Gigantea Year Two Under t5s

[Cheebs]

Hey folks... thought I'd post some pics of my success with my S. Gigantea anemone.

Some quick system specs:

Tank: 75 gallon
Lights: 4 bulb Teklight t5

Livestock: Yellow Tang, 2 Orange Line Chromis, 2 Maroon Clowns, Decorated Sand Goby, 2 Firefish and a whole whack of Inverts. The female Maroon seems to be nearly full grown. The lay eggs every couple weeks under the anemone.

The system is sumpless, I run a modded coralife 220 superskimmer. I try and do regular water changes every 2-3 weeks!


I will have to post pics of when I got it, but it looked grim! After a couple months it had crawled on to the rocks, about mid level in the tank. Since then it has literally "carpeted" the rocks. I've had to move half my corals away from it, and even add extra rock to sort of cradle it. I've measured it at 40 inches across at it's biggest. Here are some pics I have lying around at works, more to come!

P.S. I definitely know that it's recommended to use much more light for these beasts, perhaps I lucked out? It should also be noted that a year ago the tank went through a rough move, but it seemed to weather it quite well, despite the loss of other livestock. Anyways, here it is (Sorry the pics are kind of dark!):

Can you spot the female?

And I'll throw in a pic of my baby tomato in his baby BTA in my 20 gallon

 

[celamb89]

Congrats on the tank! It looks great!

Have u lost any fish to the gigantea?

 

[qwikcustoms]

Looks great and glad to see you can keep them healthy under t-5's . I am running a mix of t-5-m/h but would like to go t-5's and this gives me hope.

 

[Trademark]

How wide is that monster, awesome

 

[t4zalews]

I don't mean to be rude...but it looks like a crispa. I could be wrong, but I've never seen a carpet with tentacles that long. I understand gig's have longer tentacles than the haddoni's, but those seem SUPER long for a carpet anemone. Very healthy animal tho

 

[elegance coral]

I don't mean to be rude...but it looks like a crispa. I could be wrong, but I've never seen a carpet with tentacles that long. I understand gig's have longer tentacles than the haddoni's, but those seem SUPER long for a carpet anemone. Very healthy animal tho

That is gigantea. Just a better looking gigantea than most.:thumbsup:

 

[t4zalews]

thats crazy...never knew the tents got that long...that female looks like she'll eat fingers off hands when doing work in the tank.

 

[Newreeflady]

What is your water movement? What are the tank dimensions, if the anemone is 40" long in one dimension? Does it contact walls? Looks like it is on rock, is that right? Is there available sandbed and it seems to prefer rock anyway, or is there no sandbed and rock has sufficed? (I was under the impression they were sand dwellers???) Also, where did you obtain the specimen and at what size? How much has it grown in 2 years?

Oh, and how long are the tentacles? I was under the impression that s.gigantea had shorter tentacles (longer than haddoni, but shorter than yours appear.)

Gorgeous specimen!
-A

 

[MartMul]

Absolutely stunning!! I take my hat off for you!:thumbsup:

 

[Ben_Im]

That's a beautiful female clown. I love how they get so large and sinister looking.

 

[Amphiprion]

Great looking anemone and one of the first of this species I've seen that wasn't under 250w or greater MH.

 

[5h3rW1N]

the 1st picture is it one anemone?

 

[elegance coral]

Cheebs,
I guess you know you have an awesome anemone when people are having a hard time believing what they are seeing!

the 1st picture is it one anemone?

Yes. That is one anemone in the first pic. One very incredible anemone!

 

[timjoemak]

OMG cheebs tat is the most badass anemone i've ever seen! btw... what wattages are the t5's?

 

[PghFishNerd]

I'd also like to know the wattage. Your tank is amazing and gives mine hope. I rarely see other sumpless systems. My 30 gal has a Coralife 125 and I'm still dealing with lots of chemistry issues. What mod did you do to make yours support such a gorgeous tank?

 

[Doe5ia14]

Assuming it is a standard 75g tank(4' long) with a 4 bulb Teklight it would be 4x54w = 216watts of T-5 lighting.

Very nice and healthy gig!

 

[garygb]

Beautiful anemone. Your post can put to rest any doubts that anemone keepers might have regarding T-5's being capability at successfully maintaining the most light demanding species.

 

[Cheebs]

Thanks guys! I found some pics of when I first got it,a nd it wasn't pretty. I'll try and post them tonight!

 

[Cheebs]

What is your water movement? What are the tank dimensions, if the anemone is 40" long in one dimension? Does it contact walls? Looks like it is on rock, is that right? Is there available sandbed and it seems to prefer rock anyway, or is there no sandbed and rock has sufficed? (I was under the impression they were sand dwellers???) Also, where did you obtain the specimen and at what size? How much has it grown in 2 years?

Oh, and how long are the tentacles? I was under the impression that s.gigantea had shorter tentacles (longer than haddoni, but shorter than yours appear.)

Gorgeous specimen!
-A

Thank you! I appologize for the misinformation, and I'm glad you pointed it out. The anemone has measured 30" at it's widest, not 40!!! There are 2 Koralia 4s and one Koralia 3 int he tank for water movement. It doesn't contact the walls, and yes it is fully on the rocks. I got the specimen from a local seller here in ottawa who sells out of his home. The tentacles at their longest can be about 5 inches long, I'm guessing!

As for when I got it, I think it was 8-9" accross and pretty bleached, I'm about to post some pics!!

 

[Cheebs]

Here are some pics:

When I first got it:

Here's a FTS a few months later when it really started groing. You can see that it's around the same spot, but that it jsut climbed upwards. I've since had to move corals away from it spreading! You can see the female in the nem. At this time they hadn't paired up yet! (You can see the male hosting the gonipora to the right)

Here's the female when she just moved in and the nem was starting to color up!

And the male before he moved in to the nem!

Here are some more fun pics!