I can't see my new nem's mouth

[adityaw]

Hi All,

I just got a very nice blue haddoni anemone and place it in the sand where I can observed it easily. However, before the nem's got a chance to attach itself deep in the bottom glass it got blown by gentle current from my return line.

I didn't realize this soon enough to move it back to where I wanted it to be (it stuck its foot to a location that makes it's body facing to the back of the tank.)

I've read in other threads that newly acquired nems should not be disturbed at all during its first week to let it settle down, so I just let sit there. So my question is how do I observe it without knowing whether the mouth's gaping or closed?

For now, the nems seems to expand normally and I don't see it shrink at all (which is good right?) And also, small portion of its body is touching some part of acan lord colony.

Thanks for your help.

 

[OrionN]

You should move the coral. Don't try to move the anemone because you will risk injury to the animal. If it attach to a rock, you can try move the rock. All in all, anemone will move to where ever they please. Moving anemone may just move back to where it want.
Haddoni face plate will follow the contour of the substrate. You may want to put some rock or sand to elevate the substrate level behind the anemone. This way the anemone then face the front of the tank or at least level, thus facing up.
A picture worth a thousand words. Post a picture of your anemone.

 

[adityaw]

Since yesterday it moved a little to the front. Here it is,pardon my photo taking skill:

 

[OrionN]

He looks fine where he is but I think he may move forward to the open area in the future sometime. he will also get a lot bigger, maybe diameter will be twice as long as he is now. You need to clear a space for him accordingly or corals will die. Often soft corals can sting anemone, but most of the time hard coral are no match for carpet anemone.

 

[adityaw]

You're right, this morning before I left work it expanded some more. Thanks for the advice, will try to move other corals around him/her tonight.

 

[adityaw]

Here it is today, I've moved other corals around. It expanded more to the right.

 

[OrionN]

From the shape of the tentacles, it is possible (slightly) that you have a Gigantea instead of a Haddoni. Does the column have any colorful spots on it, especially near the top or is the foot a little green or blue?

 

[adityaw]

Looking at the tentacles I think you're right. However I haven't got a chance to notice its column or foot. I will let you know as soon as I can see them.

 

[adityaw]

Day 14

Day 14

Here it is last night, the clowns decided to host it a couple days ago. It accepted food (shrimp) that I offered, and feeding response is very good. However the mouth is often not closed (opens a little, but def. not closed). Should I be concerned?

PS: I moved it (the rock it attached to) a bit from the original position, so I can get a better view of the mouth.

 

[OrionN]

You got a Gigantea instead of a Haddoni. A very beautiful S. gigantea at that. Congratulation. I hope he will do well for you. They need a lot of current and a lot of light.
The second picture sort ta look like a Gigantea and the third picture is on of a Gigantea for sure. Often sick Gigantea with shorten tentacles can be mistake for Haddoni unless you see the column.

Get a picture of him in full light. It looks very blue. Be sure to show him off in the Gigantea thread here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2205915

Here are pictures of my two Gigantea

 

[adityaw]

Thanks! LFS around me seldom stock blue nems, I guess I got lucky that day. It was months of wait to get nice nem, so when I saw this one, I just grab it :inlove: Although at that time I wasn't sure what kind of carpet it is.

Regarding taking pics, I'm not really sure how to get a right white balance under the LED, no matter how hard I tried (I tried using my wife's canon G10) Also the last picture was taken using iPhone 4. Maybe I need to pay visits to photography forums :artist:

 

[OrionN]

About the mouth, it take a long time for my Purple Gigantea to close her mouth. 10 weeks in my tank and her mouth is never tight like my Haddoni, Magnifica, BTA, Malu or Crispa. I used to worry a lot about it. My Yellow Magnifica still have her mouth open even if he seem healthy and adapt well to my tank otherwise.

I still cannot believe that I ID your anemone correctly with the second picture. The tentacle shape just wrong for Haddoni in that picture.

 

[adityaw]

About the mouth, it take a long time for my Purple Gigantea to close her mouth. 10 weeks in my tank and her mouth is never tight like my Haddoni, Magnifica, BTA, Malu or Crispa. I used to worry a lot about it. My Yellow Magnifica still have her mouth open even if he seem healthy and adapt well to my tank otherwise.

I still cannot believe that I ID your anemone correctly with the second picture. The tentacle shape just wrong for Haddoni in that picture.

Thanks Minh for the advice. However my nem is starting to bleach, so I cover them with 2 screens now, and the part that bleached (I think) starts to recover. Also, some of the base of the tentacle starting to bleach (I notice it just now).

Below is some of my tank info:
- 280 liter volume
- lighting: ecoray led 112d hang ~30cm above the tank
Ph: 8-8.2
Alk: 6.4
Ca: 410
Po4: 0
No3: 5
No2/ammonia : 0
Salinity: 1.026
Flow provided by mp40 reef crest mode at around 70%

Also I feed the anemone small pieces of shrimp every other day and it eats them very fast. Other corals in the tank seems thriving. The female clown is often pushing its face to the nems mouth that most of the time not closed (but not hugely gaping.) Other than that the nems never deflated during lights on, and shrink a bit during lights off (blue on for 7.5 hours, white for 2 less hours.) can you please offer me any advice? I'm so stressed out. :hmm5:

Below is the more correct white balance picture:

IMG_1055 by adityaw, on Flickr

 

[OrionN]

I don't think your anemone is bleached. it may get lighter due to bright light but I would not worry about it. It will adapt to the bright light.
don't worry about the mouth. It really does take quite a while for the mouth to close up. If you read my thread about my purple Gigantea, you will see that I was also really stressed due to the mouth of my Gigantea did not close for quite a while. About three months now and it just start to close to where I think it should be. Keep in mind that my gigantea was at the LFS since 5/1/2012.

About light, I would give it at lease 12hrs of daylight because that is how they get it in the wild. 7.5 hrs ob blue and 5.5 hrs of white is just too little. We do know that coral and anemone compensate for low light by increase the population of zooxanthallae in their tissue. I do not think that this is necessary good for the animal. I light my tank for 14 hrs (7AM to 9PM. I come home late so I wanted to see the tank under light, but also my reason of increase light length is that since we provide less light than natural, I compensate by provide longer light period. My coral clams and anemone is doing very well and my fish have no problem with he increase daylight length.

The bottom line is that your anemone looks fine. The mouth will take time. As long as he is eating well and quickly, he will be fine. Be careful not to overfeed him.

 

[adityaw]

I don't think your anemone is bleached. it may get lighter due to bright light but I would not worry about it. It will adapt to the bright light.

I hope that's really the case. Between lighter color, bleached tentacle's base, and not closing mouth made me worry a lot. I hope it continues to do well in the tank. Thanks a lot for your advice.

 

[Blitzburggirl]

Wow Adityaw... sooo very nice! Congratulations!! Anemones are the most stressful aquarium inhabitant ever!!

 

[sqwat]

No not bleached might be adjusting to the light.the blue one at my lfs display tank has never closed its mouth and has a pair of saddlebacks living in its mouth.