As we all know, not all anemones survive shipping well. And some anemones just don't take to their new environment. Some pull through, and many don't. I was curious though as to the worst shape people here have received an anemone in and still been able to nurse it back to good shape. Has anyone managed to nurse back an anemone that looked certain to be a goner? I've seen several threads here where people fragged their own anemones and managed to nurse those back to health, which impressed me greatly, but I'm curious as to whether there's any hope for many of the poor anemone specimens often found at the local LFS.
In my case, I've been able nurse back bleached anemones and anemones slightly shipping-damaged, but if the mouth is gaping open when it arrives, I've never been able to keep it more than a mouth. Currently, I have a new large (domestically-harvested) RBTA that suffered shipping shock. It went through rounds of inflating and deflating to extremes for a few days (it had expelled a lot of waste into its own shipping bag even), but the mouth (which was slightly open) finally closed up after a few days and it has gone searching for its prime real estate. I haven't seen it in about two days now, because it is still hiding in the rocks toward the back of the tank. My previously shipping-damaged small RBTA took about 3 weeks to fully recover (and is in great shape now), but it at least recovered under a rock at the front of the tank where I could see it at all times. We'll see in a few days where this guy shows up.
I also have a troublemaker anemone in my tank. For months, my GBTA has refused to stick to any spot for longer than a few days. It's in great shape (mouth so tightly closed that you can barely see the mouth) and never goes through any alarming deflation periods, so I've generally accepted this behavior while very cautiously checking my water parameters each day. Just now, it somehow got itself in the tentacles of the LTA in the far corner of the tank, and I had to wrestle them apart. Both seem to be fine, but I really have no idea what to do with this GBTA. It is the only anemone that exhibits any strange behavior in my tank. It is possible that the light is too bright (it only started moving after my light upgrade), but it has also rejected all shadier parts of the tank.
I'm not really asking for advice on any matters here, but I just wanted to see what is possible with anemone care.
In my case, I've been able nurse back bleached anemones and anemones slightly shipping-damaged, but if the mouth is gaping open when it arrives, I've never been able to keep it more than a mouth. Currently, I have a new large (domestically-harvested) RBTA that suffered shipping shock. It went through rounds of inflating and deflating to extremes for a few days (it had expelled a lot of waste into its own shipping bag even), but the mouth (which was slightly open) finally closed up after a few days and it has gone searching for its prime real estate. I haven't seen it in about two days now, because it is still hiding in the rocks toward the back of the tank. My previously shipping-damaged small RBTA took about 3 weeks to fully recover (and is in great shape now), but it at least recovered under a rock at the front of the tank where I could see it at all times. We'll see in a few days where this guy shows up.
I also have a troublemaker anemone in my tank. For months, my GBTA has refused to stick to any spot for longer than a few days. It's in great shape (mouth so tightly closed that you can barely see the mouth) and never goes through any alarming deflation periods, so I've generally accepted this behavior while very cautiously checking my water parameters each day. Just now, it somehow got itself in the tentacles of the LTA in the far corner of the tank, and I had to wrestle them apart. Both seem to be fine, but I really have no idea what to do with this GBTA. It is the only anemone that exhibits any strange behavior in my tank. It is possible that the light is too bright (it only started moving after my light upgrade), but it has also rejected all shadier parts of the tank.
I'm not really asking for advice on any matters here, but I just wanted to see what is possible with anemone care.
