if I knew then what I know now, I would have gone with something much larger from the start.
As a tank it's fine, but it's very limiting, and I don't really like the depth. I've thought several times that if it weren't such a pain, I would switch the seahorse tank and the reef tank. The seahorses would enjoy the extra height and not miss the foot in length, and I would love to have the extra foot to spread out corals, etc in the 55 gal. Unfortunately, just switching the 2 tanks isn't the biggest problem - I would still have to get all new lighting and filtration for the 55, and if I'm going to put that kind of expense into it, I'd rather buy the 125 I should have gotten in the first place and go from there.
 
luvabunny said:

No, your last pic doesn't look like them at all. The 2nd pic is the closest, and yes, I intend to keep the original, so I'm sure there will be others you could get when the time is right.
Click to expand...

Darn. I would have took a Hidden Cup Coral in a heartbeat.
 
I agree about the size limitations. I actually want a 125ish as well. At least a 75 I suppose. Sometimes I regret not going for a 55 because of the length. However, I like the depth, front to back of my 58 much better. So, it's a toss up really for me. I just got a 47 gallon Bow that will likely be Malawi Cichlids. I am excited about that as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

OrionN
Anemone Show-off
2
Replies
24
Views
1K
Cjs305510
C
Abyssopelagic
Multibar Angelfish Harems (In a 75 Gallon Deep Reef)
Replies
4
Views
385
Zionas
Z
F
Tank stand on castors
Replies
4
Views
176
albano
albano
J
PO4 can't get it right
Replies
3
Views
1K
Timfish
Timfish
K
Red Haddon Anemone
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
kokoui
K
Back
Top