H.crispa question

[bok]

Hi!
I have this anemone Heteractis crispa for half a year now. I purchased her because it looked beautiful with her white tenctacles and purple tips. After that I discovered that it was bleached.... Ever since the anemone paired up with the clowns, and was stable, doing ok, nothing good and also nothing bad happened.
But I am still worried ....it is still white. No signs of gaining colors back.
She gatheres the tentacles when the food hits her , still having sticky tentacles, doing everything normal, but the color.
I just increased the light above her with a 10 w LED , and it appeared some differences. The anemone it is not so large and spread , now it is more compact , and reacting faster to the differences that occur in the tank (current, waves,lights,etc).
Am I on the right track ?
PS- I am still target feeding it with frozen krill once a week , sometimes even quicker

You can see the anemone in my breeding thread : http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20072533#post20072533

 

[rhdoug]

Aside from being bleached, it looks pretty good. The clowns must be happy because I can see the eggs to the left of the anemone. My clowns lay their eggs in a similar place next to their crispa. I would increase the feedings. I feed mine with a blend of various frozen foods including mysis, krill, brine shrimp, cyclopeeze, etc. using a turkey baster. Don't just feed it one thing, variety is good.
I don't know what kind of lighting you are running, it may be too low.

 

[Seahorse NJRC]

It has been my experience that the key to a bleached h. crispa regaining its color is through proper lighting. They seem to prefer more intense lighting.

 

[bradam]

I fed my crispa daily for 3 or 4 months till it finally started to get some color back, then backed off to eventually once a week now. Takes a looooong time for them to come back but once they get there suddenly they grow like mad

 

[bok]

Thank you for the answers !
I'll try to keep in mind what you said... I allready increased lighting , added a 10 w white led over that area. I'll put another 10 w actinc led in about 2-3 weeks, in order to gradually increase the light , having enough time to adapt.
And of course more food and more diverse.
I'll keep posting

 

[bradleym]

You say you added a 10w light, how much did you start with? And how big is your tank? With Cree LEDs over a 55g for example, I would estimate at least 30w of white light to consider it strong enough for a H. Crispa anemone. Even more for a bleached one.

 

[bok]

Can I feed the anemone with granulated food that I use for my fish ?

 

[rhdoug]

I wouldn't overdo it with that stuff, I would use it as a supplement. I try to feed mine similar foods that it might get in the wild, mostly small stuff that will fit thru the turkey baster. Even though it will eat big pieces, it seems to do better on smaller more frequent feedings. When it was smaller I did give it small whole shrimp, whole silversides, and whole krill, but I don't do that anymore. I have had it for 10 years.

 

[bok]

Beautiful! Gorgeous anemone...and everything in your tank!
Thank you for your reply...but what is "turkey baster" ? Is the mouth of the anemone ??

 

[rhdoug]

Thanks for the compliment!

It is a kitchen tool, like a big eyedropper. I use it to feed the tank. Google it and you will get a billion images.