elegance coral
They call me EC
Do host anemones need light for proper health in our systems?
host anemones and light
- Thread starter elegance coral
- Start date
glockcoma
Moved On
well its said that when anomone's are starved of appropiate light they become elongated and reach for as much light as possible and I havent seen mine do that and I have a 65 watt pc dual 10000k and actinic, but im no expert on this but who is, I also read that there is not much known on these invertebre
elegance coral
They call me EC
I started this thread because a fellow on another thread was telling people that a Doctor said that Anemones don't need light. All you need to do is feed one and it will be healthy. He wouldn't take my word for it that this was wrong so I invited him to this forum to get more information.
I don't blam him for seeing things this way. He has a doctor telling him one thing and unknown southern boy from FL telling him something different. Who would you believe? I just want him to get the correct info. Hope some of you can help.
I don't blam him for seeing things this way. He has a doctor telling him one thing and unknown southern boy from FL telling him something different. Who would you believe? I just want him to get the correct info. Hope some of you can help.
Slakker
Premium Member
There are a few species of anemone that don't need light (notably the "Tube" anemones), but anything that you could have hosting a clown needs the symbiotic relationship with the zooxanthellae to really thrive. Feedings can keep it alive for a limited period of time, but won't work forever.
Proper health, yes.
Survive, no. Exemplified by more then one completely bleached BTAs that have not recovered a glimmer of symbiotic algae over the years. Search a bit, you'll find some pictures on RC.
Survive, no. Exemplified by more then one completely bleached BTAs that have not recovered a glimmer of symbiotic algae over the years. Search a bit, you'll find some pictures on RC.
phender
Active member
I have read the book/pamphlet you are talking about. Everything in the book is theoretical. Theoretically you should be able to keep host anemones in the dark as long you provide the food that they need. Unfortunately, IME host anemones deprived of light often lose the ability to sting and therefore can't eat very well.
I did an experiment with a small S. gigantea. I put it in a 20 gal. tank with 2-65 watt PC bulbs. This tank had historically had very good results with BTAs (E. quadricolor) and S. haddoni. For a gigantea however it would be considered a very low light level. I fed the gigantea 5 days a week with silversides, shrimp and scallops. For the first 3 months it did fine. It even regained its zooxanthellae (it was a little bleached when purchased). During the next two months it started to decline. The tentacles became shorter, less dense and lost the blue color in the tips. The diameter became a little smaller and its sting became less aggressive to the point where I needed to help it to eat.
At this point I moved it to a different aquarium directly under a 150 watt de 14k metal halide. The bulb was about 8" above the water's surface. The anemone was about 5-6" below the water's surface. Within a week, the tentacles started to become longer and the disk was more expanded. It also began feeding more aggressively. In a months time the color started coming back and the tentacles had grow longer than they were originally. At this point I also cut back the feeding to 2 times a week. After 2 months the anemone had grown from its original 4" to between 6 - 7" in diameter. When I changed to bulb to a 10K and added a surge across the anemone instead of a stream the anemone even did better, again increasing size, color and tentacle length.
This was not a scientific controlled study, but it was good enough for me to know that different host anemones may not need the same amount of light, but increasing feeding isn't enough to compensate for not enough light.
There is a series of pics of this anemone in this thread about 8 posts down.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1106988&perpage=25&pagenumber=2
Unfortunately, after 2 years in my care the anemone suddenly went down hill and I wasn't able to save it. I suspect I fed it a contaminated silverside or possiblely the H. crispa that it had been sharing the tank with the whole time may have release some inhibiting chemicals into the water during the crispa's own growth spurt. I did remove the crispa, but at that point it was too late even if that had been the cause.
I did an experiment with a small S. gigantea. I put it in a 20 gal. tank with 2-65 watt PC bulbs. This tank had historically had very good results with BTAs (E. quadricolor) and S. haddoni. For a gigantea however it would be considered a very low light level. I fed the gigantea 5 days a week with silversides, shrimp and scallops. For the first 3 months it did fine. It even regained its zooxanthellae (it was a little bleached when purchased). During the next two months it started to decline. The tentacles became shorter, less dense and lost the blue color in the tips. The diameter became a little smaller and its sting became less aggressive to the point where I needed to help it to eat.
At this point I moved it to a different aquarium directly under a 150 watt de 14k metal halide. The bulb was about 8" above the water's surface. The anemone was about 5-6" below the water's surface. Within a week, the tentacles started to become longer and the disk was more expanded. It also began feeding more aggressively. In a months time the color started coming back and the tentacles had grow longer than they were originally. At this point I also cut back the feeding to 2 times a week. After 2 months the anemone had grown from its original 4" to between 6 - 7" in diameter. When I changed to bulb to a 10K and added a surge across the anemone instead of a stream the anemone even did better, again increasing size, color and tentacle length.
This was not a scientific controlled study, but it was good enough for me to know that different host anemones may not need the same amount of light, but increasing feeding isn't enough to compensate for not enough light.
There is a series of pics of this anemone in this thread about 8 posts down.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1106988&perpage=25&pagenumber=2
Unfortunately, after 2 years in my care the anemone suddenly went down hill and I wasn't able to save it. I suspect I fed it a contaminated silverside or possiblely the H. crispa that it had been sharing the tank with the whole time may have release some inhibiting chemicals into the water during the crispa's own growth spurt. I did remove the crispa, but at that point it was too late even if that had been the cause.
