ID Please

[Dasgruenegesich]

My daughter picked this anemone up for her 30g- pair of Clowns.
We bought it at Petco & asked them for anything BUT a carpet anemone.
Now that it's in the tank it looks like one though?!
The clerk told my daughter it was a Sebae. It sure looks different though?!

Thank you.
Alex

 

[criccio]

Looks to be a S. gigantea, but it's a little tough to tell for sure.

 

[phender]

Hi Alex,

Not only is that a carpet anemone, but it is S. gigantea, the most difficult clown hosting anemones to keep alive that you could possibly attempt. Even worse, it is not in very good condition. All those bare spots should be filled with tentacles.

If you/your daughter are anything but the most experienced of anemone keepers, you should probably try to return this one.

 

[littleshark]

I would agree with them. I wouldn't buy anemone from PETCO anymore. As my experience they don't take back SW livestock. But if your lucky they might, sometimes they won't give you back ur money. I bought a condy once and tried to bring it back, they were willing to take it back but wasn't willing for a refund, so i took it back home.

 

[Dasgruenegesich]

Thank you for your advice and answers!
We'll try to return it on Saturday. I should have listened to my gutt and not the clerk.
I have a big Sebae in my 130g and this one looked nothing like it. But I thought it was just small still and my daughter was very exited so I gave in. The only other choices were Condys....
No wonder that her Maroon (its a tiny baby that will move to it's own tank soon) wanted nothing to do with it.

LLL Alex

 

[garygb]

Sorry you were victim to an unknowledgeable Petco employee. I must say, the fact you are on here trying to find out information about the anemone suggests that if it has a chance to survive, you might be the right person for the challenge.

 

[Lmecher]

The natural host for a maroon is the bta. Of all the hosting anemones the bta is the easiest to keep, yet still considered difficult. I agree with the others, I'd make a stink and stress that it was sold to you as a sebae. If it were me I'd go online and print out info w/ pictures to support my claim that it is infact a carpet. When dealing with ignorant people you need to bring along proof. Good luck, let us know how it goes, keeping my fingers crossed that they don't give you a hard time. : )

 

[Dasgruenegesich]

Thank you!
I'd try to keep it if the tank wasn't that small (30g is not fit for a carpet anemone I assume) and we also keep a dragonet (green Mandarin) and a tiny Citrus Goby in the tank. I'd assume they'd become it's supper sooner or later?

LLL

 

[Lmecher]

Yeah, carpets are known for eating fish. Both of those fish tend to cruse the tank bottom, eventaully they'll end up being dinner.

 

[garygb]

If it were a haddoni, then it might be more of a threat to your fish, not to say a gigantea is without threat. A dragonet in a 30 gallon? Don't they need large tanks to prevent starvation as they eat the microfauna in the tank?

 

[Dasgruenegesich]

Hi

I used to keep my Mandarin in my 90g before I upgraded to the 130 + 40 sump. She was in very bad shape and starving to death. Like most Dragonets you buy....At her weakest point we pulled her out of the 90g to be able to monitor her feeding habits better. We kept on buying Pods for the 30g where she had no real competition. When I thought she was too far gone she finally started to eat frozen as well as the pods (mysis & blood worms).
I am keeping 4 Dragonets at this point (green Mandarin in the 30g/ and a maited pair of scooters and one spotted Mandarin in the 130). I'm lucky that all of them now eat frozen on top of what they find in the rocks. It sure was a battle though to get them to eat.
I cannot add anymore at this point but I feel horrible seeing them at the pet stores. Just last weekend we saw 4 of them that were only heads & tails - starving to death....

LLL Alex

 

[Lmecher]

Great to hear a success story, it makes me sad to hear how the uninformed put their livestock in danger because they make impulse purchases. I am sure we all go through the same sort of thing, out shopping and our kids (or husband) sees something they think is so cool and want to buy it. A good rule of thumb is if you are not sure of its basic needs, wait, do research then when you are sure you can take proper care of it then go ahead and buy. In the mean time learn to say "no".

 

[Dasgruenegesich]

Hi
Yes, it is hard sometimes to do the right thing.

I was thinking to set up another system just for Dragonets. They are some of my fav. fish. I was thinking about picking up starving Dragonets from various pet stores and trying to nurse them back to health. After they eat and look good I could give them to other saltwater lovers?
It sounds great in theory and should be doable seeing that they are not that expensive.
BUT will it really help?
Or will I just support the idea that selling starving fish is ok? Will this mean that Petco & Co. will assume that it would be a great idea to just buy and sell more Dragonets?

LLL

 

[garygb]

I'm relieved to hear your dragonets are taking frozen food. I don't have that species, but just always read the warnings about how hard it is to prevent starving except in very large tanks. Continued good luck with your fishes

 

[sdietz2469]

I am sorry to hear that you had this experience at Petco. I work at Petco and it is true that P & P says no returns on salt. What I would say is go there (with your reciept) and talk to the Aquatics Specialist and/or the Mananger (may just be an MOD not the GM) and NICELY explain the situation and that it is not healthy and your tank is not appropriate for it and that when you were there you specifically asked for NOT a carpet. The key is being NICE and CALMLY explaining the situation, it is going to be up to them ultimatly but it is worth a shot. See if you can find someone in the store that knows salt (some stores have a few and some are very minimal on their knowledge). Also, they may be willing to return that one for something else, they might be more willing to do that. Good luck

 

[Lmecher]

It is not only that they asked for anything but not a carpet, the clerk told them it was a sebae. The problem here is customer relyed on the information they were given by the agent of the store, it is simple misrepresentation.
: ( to Petco

 

[Dasgruenegesich]

Hi guys!

Thank you for the advice!
We did go back to Petco this morning & recieved great service!
The saltwater manager took the carpet anemone back and gave us a Sebae instead
We were happy that he was willing to help us out. He was very nice and understanding and we talked for a long time

I think he was trying to do us a fav. by picking out the biggest one they had. The only downside is that the anemone he picked is very bright "glowing" white (bleached).
There was a much smaller one that I liked better (brown with purple tips) but I was not about to complain seeing that he went out of his way to be very nice and helpful about the return.

The anemone is beautiful & we'll try to nurse it back to health. I'm sure the Clowns will help as well. They are not hosting it quite yet but they are getting closer and closer by the minute and are carefully sticking their heads into it

I'll post some pictures of it later on today.
LLL Alexandra

 

[JamesJR]

Could you post a pic? Bleached Sebaes can be challenging to nurse back to health.

I would try and get a refund if it is bleached. IME, it can be hard for even a seasoned aquarist to nurture most hosting anemones back to health.

I would try and start out with a GBTA. They are the easiest to keep by a long shot.

 

[Dasgruenegesich]

Here are some pictures of the new anemone:

Here are some of my healthy Sebae in my big tank:

What do you guys think?
We did move it up closer to the light to start with. We are also trying to feed it every other day.

LLL

 

[garygb]

Well, it's certainly bleached, but from the looks of your other sebae, I think it's in good hands. With good light and regular target feeding (several times per week of small pieces of food) I think it has good chance of recovering. Is it securely fastened to the rock?