Does this gigantea look healthy?

[beuchat]

Hi,

I have seen this stichodactyla gigantea in a online shop. I am thinking in bying it

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zlKpM0ovEYM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I am not sure whenever he looks healthy or not

What do you think?

Thanks

 

[OrionN]

I would nnt.
They should show the best pictures or video they have of the anemone. If this is the best, I would not buy him. As you know, he is not in a appropriate situation. The longer he is in there, the worst he will get.

 

[beuchat]

I would nnt.
They should show the best pictures or video they have of the anemone. If this is the best, I would not buy him. As you know, he is not in a appropriate situation. The longer he is in there, the worst he will get.

Thanks OrionN,

¿What do you mean when you say he is not in an appropiated situation?

 

[OrionN]

Not enough current, not enough light.

 

[beuchat]

OK

Thank you

Here in Spain is extremely difficult to get a gigantea, maybe you can see one in all the country once a year or twice

I am thinking in picking him up on monday and put him in to in cypro treatment

The town where the LFS is located it is not very far away from Madrid. It is closed right now

If I get there on monday maybe it should be in time

 

[D-Nak]

To be honest it looks half dead. They should not be folded over on themselves like that. Furthermore the clowns are doing more harm than good by being with it. You can attempt to save it with antibiotics but it may be too far gone.

 

[beuchat]

Yes I think I am not going to do it. Thanks for the answers


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[marc price]

I don't think it looks that bad, it perked up some at the end of the video too.

A few questions: Is it attached to the rock/glass? Is the mouth closed and not gaping or looking like an inflated balloon? Is it sticky? Does it have a feeding response? If yes to all of my questions, grab it asap.

 

[beuchat]

Thanks, The nem was sold. Better Méx time


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[D-Nak]

I don't think it looks that bad, it perked up some at the end of the video too.

A few questions: Is it attached to the rock/glass? Is the mouth closed and not gaping or looking like an inflated balloon? Is it sticky? Does it have a feeding response? If yes to all of my questions, grab it asap.

Can you explain why you think it perked up?

The answers to your questions are not indicative of a healthy gig, nor one that can be saved. While I agree that a gaping mouth is a danger sign, the other questions you pose don't offer any clue of the health of the gig.

I've had a few gigs that were dead but were still attached.

Being sticky only indicates the ability to fire nematocysts. I had one dying gig that shot its nematocysts all over the tank killing a few corals on the opposite end of the tank (tentacles/nematocysts covered the coral).

I also had a couple of gigs that actually showed a feeding response but later died.

A gig that can be saved is typically not one that is folded over on itself. This indicates that is has the inability to open fully or right itself towards the light (which Orion points out appears to be very low).

Healthy gigs also typically don't have wrinkles on their column like the nem in the video. This indicates that the nem is not fully inflated.

 

[marc price]

Yes we've all seen that with anemones that were doing ok then not then ok only to stop eating, collapse and die, but after being in our tanks for at least a month or more. This one is presumably new to the LFS, granted we don't know how long it may have been in a wholesalers tank prior. Look at video 3minutes in, it does not look so much like a sagging water balloon as it did at first. If not expensive I'd gamble on it.

 

[marc price]

Can you explain why you think it perked up? -
- A gig that can be saved is typically not one that is folded over on itself. This indicates that is has the inability to open fully or right itself towards the light (which Orion points out appears to be very low).

And what do you make of this folded over gig?

 

[D-Nak]

And what do you make of this folded over gig?

Looks like it has a healthy population of zoox, has tentacles extended, and if it wanted to, it could move into a position where it's not folded over. This is in complete contrast to the anemone in the video.

 

[OrionN]

...

This anemone attach to the bottom of the rock and face upward, but because of the rock he face upward to the side.

The anemone in question attached to the upper part of the rock and fold over, exposed his column and foot on top.

Any seller want to show their animal in best look possible. If he send/post this video, then we can assume that it is the best he can get of the anemone. That is not good.
Also anyone who have any contact with Gigantea know that even with gentle flow, they will perk up a lot. This led me to the conclusion that the seller have no idea how to take care of Gigantea. That video is the best he can get the anemone to look. Knowing that , the chance of that anemone get better from there is minimal to none. I would not buy it.

 

[marc price]

Look at around 3m:07s, the water level is about 2" above the anemone, it had nowhere to go. Doesn't appear a whole lot different than wild pix of them in tidepools at low tide. And sellers are more often than not complete idiots, but something tells me that seller put it in such shallow water so it would receive more light. It doesn't appear bleached. Again, if not expensive I'd of given it a second, third, fourth look and possibly have purchased it, difficult to do when dealing with an online shop.

Edit: I have never purchased any anemone online, let alone a "difficult" species such as S. gigantea and don't recommend it, with the possible exception for LiveAquaria DiversDen due to their exceptional customer service.

 

[beuchat]

Any seller want to show their animal in best look possible. If he send/post this video, then we can assume that it is the best he can get of the anemone. That is not good.
Also anyone who have any contact with Gigantea know that even with gentle flow, they will perk up a lot. This led me to the conclusion that the seller have no idea how to take care of Gigantea. That video is the best he can get the anemone to look. Knowing that , the chance of that anemone get better from there is minimal to none. I would not buy it.

Hi orion, I can tell you that the seller does not have too much idea about how to care of giganteas. I have spoken to them and they do not give any information.

In fact I would say that nobody in Spain is having a gigantea in a reef tank.

I returned to the hobby in September 2015 from a 4 years fallow period and in these 9 months I have only seen two giganteas for sale, both in this LFS. I have asked to many LFS and they always say that they do not know when will receive them. ¿Is it so difficult to ask the whole saler? :eek2:

The last gigantea I had (one of the two mentioned, the second is the blue one of this thread) was dead after about one month of been in my tank. It was treated with cypro and later with cypro, peniciline and metronidazol:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2575966

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2575457

This nem was sent to me by into this packaging:








I was really surprised when I saw the packet and talk to them about why so low water content in the container. They say they receive the nems in the same way and ship them equally

I am not sure whenever this is a good practice or not

 

[OrionN]

Often they can be shipped semi dry, with just minimal water. If they can be keep from quick change in temp, it would really help decrease their stress.
I am not sure what to tell you. Gigantea was rare here in the US too until several years ago.
I myself was looking for Gigantea for more than 10 years before I was able to keep them alive in my tank. I did not have repeated failure, just looking for good Gigantea. Over the 10 years I bought 4 Gigantea at about 400.00 each and not able to keep any alive.
How easy is it for you to get Gigantea from England? Several years ago, some LFS in London got a bunch of healthy Gigantea and set up a treatment system for them. He seem to have very good success with them. Even if you can not get the anemone from him, maybe he can get you some pointer to see if you can get someone to import them for you.
I will see if I can find the thread from several years ago.

 

[beuchat]

Often they can be shipped semi dry, with just minimal water. If they can be keep from quick change in temp, it would really help decrease their stress.
I am not sure what to tell you. Gigantea was rare here in the US too until several years ago.
I myself was looking for Gigantea for more than 10 years before I was able to keep them alive in my tank. I did not have repeated failure, just looking for good Gigantea. Over the 10 years I bought 4 Gigantea at about 400.00 each and not able to keep any alive.
How easy is it for you to get Gigantea from England? Several years ago, some LFS in London got a bunch of healthy Gigantea and set up a treatment system for them. He seem to have very good success with them. Even if you can not get the anemone from him, maybe he can get you some pointer to see if you can get someone to import them for you.
I will see if I can find the thread from several years ago.

Thanks a lot Orion,i really appreciate it. I have been searching the web and the only two dealers in Europe I found are based in France and Germany:

--Marine Life in France:

http://www.marinelife.com/fr/rechercher/?q=stichodactyla+gigantea

But they do not have real pictures so it is not WYGIWYS. You have to buy it and then they search the nem in one of the whole salers. Too much risk of getting something you do not want (specially at a very high price)

--White Corals in Germany:

http://www.whitecorals.com/en/WYSIWYG-Corals-/Anemones.html

I saw a green gigantea three months ago and the price was 450 euro plus 49 euro of shipping (in total about 557 USD)

 

[marc price]

Minh, back in the late 1990's and early '00's I used to see a lone S. gigantea (usually purple), come into my LFS (The Hidden Reef original location), every other month or so, mostly around and during the summer months. They always came in with transhipped orders as assorted carpets, were never specifically ordered. THR used to sell them for ~ $75 Some looked quite healthy and did ok during the time I observed them, which was at least once, sometimes twice a week. I wasn't running metal halide HID lighting and wouldn't consider purchasing one. At the time, I was using a bank of mostly 5K daylight spectrum NO (standard wattage), T12 fluorescent lamps and doing quite well with keeping S. haddoni, followed by H. crispa.

 

[marc price]

Thanks a lot Orion,i really appreciate it. I have been searching the web and the only two dealers in Europe I found are based in France and Germany:

--Marine Life in France:

http://www.marinelife.com/fr/rechercher/?q=stichodactyla+gigantea

But they do not have real pictures so it is not WYGIWYS. You have to buy it and then they search the nem in one of the whole salers. Too much risk of getting something you do not want (specially at a very high price)

--White Corals in Germany:

http://www.whitecorals.com/en/WYSIWYG-Corals-/Anemones.html

I saw a green gigantea three months ago and the price was 450 euro plus 49 euro of shipping (in total about 557 USD)

The first specimen pictured labeled S. gigantea is actually S. haddoni, not very confidence inspiring -
http://www.marinelife.com/fr/invert...dactyla-gigantea/stichodactyla-gigantea-8967/