Help with Sabae Anemone

I have a purple LTA the one in the picture and I use to have a bta but sold it. When the lta was smaller I fed it a 1/4 of the silverside twice a week. Now that its a 6 inch LTA it gets a whole small silverside once a week.
 
I left for the weekend on Friday, and my clown had not paid any attention at all to my new Sabae Anemone. Got home on Sunday night, to find this!!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!

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Too bad that white isn't natural, they look so pretty that way.
My anemone wouldn't eat silversides, so I started feeding it prime reef, it's not jelled but still holds together. I use a pair of tongs and I lightly touch the tentacles. If it's going to eat it grabs it, otherwise I take it out and put it in my reef tank were everything gets eaten.
 
Hi Debi. I know, the white with the purple tips is BEAUTIFUL but I know as it gets healthier, it will turn tan or brown. Too bad.
You wouldn't think white in a tank would be so pretty...but it's gorgeous. I fed it a peace of a krill, and it seemed to take it. Tried to buy the San Francisco Silversides, but they only had a HUGE package.

Bye
Pam
 
They only had a huge package? that is a bummer. Well, if you still want to try them, you could break it in half and put them in freezer zip lock bags like I do. I also put a the date of purchase on the freezer bags. Just so I can know how fresh they are. My anemone tends to stop eating the fish after its been in the freezer for a little over a month. Krill will work too, some anemones prefer krill and then you have an anemone like mine. The LTA will eat it but then spit it out later...so picky and spoiled.

congratulation's on your clown moving into the sebae.
 
Thanks Christina. The bag was probably 8x10". They normally get smaller packages too, so I'll hold off.

Does anyone's clowns push food OUT of the Anemone? My clown kept doing that tonight when I tried to feed it krill. Maybe he doesn't recognize that the larger piece of krill is food??? Or maybe thinks it's a predator?

Thanks.
Pam
 
OH NO!

OH NO!

Well, my Sabae has been doing great but something is wrong with him today. He looked great when I left for work this morning. He seems to be eating the pieces of silversides I've been giving him every other day. He hasn't budged from the spot I put him, since I put him there 3 weeks ago. He's nice and tacky. His mouth has been totally closed. My 15 year old son just called me and told me something was wrong with him and it was freaky looking (my son rarely glances at the tank, so something has to be really wrong). He said something really big is coming out of his mouth... big as in a couple inches. Could he be expelling his stomach? My son tried to take a picture on his cell phone to send to me, but I couldn't make out anything in the picture. I will get out of work as soon as I can and run home, but I'm an hour away. Is there anything I can do for this Sabae if it's his stomach? I can post a picture later. If it's his stomach...does that mean he's dying? My son said the rest of the Anemone looks ok, just something coming out of the mouth and the clown is still hosting it.
Thanks! Pam

Parameters: Salinity 1.026 PH: 8.3 Alk: 8 dHk Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonia all
zero. Phosphates: between 0 and .1 Calcium 390 Magnesium 1170
Temp 80f Flow: 25x display
 
This is just a guess...it might be a ball of food. I have seen this come out of my golf warty anemone when I didn't wait long enough for it to digest the food before I fed him another piece of silverside. I feed my LTA once a week, and my golf warty once every three or four days. Some times I forget about when the last time I fed the warty anemone..so it spits out a ball of food then eats it again later(eww). I hope all is well with your sebae if your son is seeing anything other than just a ball of food.
 
False Alarm !!

False Alarm !!

Oh my goodness! This is so funny. I came home, and the Anemone had moved into a cave. I looked at him, and he looked fine except that he had moved (strange because he hadn't moved in 2 weeks since I put him into my tank). I asked my son, if maybe the Anemone was upside down, and he was looking at his foot. My son said..."OH...yea...that's it.. I didn't know they had a foot". He must have flipped upside down, then flipped himself and moved into the cave, or the current took him in there. He wasn't expelling anything at all and looks fine!! Yay!
I don't know if I should have left him in the cave or not, but I moved him back to his regular spot. My son apologized for scaring me, but I told him he did the right thing by calling me. I had asked him to call me if he ever sees anything out of the ordinary. I had come home to water spraying all over the place because a powerhead had slipped in the magnetic clip, and my son didn't bat an eye, so I was glad he called me when the thought something was wrong. :)

Now if the darn clown would stop stealing his food! It's not that the clown is eating it...he's just kicking it out. I stood guard for a while, but as soon as I took my arm out of the tank, the clown went and dug out the small piece of silverside I had put in. I thought he was trying to eat it, but he isn't. He just threw it away. How is this Anemone going to eat if the clown keeps pulling out the food? Should the Anemone be eating it much quicker?

Thanks. Pam
 
Pammy,
My Sebea was bleached like yours when I first got it. I fed mine small portions of silversides or krill until he regained his color. Like you I have perc clowns hosting and found I had to stand guard over the nem until he finished eating, or my percs would remove the food also.
He is very healthy now and I only feed hime once a week with PE mysis, I just squirt some on him with a baster while feeding the other fish.
In the longterm the only issue you might have is the nem outgrowing the tank. Mine has gotten HUGE.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11649725#post11649725 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by A sea K
Pammy,
My Sebea was bleached like yours when I first got it. I fed mine small portions of silversides or krill until he regained his color. Like you I have perc clowns hosting and found I had to stand guard over the nem until he finished eating, or my percs would remove the food also.
He is very healthy now and I only feed hime once a week with PE mysis, I just squirt some on him with a baster while feeding the other fish.
In the longterm the only issue you might have is the nem outgrowing the tank. Mine has gotten HUGE.

I am a month into looking after a bleached sebae there My female chrysopterus also disturbs it and I have to stand guard for about 10 mins until the food is completely engulfed, I only feed every small pieces of shrimp about the size of a pencil eraser. The zoothanthelle is almost in all the tentacles bar a small area that is still white, its a pleasurable experience bringing one back:)
 
Thanks guys. I'm just going to be really patient with him, and hope for the best. I have high hopes of bringing him back to full health! :) I might try a strawberry basket or something overhim to keep the clowns away while I'm feeding him. The food sticks nicely to his tenticles, but I can't tell if he's eating yet. I think I'll try Mysis tonight instead of the silversides. Pam
 
Progress of my Sabae Anemone

Progress of my Sabae Anemone

Well, I've had my Sabae Anemone for a month now. He's definitely not stark white anymore, and seems to be turning a more creamy light tan...which I know is a good sign. He's wedged himself between my two rock structures, and seems to be quite happy there. Every time he deflates he looks like he's dying, and it sort of freaks me out, but I know, by the following morning, he'll be nice and inflated again. My clown still removes the small pieces of silversides I try to feed the Anemone. I'll stand guard for about 5 or 10 minutes, and put the 1/8" piece of silversides on his tenticles (which are very sticky), close to his mouth, and do this while I'm feeding the tank and the clown is busy eating. But the Sabae doesn't eat it fast enough, and the clown yanks it out. I'll try that once or twice a week, and the other days, I try shooting some mysis right near the Anemone's mouth, and hope he's eating some of that. How long does it take a bleached Sabae to start eating well? If he's darkening in color, does that mean he's getting something to eat or can light alone bring back his zooxanthellae? Here's a picture of him the day I brought him home a month ago, and a picture I took last night.
Pam

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I'd like to suggest a fingernail size piece of fresh seafood such as perch, flounder, bluefish, shrimp, etc., instead of silversides. You're on the right track just continue to chase the clownfish away for a good 10-15 minutes after the anemone eats. Eventually the anemone will develop a faster feeding response and the clownfish will be less of a nuisance.
Just went through the same ordeal with my current sebae of 11 months (was the size of a scallop), makes me regret selling the last one. I still need to distract my clownfish but nothing like the first 6 or so months. Tried the basket (shield) trick only to find it's edge on top of the anemone because of the clown's excavating. It was shriveled up, turned it's stomach inside out, detached, looked like a goner. Took a month to regain it's prior good condition.
It occasionally eats food that the clownfish drops (too large or the clown has trouble, like non-peeled shrimp legs and tails), to pick at latter. I'd think your anemone is eating something, it's coloring up well, try the above suggestions. I don't like saying this but keep in mind that ill health may not be obvious till it's too late. when they starve they feed on their own tissues which is thought to be irreversible.
Good luck, it should be alright, keep us posted.
 
Pammy, the white is still the sigh of an anemone that has expelled it zooxanthella- and Sebae will readily do this when stressed (Joyce Wilkerson, Clownfishes, copyright 2003). So keep nursing it and hopefully it will survive. I hope that the clown will not add to much to its stress.
 
When I bought mine it was bleached white like that as well, it also used to really deflate and close up at night. If I recall correctly it took a few weeks for it to color up completely. I've it under 250W MH and my clown feeds it from time to time with food it catches. Just to give you a little warning: it only took about 2 years to get to this size which is a 12" disk or 18"including its tentacles.


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Hi 5speedT. I've tried that a bunch, but the Anemone isn't eating the food fast enough. I think my best bet at this point, rather than trying pieces of silverside or krill, is trying to shoot mysis towards his mouth while the clown is eating, and hope the eats a little of it before the clown goes and eats it. Thanks, Pam

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11779410#post11779410 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 5speedT
Hello, Nice Sebae. Would feeding the clown distract him from the anemone while its feeding?
 
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