H. Crispa Questions

[jharte]

I received an H. Crispa anemone yesterday from LA. I ordered a medium sized, blue tip specimen. Upon acclimation, the anemone quickly attached to the rock/sand seen in the picture. It has yet to move.

My questions:

1) Is this anemone look OK? The mouth is tightly closed, but I am concerned about the short, fat tentacles. Also, the anemone seems to expand at night, but will shrink maybe 20% when the lights come on in the morning.

2) Is this a blue tip? It looks more like the standard purple tip/tan colored variety.

The tank is a standard 65 gallon aquarium, lit by 6 T5 HO bulbs. The water parameters are as follows: 0 Nitrates, 0 Phosphates, 440 Ca, 8 dKh, sg 1.025


Thanks in advance!

 

[nemmy]

Its a bit bleached. Will need some TLC to get the color back into it. Should end up brown with purple tips or a grayish with purple tips. That's the location mine in the past always preferred. Mine started just like that, same white color, same fat tentacles. With good lighting and some feedings it should turn around nicely. It will eventually switch over to having long tentacles.

 

[jharte]

Thanks for the insight and that is good to hear. I fed it some mysis earlier and the anemone was sticky enough to capture/eat them.

I will have to follow up with LA about the wrong anemone being sent.

 

[nemmy]

Thanks for the insight and that is good to hear. I fed it some mysis earlier and the anemone was sticky enough to capture/eat them.

I will have to follow up with LA about the wrong anemone being sent.

IMO it doesn't look like what they have as "blue tipped" it looks to me like it will end up being the "white" one. At least that's how mine ended up. Looked like yours when I got it and ended up like their "white" picture.

 

[jharte]

IMO it doesn't look like what they have as "blue tipped" it looks to me like it will end up being the "white" one

I agree. I called customer service and they were very helpful. They said give it a week and if the color is still off then we will work something out. I am very impressed with the other fish and coral I received. LA is definitely the place to order from online.

 

[phender]

IME, whether or not the tips are purple or blue is entirely a function of the spectrum of light that reflects off the anemone.

A 20k Metal Halide or LED usually will make the tips look blue. Under a more balanced spectrum the tips will appear purple.

 

[garygb]

I completely agree with Phender about the lighting being the deciding factor as far as blue and purple. Whether there are any crispas in the world with more blue than that one is questionable. Your parameters look good. If I were you, I would not push for a different color tipped anemone, I would focus on providing what appears to be a healthy animal (besides bleached) good conditions to recover its zooxanthellae and begin to grow. I rescued one a little over 2 years ago that looked very similar to yours that measured about 5 inches across. Now it is a beautiful crispa that measures about 16-17 inches across. After it's settled in your tank for 5 or 6 days, you can begin to try and feed it small pieces of fresh shrimp (from the seafood dept. of the grocery store), PE mysis, etc.

 

[davocean]

It's a bit bleached as previously mentioned.
It probably will huddle where it is, and if params are fine it may come back to health.
Small feedings like mysis may help

 

[jharte]

I really appreciate all of the feedback! I am looking forward to watching this anemone grow and develop.

I agree about lighting changing the appearance of corals/anemones. I was just under the impression that the purple tips and blue tips were different types. If they are one and the same, then there is no issue at all. Regardless, I certainly plan on keeping the anemone. He is already to start inflate a little more.

Thanks again.

 

[jharte]

IMO it doesn't look like what they have as "blue tipped" it looks to me like it will end up being the "white" one. At least that's how mine ended up. Looked like yours when I got it and ended up like their "white" picture.

Could you post a current picture of your anemone?

 

[nemmy]

Could you post a current picture of your anemone?

Wish I could. It was my first anemone when I started this hobby. It outgrew my nanocube and sold it to a local and got my first bubble tip with the money.

From a Google image search this is what mine turned into: http://aquamarine-imports.com/?page_id=1303

Hope its OK to link there. Just didn't want to hotlink the image.

 

[jharte]

Well I hope that it eventually looks like that anemone. Quick update: the anemone has grown in size/inflated but the tentacles still remain short and stubby. Any chance that this is an H. Malu and not an H. Crispa?