Is there such a thing as a red gigantea?

[delphinus]

.. I'm just curious, I've never seen one. All the red carpets I've ever seen (in person or in photos) have been Stichodactyla haddoni.

I've gone so far as to form an opinion that S. gigantea doesn't exist in a red morph, but I'd love to hear otherwise.

Anyone know of any pictures? Doing online searches of course doesn't turn up much, because all I can find are haddoni's, or the photo doesn't show enough detail to be non-ambiguous for a species ID.

 

[sugartooth]

On the cover of Martin Moe's 'Marine Aquarium Handbook' is what looks like a red/pink Gigantea.

There is another picture that looks like a red or possible purple gigantea in Joyce Wilkerson's clownfish book.

 

[Reefvette]

I just rescued

I just rescued

What looks to me like a blue base gigantea. Is that possible?

 

[delphinus]

Got a picture of it? Would love to see it, good luck with it.

The anemone on the cover of the Martin Moe book looks like a severely bleached purple to me. Pretty close to pink though, that's true!

The anemone on page 41 of the Wilkerson book is an interesting one. Indeed, what colour would you call that? It's not quite red, it's not quite purple. It's like it's a purple but the photo is oversaturated. It's not quite the fire engine red that you see in red haddoni's though.

 

[Slakker]

blue base gigantea? I think they can have sort of a teal foot...but if it's really bright/deep blue it might just be the remnants of a dye job leaving its system.

 

[Reefvette]

It is like

It is like

teal blue,
i didnt pick it up from the store yet.
i have it on hold till saturday.

It was pretty different lookin

 

[sugartooth]

delphinus: I agree with your comment about that one on the cover looking bleached. I wasn't entirely sure anymore when I came across an article (can't remember who wrote it) that refered to it as a 'red' gigantea. Same here with your assessment about the one in Wilkerson's book. I also wondered if it was true color or a manipulated purple? Those are the only two that I have seen that come close to pink/red variant.

I know my LFS mentioned seeing red before. I didn't probe further when he mentioned it though.

 

[delphinus]

I've had some suppliers mention they can get red giganteas, but, not a knock on them per se, but I question whether said anemones would be haddoni or gigantea. At bluezooaquatics.com there is a picture of a "red" gigantea (not available per se, it's just the placeholder for the category on their site) but 1) the picture is cropped and you can't see the base of the anemone. The tentacles are longer than the average haddoni, but shorter than the average gigantea. 2) They list ALL their carpets as "gigantea" so that sort of dilutes the whole convincing-me part.

Anyhow, thanks for the thoughts. As an aside, when I was looking through the Wilkerson book, that one photo of a red-based magnifica with two clowns on page 33 or whatever it is .. I came across this and thought, "hey, I know this picture." One of the bedtime stories I read to my kid (just turned 3 about a week ago) is about colours on the coral reef. Went and checked it, sure enough, it's the same photo. Guess it's a small world! :lol:

 

[Toddrtrex]

Sugartooth -- wasn't yours labeled as a red gigantea, even though it was a Haddoni?

 

[sugartooth]

Yes, I ordered their 'red gigantea'. I thought they must know what they are talking about because they have Haddoni's listed as haddoni's aka saddle carpet anemone's.

Under Gigantea, they list other common names as 'giant carpet, gigantic carpet, etc.' So I thought that's what I was getting.

I ended up with a red Haddoni that I was completely not prepared for, and never had interest in housing.

 

[taylor t]

Did they make you pay for it?

 

[delphinus]

You ordered from blue zoo? I think the problem is that there is confusion between that which is "more commonplace" and that which is "more exotic." Given the relative rarity of gigantea's in the last 10 years or so, and the stigma associated with their survivability, I think there is a tendency to mentally associate "nice bright colours" with "it must be a gigantea!". Whereas in reality, although I think gigantea is a nicer anemone, the really bright coloured carpets tend actually to be haddoni.

I'm sort of with you on the haddoni question. I had a haddoni anemone for some 3 years and while it was gorgeous - it became unmanageably huge (24" diameter) and voraciously hungry. It ended up in tanks much larger than mine (MUCH larger) and even so I heard it ate tangs, a Moorish idol, a plethora of invertebrates .. etc. Even if I was staring at a beautiful red haddoni, as nice as I think they are, I think I would be leery to ever try one again.

 

[sugartooth]

taylor: I already bought it and shipped to me before I figured out it wasn't gigantea. There was no apology, just a 'Yes, it does look like a Haddoni doesn't it?'.

delphinus: Yes, I ordered it from blue zoo. I had a credit from there and thought I would never use it, until I that red became available.