Attempting a red based magnifica

[MarinaP]

I've seen shipments of 50-70 of those nems at a wholesaler on several occasions and they were all on the way out within a week or two.

I've had 5 of them in my 350G for about 6 months. They came in bleached, but they ate, did not move and eventually died.

There are a couple of ideas that come to mind, but I have no proof for either one. These nems could be specialized feeders, and required nutrients are found only in the same geographical locations as these anemones. My second guess is water parameters in the habitat is somewhat different (presence of certain chemical elements in excess or absence of those, lower or higher pH, temps?).

We can speculate about the reasons for our failures, but the fact remains: red mags are almost impossible to keep, purple ones have a little better survival rate, tan color seems to be less finicky and generally does much better in captivity.

FWIW

 

[AD87]

I really think shipping them is a step to their demise(poor shippers). Allot of really good anemone shippers put a small amount of carbon into the water and ship with the bare min of water to help.

I would try low flow till it settles in.

I know allot of people try Doxycycline to assist on any bacteria infections. I had to buy some of it and have it handy just in case. If you need any I have some, I can weight it out for you as well since I invested in a 200.00 jewelry scale that can measure tenths of a mg. LOL

 

[mobert]

My anemone has done very well with food that is very fine particles sized. It has tripled in size since I got it a year ago. Mine is similar in color as yours though the base is more magenta colored. I usually feed everyday, a seafood mix close to Eric Borneman's recipe, with cycopeeze, baby brine shrimp, mysis, krill, phyto, flake, spectrum pellets, Golden Pearls, clams, mussels, oysters, fish eggs, etc. etc. I think with the varied cloud mix of food, the anemone can fine something in there that it likes.

Here is a video of it eating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrCxDnJmy2o

The fine food particles also eliminates any problem with the clowns stealing food. You do need a good skimmer though to clean up after feeding.

Note the water flow. My anemone, like Todd's is very picky. It will move back and forth on its pillar if I adjust the Tunze Streams an inch.

Here it is at different times of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9STLnRQd_U

Mine was healthy when I got it and that goes a long way in being able to keep these animals.

Best of luck.

 

[OrionN]

I agree that they should be fed smaller bits of food at first. Current is critical, it the pedestal is large enough, I often get good result from haveing two PH (Koralia 2 lately) stream meet from opposite direction just above the anemone.
Sorry to hear that he is not doing well.
Minh

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15482171#post15482171 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MarinaP
I've seen shipments of 50-70 of those nems at a wholesaler on several occasions and they were all on the way out within a week or two.

I've had 5 of them in my 350G for about 6 months. They came in bleached, but they ate, did not move and eventually died.

There are a couple of ideas that come to mind, but I have no proof for either one. These nems could be specialized feeders, and required nutrients are found only in the same geographical locations as these anemones. My second guess is water parameters in the habitat is somewhat different (presence of certain chemical elements in excess or absence of those, lower or higher pH, temps?).

We can speculate about the reasons for our failures, but the fact remains: red mags are almost impossible to keep, purple ones have a little better survival rate, tan color seems to be less finicky and generally does much better in captivity.

FWIW

This one did eat when I first got it and I was feeding it krill every day. I skipped two day of feeding and now it wont eat.

"My second guess is water parameters in the habitat is somewhat different (presence of certain chemical elements in excess or absence of those, lower or higher pH, temps?).
"
I think you may be right. I've seen many of these anemones in the LFS that just slowly bleach over time. This is my second attempt in a little over a year and both of them slowly bleached. Others here have posted that they have had similar results. There seems to be something we are not providing the zooxanthellae. If we can determine what the zooxanthellae need to survive, we may be able to increase the odds with this species. I'm just not sure what we are doing wrong.

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15482393#post15482393 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by speeddemonlsr
I really think shipping them is a step to their demise(poor shippers). Allot of really good anemone shippers put a small amount of carbon into the water and ship with the bare min of water to help.

I would try low flow till it settles in.

I know allot of people try Doxycycline to assist on any bacteria infections. I had to buy some of it and have it handy just in case. If you need any I have some, I can weight it out for you as well since I invested in a 200.00 jewelry scale that can measure tenths of a mg. LOL

Thanks for the offer, but the anemone has planted its foot on the bottom of the tank. I would rather not detached it at this point. I may not be able to get it to reattach.

I turned off the CLS for about a week. It just continued to go down hill. I turned it back on Wednesday morning (I believe) and it seems to be perking up a bit. It planted its foot and seems more ridgid. It still hasn't eaten and continues to fad though.

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15482706#post15482706 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mobert
My anemone has done very well with food that is very fine particles sized. It has tripled in size since I got it a year ago. Mine is similar in color as yours though the base is more magenta colored. I usually feed everyday, a seafood mix close to Eric Borneman's recipe, with cycopeeze, baby brine shrimp, mysis, krill, phyto, flake, spectrum pellets, Golden Pearls, clams, mussels, oysters, fish eggs, etc. etc. I think with the varied cloud mix of food, the anemone can fine something in there that it likes.

Here is a video of it eating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrCxDnJmy2o

The fine food particles also eliminates any problem with the clowns stealing food. You do need a good skimmer though to clean up after feeding.

Note the water flow. My anemone, like Todd's is very picky. It will move back and forth on its pillar if I adjust the Tunze Streams an inch.

Here it is at different times of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9STLnRQd_U

Mine was healthy when I got it and that goes a long way in being able to keep these animals.

Best of luck.

Okay Mobert. Now you're just showing off.:lol: Seriously though, those are beautiful videos. The wife just came by and asked, "how many times are you going to watch those videos?":lol:

My last mag would eat tiny particles too. It would grab anything missed by the fish. This one isn't at that point. I guess I'll just keep trying to feed it and see what happens.

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15484145#post15484145 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by OrionN
I agree that they should be fed smaller bits of food at first. Current is critical, it the pedestal is large enough, I often get good result from haveing two PH (Koralia 2 lately) stream meet from opposite direction just above the anemone.
Sorry to hear that he is not doing well.
Minh

I have a CLS with a SCWD. The mag is between the discharges. It's getting a pretty chaotic flow.

The krill I've been feeding it are only about 1/2" long for the largest ones. I'll try cutting them up smaller and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[Doni]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15429423#post15429423 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by elegance coral
Here's a video of the red based magnificas in the Red Sea. One of my favorite videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRcghPfVaFE

Amazing video! Thanks for posting it.

 

[Flighty]

From what I have seen here and in person, there are red ones which come from the Africa area and they seem to do very poorly for some reason. Maybe something in the chain of custody or something with that particular strain of anemones.

The other thing I can say is that the magenta one I have is from the Madagascar area and seems to be less light loving than a typical magnifica. It was also drop shipped directly to my fish guy so the chain of custody was a bit different than normal from there.

I don't agree with feeding a new or struggling magnifica anything solid. I have seen necrotic tissue expelled with chunks of food too often and have had success with not feeding them at all, but not enough work has been done with these guys to have more than anecdotes.

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15488280#post15488280 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Flighty
From what I have seen here and in person, there are red ones which come from the Africa area and they seem to do very poorly for some reason. Maybe something in the chain of custody or something with that particular strain of anemones.

The other thing I can say is that the magenta one I have is from the Madagascar area and seems to be less light loving than a typical magnifica. It was also drop shipped directly to my fish guy so the chain of custody was a bit different than normal from there.

I don't agree with feeding a new or struggling magnifica anything solid. I have seen necrotic tissue expelled with chunks of food too often and have had success with not feeding them at all, but not enough work has been done with these guys to have more than anecdotes.

I'm not sure where mine came from, but it doesn't seem to be doing all that well. It keeps its mouth tight, but just seems limp. The color is fading as well. It has attached itself to the bottom. Here's an updated pic from today.

 

[tufacody]

Have you tried dosing iodone?

 

[tufacody]

iodine rather

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15500833#post15500833 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tufacody
Have you tried dosing iodone?

I did with my last magnifica. At first it had issues with the light being to strong. Over about 6 months it slowly bleached. As it lost zooxanthellae it actually appeared healthier. It held the oral disk high off the rocks and ate anything that touched it. I dosed iodine and all the zooxanthellae came back. Unfortunately, so did the problems with the lights.

I think I'm going to try keeping the MH, thats directly over it, off for tomorrow. I'll run the one next to it and see how it responds. If it does well, I may start dosing iodine in very small amounts.

 

[AD87]

Well I hope it does well for you.

I just purchase my 1st red based Magnifica yesterday at my local store. I was pleased that the owner will keep if for a week and make sure its healthy before I take it home due to him getting the same day I bought it.

I was told the red based mags are harvested from Africa.

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15503243#post15503243 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by speeddemonlsr
Well I hope it does well for you.

I just purchase my 1st red based Magnifica yesterday at my local store. I was pleased that the owner will keep if for a week and make sure its healthy before I take it home due to him getting the same day I bought it.

I was told the red based mags are harvested from Africa.

Thanks. I hope yours does well too.

Did you read Flighty's post right above? She says that the African red magnificas don't do well. I have no idea where my magnifica came from. We both may need lots of luck.

 

[Magga Pie]

I know this is an older thread but any updates did it ever make a turn for the better?

 

[OrionN]

Mine did verywell and is growing well. I don't ahve a recent picture of it but here he is about 4 weeks after I got him.