Haddoni ID please

cichlidconvert

cichlidconvert

Member
So I got a call from a local reefer that he was selling his purple haddoni. It looked a bit bleached in the pics but the mouth was purple. I went and saw it in the tank and it was in a 32" deep hex. It had a 150 sunpod mh as a light. Probably why it looked a lil bleached. but it was sticky like no tomorrow, and a tightly closed mouth. attached directly to glass in maybe 1" of sand. SO i bought it. But when I had it outside in the sunlight the tips of the tentacles looked yellow. And now that its in my tank it looks like it has yellow tips and light purple/brown disk. My question is this, is it a purple haddoni or could it be a purple with bleached tips or some kind of multi color.
It looks to be a foot across when it was relaxing in the bucket. here is a pic just moments after being introduced to the tank.

I've cut the flow to nothing so it can settle into its spot. I'm gonna turn the flow back on in a bit. because the gigs will probably need it soon.
 
OK here is a pic of it settled in. I just turned on the #1 pump. It is fully seated in the cave I designed for use by a haddoni. It took the skunks less than 5 minutes to hop in:)
 
Here is a FTS showing its relation to the rest of the tank. Looks to be a bit too much flow. If it doesn't adjust soon I will swap out for another power head. But I do want to give it a chance to adjust before i do it. Oh and I was rereading my original post and I didn't include is this a purple with yellow tips or a yellow haddoni? Its nice I just want to anticipate what its gonna look like:) And Ive never seen a yellow haddoni before.
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It is very common for the green carpets to turn yellow when bleached. The rest of the anemone is colored by its zooxanthellae, and this color will be blocked by its normal coloring after a few months in good lighting.

If you think of an anemone in terms of people it makes a little more sense. When there isn't much light, they lose their "tan" which is the color we identify them by. When given proper lighting, they will get a new "tan" and turn whatever color they used to be. But really the color we are used to seeing is just a light-blocking layer on the outside of the anemone, like a really deep tan. And for anemones, that tan is usually in shades of blue, green, red, etc..
 
That was a good explanation. But lets hope that tan isn't green. I mean I love my green gig. But I can find green haddonis anywhere and for cheaper. Oh well at least its healthy. I've got lots of credit at the LFS. Im hoping they can find a purple gig soon:)
 
Here it is the next morning and it is opening up to about 8" which is pretty good . The mouth it tight. The disk has taken on a nice purple color but the tentacles are definitely looking like they may turn green. Oh well I was eventually gonna get a green one but not for this price. And at least the purple color of the oral disk is pretty cool.
 
Here is my other green haddoni. It was completely beached and deflated getting its but kicked by a large saddleback female. The petco it was at conidered a write off and let me take it home to see if I could rehab it. So I put it in my extra tank and slowly its making a come back.
 
Looks like a mertens to me. Could explain the yellow tips. Got orange spots on the under side by the foot too? Can you show a picture? Very nice score!
 
taylor t said:
Looks like a mertens to me. Could explain the yellow tips. Got orange spots on the under side by the foot too? Can you show a picture? Very nice score!
Click to expand...

(shhh... I was thinking the same thing but didn't want to put it in his head until he confirmed the color of the verrucae!)
 
D-Nak said:
(shhh... I was thinking the same thing but didn't want to put it in his head until he confirmed the color of the verrucae!)
Click to expand...

I knew you thought that! I saw the first picture and started :bounce2: yahoo, finally, some one else has one! The tents gave it away for me...
 
OP - start planning your upgrade. That guy will not fit in that tank, even if you empty it and let it have all by itself.
 
taylor t said:
OP - start planning your upgrade. That guy will not fit in that tank, even if you empty it and let it have all by itself.
Click to expand...

I am already in the middle of an upgrade to a 4'x4'x20" cube tank designed solely for carpets, and clams. maybe an sps or two. If it gets too big for that then... I never looked closely at the foot so I will take a photo of it at night with a flash. It has a cool purple color to it that doesn't show in the pics...damn iPhone camera. the yellow tips also throw it off but adds interest when looking at it. Tonight my anemone shrimp is hosting it:celeb1: I should have thought about it being a mertensi. I'm stoked that its a mertensi though and it has a cool color. From what little research I've done since hearing y'all confirm it, they tend to be dull colored but this has a vibrant purple mouth and disk but the yellow tips do mute it a bit. The column was not the typical haddoni grey. it was purple with verucae. not purple verucae so I didn't look harder:( I really don't know much about mertensi other than they get large. It opened to about 10-12" before I left for work this afternoon. OK I just took a pic of the base. Its hard to tell if there are red anything. its attached to rock though despite sitting down in a hole in the sand during placement. I think its a mertens anyway.
 
OK after waking up to it lifting up and I could see more of the column, I didnt see brightly colored verrucae. So does that mean its a haddoni? I got a lil bit excited there for a second lol
 
I haven't seen many mertensii up close, but the ones I've seen were on the smaller side, and ALL had very brightly colored verrucae that went all the way down the column. The other features -- posture, tentacle appearance, and color all point to a mertensii IMO. I'm hoping someone who owns a large mertensii can chime in. Otherwise, I lean towards haddoni.
 
I'm 99% certain that's a haddoni. Look at the way it's orienting itself. It has elevated folds and mertens tend to lay flat across the substrate. Along with lacking prominent verreculae I'm pretty sure you have a haddoni.
 
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