Can I keep a Sebae?

[eraml]

Have had my current 20gallon tank for about 2 years now. I was in the petstore today and saw a beautiful little sebae and was wondering if i could purchase it given my lighting, only 2x65watt PC. I have heard of people being able to succesfully keep this anemone in lower lighting conditions, but require then to feed it more heavily.
I have no protein skimmer as well.
I would like to hear from people who have succefsully kept them in lower lighting and any other comments and/or questions.

 

[vthondaboi]

sebae's aren't easy to keep, most come in a bleched white color

under a 150W Mh it did ok but moved around

under a 70W MH it croaked on me, so I would probably skip it and get an RBTA or other BTA

 

[Newreeflady]

vthondaboi, what size tank was it. Can you be certain your lighting was the cause of its demise? How long was the tank established before introduction, and how did you ensure that the specimen was healthy when purchasing?

-A

 

[GatorReefman]

I had my first sebae( bleached white) under PCs- 4X65 watts in a 55 gallon tank for about 5 months. He was very difficut to feed- had to used very fine foods( mysis, formula 1, etc) for several months. But once I got my 175 watt metal halides, he did much better and colored up. I think using pcs would be chancey with sebae anemones and you would have to feed him alot. Now with metal halides, I hardly ever feed him bc I don't want him to get too large.

 

[vthondaboi]

I didn't ensure it was healthy as it was an impulse buy. Apparently a beautiful white color is considered bleach and most are that way as they are naturally tan I believe.

You can never be sure that just the change in lighting was the cause. Just stating a variable that was changed.

 

[pyroskennels]

I had my sebea at first in my 75 with 4 65 watt pc. I wouldnt however say he thrived but just did ok. Now it is in my 220 under 400 wt mh and thriving with beautiful tan color and green tips.

 

[eraml]

Anyone have a current success story of keeping a sebea under lower lighting conditions. And how they took care of it?
Any other imput is welcome.

 

[jman77]

I have one ( so far) that is under an 250 w 14k HQI and 2 x 3ft T5's.

So far it's starting to get a little brown so hopefully it won't die on me. The thing is a PITA to feed too.

 

[phender]

I have had one sebae anemone (H. crispa) for over 12 years in a 40 gal. tank with 120 watts of normal flourescent tubes. I has grown from 6" to ~20" across.
I have two purple sebaes(one 4", one 8") that have been saved by putting them in a 20 gal with 2 x 65 watt PC bulbs. Both are in a place where they can catch the daily frozen food fed to the fish, and then they are target fed with silversides, shrimp and scallops twice a week.
If your anemone is not sticky, you are going to have a difficult time no matter what lighting you have. If it is not sticky, I have had luck getting them to feed by putting small pieces of scallop on their mouth after wiggling it in their tentacles.

FWIW: IMO, a lack of lighting does not cause anemones to quickly die. Improper lighting would cause an anemone to slowly die from starvation/malnutrition. Most anemones die of other causes way before improper lighting takes effect.

 

[eraml]

Thanks for the imput.
What exactly do you mean by "if your anemone is sticky"?
Do you have your Sebae that is in the 20gal on the sandbed?
And how would you be able to create a spot that the anenome would like to stay at, in terms of rock structure on the sandbed?

 

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7046374#post7046374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by eraml
Thanks for the imput.
What exactly do you mean by "if your anemone is sticky"?
Do you have your Sebae that is in the 20gal on the sandbed?
And how would you be able to create a spot that the anenome would like to stay at, in terms of rock structure on the sandbed?

Your anemone's tentacles should sting your finger and any food you put into its tentacles. When the tentacles sting, they stick to your finger and the food sticks to the tentacles. Anemones that are in poor condition are not able to sting.
The sebae in the 20 gal is in the sand bed and attached to the bottom of the tank. The sebae in the 40 is attached to a rock.
I like to dig a depression in the sand under a rock. That way the anemone has a choice of whether to attach under the rock or to the bottom of the tank.

 

[eraml]

Ok, thanks for all of your help, and one more question to throw out there:
I do not have a skimmer on my tank, but i do water changes every week, does anyone have major concerns about keeping a sebae without having a protein skimmer?

 

[Amphiprion]

No, but make sure you maintain water quality with the heavy feeding schedule.

 

[eraml]

Alright i have decided that i will purchase the sebae.
How often should i feed it when it is in my tank, and with what?
And does anyone have a picutre of the place that they have their sebae located?

 

[eraml]

Bump

 

[Amphiprion]

H. crispa seems to prefer sand OR rock. If you "choose" a place for it, make sure you provide a secure rock crevice or deep sand. If you can obtain a healthy one, I would feed it every other day to every two days.

 

[raoul]

I thought I would jump in for just a minute. I noticed you have a 20 gal tank and wanted to warn you that if you are able to get a good healthy specimen and it thrives (or if you are only able to find poor specimens, but are able to rescue it) it may quickly out grow your tank. We got a sebae over a year ago (we had to rehabilitate it, it was in very poor shape) and it was about the size of a baseball or less. A year (13 months) later, it's taking up nearly half of our 30 gal tank! We are limited on what we can put in there now and where, which is fine since we're trying to set up another tank anyway, but we can only place corals on half of the tank. If they're too close, they're either stung or shaded too much. I wanted to give you a heads up so you could plan ahead if you didn't want a tank just for your nem! good luck!
Alta

 

[eraml]

Yea i have been obviously looking it up a lot more. And i have become kind of un-easy, it will be a lot of work to feed the anemone 3 times a week, and especially since i will be away from college, will be to much work for my parents.
And now the fact that it could easily outgrow my tank is something else that i need to look in to.

 

[raoul]

I've only been doing this for about 2 years as well, we've had the nem for 14 months now so I'm still learning things. If you really want an anemone, you might try something that's a little smaller, easier to find healthy specimens of, and better suited to your lights.

Although some, like Phil, who have 20 years of experience can make a sebae work, I get the impression he's home to take care of things if something goes wrong, he's probably got the equipment to make it easier too (skimmer). If the nem dies, it could take the whole tank with it if you're not there to catch the problem in time. With the information that you've provided, IMHO, I don't think it's worth the risk to the two years of work you've already done, especially considering the amount of work you will have to do.

I think, but I could be wrong, that bta's (bubble tip anemone's)don't need as much light to thrive, I think they stay smaller (in comparison), and they're usually easy to come by. Lots of times they will split in a reefer's tank so they tend to be hardier and heathier in our tanks, and you don't have to take more from the ocean. Just a thought, if I'm wrong about btas someone please correct me! I would hate to pass on incorrect info!
Thank you!
Alta