Best ways/methods of getting S. Gig to color up?

[Conrad25]

So I have a newer S. Gigantea that is Purple that I received 10/19/10 and am just curious if there is any methods that would be best to get it to color up more in the purple side? I change my bulbs recently(Right after I got the carpet) to Phoenix 14k's which I like.

Also it seems to want food whenever I feed the fish, is it normal to give it a squirt of fine chopped food while feeding the fish? It opens its mouth near the time of feeding every night and closes shut after it gets its little bit of food.

Heres some photos and I appreciate everyones help and advice as this is my first carpet

THanks!

 

[Winwood]

My guess is that is probably about the color it will stay, it may darken a little as it recovers from being stressed. It is quite a beautiful specimen however.

 

[garygb]

Healthy looking gig. In time, with your lighting, I would expect it might darken up a bit. Your target feeding might speed up the process. The zooxanthellae which live in the tissue reproduce faster when their host is fed, and in turn, the anemone takes on a deeper richer color.

 

[Conrad25]

So I'm basically on track with what I'm doing. Glad to hear that. It seems most gig carpets get more color than what I have though. Guess I will take a look around some more. I did a search and never came upon my question, so thats why I asked.

Thanks
Conrad

 

[OrionN]

Like the SPS, the brighter the light, plus good health will get the best color out of your anemone.

 

[Conrad25]

Well I have 250W DE pendants with good reflectors, so that should help. I know that the more blue you have in your bulbs also seems to bring out colors in certain things as I ran a 10K bulb once and it turned my purple death paly's into a maroon color instead of a deep purple.

 

[RcToners]

I have two large gigs, I target feed both everyday. I would suggest getting food specifically for your GIG. I would feed your gig daily as they do like alot of food. I soak my food for my gigs in selcon and they both seem to be doing very well.

 

[elegance coral]

I basically have the same anemone. Mine was in worse shape when I got it though. Mine is still recovering, but it's well on it's way. At least it's not bleached anymore.

Here it is when I first got it.

Here it is today.

These anemones will never be solid blue/purple. We can increase these secondary pigments to some degree though. First, you'll need to increase the zooxanthellae population. Like RcToners said, I'd feed it every day. Zooxanthellae use the waste from the anemone as fertilizer. If the anemone isn't eating, it isn't producing very much waste, and the zooxanthellae won't reproduce very fast. The anemone also needs the added nutrition, because the zooxanthellae aren't producing enough to support it. Because of this, your anemone may loose some mass over the next few months. Don't worry about over feeding it. I've never seen or heard of a negative symptom that could be linked to an anemone over eating. An anemone can only digest a given amount of food at one time. If your anemone starts discharging food before it's digested, it's a good sign that you should slack off on the amount of food a tad. I've also used iodine to help stimulate zooxanthellae growth, but this can be dangerous for other corals and anemones in the system.

Anemones build their secondary pigments (blue/purple color)with protein. Soaking their food and/or dosing the system with vitamins and amino acids may help supply the anemone with the building blocks needed for these pigments. Acclimating the anemone to bright lights should help produce these pigments as well.


HTH
EC

 

[Conrad25]

Thanks EC and RC for the response. I do have mine already soaked in zelcon. I use a fresh blend that is made here locally by a reefer. It includes squid,clam,shrimp,krill and probably ten other foods that i can think of and are frozen into flatpacks. Very amazing food, so thats what I feed the anemone with also

 

[BonsaiNut]

It will get much darker under bright light, though they will never be solid purple. One thing that you may notice, however, is that the green that is currently around the mouth will become more vibrant, and will probably be noticeable over the rest of the oral disk and on the base on the tentacles. I had a similar anemone, and it appeared bi-colored; purple and green. It was also about 12" beneath a metal halide.

 

[Conrad25]

Wow nice looker. I did notice some green near the mouth area. I was suprised to see that color coming in on that. So thats good to know. Thats perfectly fine if it gets green in there with the purple. I would like it more vibrant in color which it seems it will end up being. Your purple carpet looks very purple Bonsai. I know that I won't get the base of it purple, but it wouldn't hurt to get the tips darker in purple to make it more eye catching. Are all gigs that way that only the tips become colored and the base of zooxanthellae won't be as noticable with brown.

I will have to keep feeding it daily than and watch it over next few months. Hope mine comes out as nice as yours! What wattage of halides and bulb type?

 

[BonsaiNut]

What wattage of halides and bulb type?

In this photo they were 175watt 20K radiums - but the bulb was right on top of the water. I could never have had the bulb that close if this tank wasn't connected to a larger system with a large sump (to deal with heating issues). And yes, in my opinion they can get much darker over time - I wish I had a photographic history of this anemone but it was not that dark when I got it.