First LTA

~RuSh~

~RuSh~

New member
I purchased this guy from Divers Den. He is a purple long tentacle anemone, my first.


Packaging was great, and the box was huge. I guess I'm used to receiving tiny frag boxes, lol.
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I floated him in the bag for 20 minutes.
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Then I put him in a bucket and drip acclimated for about another 20 minutes. The orange part is the nem's foot. Before I put him in the tank he actually tried to attach to the bucket, lol.
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I put him in the tank on the sand bed right in front of the rock I wanted him to stick by. I turned the powerheads off and just set him on the sand bed and he did the rest. I actually got called into work right at this point and I didn't get to watch him move into position.

Here you can still see a bit of his foot.
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And here is is settling in. I got back home right in time to see him get comfortable.
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And a couple of better pics with a digicam.
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When I initially turned the powerheads back on he got blown about a bit and I had to readjust the flow so he wasn't getting pushed too much. It didn't seem like a lot of flow to me, but enough to upset him. But it looks like he's comfortable where he is now. Awesome! I'm going to leave him be for the first 3-4 days before trying to feed.
 
This is a 29g tank, Aquaticlife 4x24w T5HO. I know that these guys get pretty big, and I plan on accomodating him. :D
 
Looks great. That is a beautiful animal. Take good care of it. Note they will easily outlive you in a good environment.

Can you see the bottom glass of your tank from the inside of your cabinet? If so, with a flashlight you might be able to tell if the foot is grasping the bottom glass and egg crate.
 
NatureNerd said:
Looks great. That is a beautiful animal. Take good care of it. Note they will easily outlive you in a good environment.

Can you see the bottom glass of your tank from the inside of your cabinet? If so, with a flashlight you might be able to tell if the foot is grasping the bottom glass and egg crate.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm pretty satisfied with it. Do you think he will color up more? I had no idea they could live so long. Good to know.

The stand the tank is on is a solid top so no, I won't be able to tell what his foot is attached to. I'm thinking maybe the underside of that rock, just a guess though.
 
That looks like one of the healthiest fresh shipped nems I've seen in a while, great score.
It will be nice to see what it colors up too after settling.
Nems can live a very long time, some even have claimed indefinitely, though that has been debated on here.
We simply have not been able to really understand or study them long enough in their natural environment.
 
It is fairly safe to say that they can live well over a hundred years in a good environment without predation. I read somewhere about a 120 yr old one in captivity. I'll try to dig up that article.
 
That does look like a really healthy nem. I think you made out really nice and got a great animal. Congrats and good luck
 
Thanks guys.

So an update. Today the nem looks a lot different. Mainly, it's the size that captured my attention. It's about triple the size it was yesterday. I'm shocked. I can't believe how much this guys stretched out. The other thing is the color is completely different. Almost an orangish color with just the tips of the tentacles remaining purple or pinkish. I guess the question lurking in my mind is - was he dyed? Or is this a normal thing for acclimating nems to go through?

I'll get some pics up here in a bit so you can see for yourselves.
 
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My comp is being weird and not displaying a lot of pics, so can't see what you posted, but I will say that it is common for their size to change as they relax, or as they tighten up due to flow, or even stretch out for light, so size is not always a great factor.
Their color can change a little too as they stretch out, or even just adjusting to light.
Going by your first pic posted I would say not dyed or anything, in fact unusually healthy for a shipped nem.
 
Wow! He is huge! Nice score!
Don't know what to tell you about the color......keep up updated.
I'll certainly be following along.
 
Thanks. He's not quite that big today, but still significantly larger than when I first put him in the tank. Seems to be adjusting well. His color seems to be primarily brown/orange with just the tips of his tentacles retaining the purple-pink coloration. When I was feeding the clowns last night a pellet must have hit him because he clamped down like a bear trap! I'll get him some substantial food after the xmas weekend.

Any other comments on his coloration?
 
He seems to be doing good from my point of view. He changes size and shape often which has me slightly concerned but everyone tells me this is fairly normal until he is really settled in. I have fed him twice now, sparingly. He eats greedily. The color also seems to change quite significantly depending on how stretched out he is. The further out he is stretched, the less concentrated his color is, and vice versa. At night when he closes up a bit he looks the most purple.

I have some requests to do an 'in tank video feeding' with my new Gopro video camera so be on the look out for that. :D
 
Agree he is acting normally- and looks great! I think it is common for the DD LTA anemones to be photographed somewhat contracted and thus more concentrated in color.
 
~RuSh~ said:
He seems to be doing good from my point of view. He changes size and shape often which has me slightly concerned but everyone tells me this is fairly normal until he is really settled in...
Click to expand...

I guess mine has not settled in yet. After 16 years, he changes size and shape several times per day.

It is just what LTA's do. Do not be concerned. Mine stays small, 4" diameter, for a day or two if he gets a big meal. He can be 9-10" diameter a day later.
 
Thanks for the reassurance.

So another question - I have a pair of clowns in this tank and they were hosting a candy cane colony I had. Recently the candy cane split - I mean, the stalk like just split in half one day. It was very odd. I came home and one half was being devoured by an acan frag that it got too close to after falling. So now the clowns are slightly less interested in hosting the candy cane but don't really show any interest in the LTA either... They are tank raised and I've heard getting them to host a nem can be challenging. Just looking for some feedback.
 
Patience is the key to any clown going into a nem IMO. Dont force them and they will eventually find it.

BTW nice nem!!
 
Thanks for the compliment. I guess I'll just be patient with them then. I'd love it if them hosted the lta...
 
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