Is this anenome healthy

[hoostw]

I couldn't get a picture of the mouth, but it's closed. I've had him for 3 days...does it look OK, he's looking a little pale?

 

[55semireef]

Looks pretty healthy to me.

 

[raoul]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8987013#post8987013 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 55semireef
Looks pretty healthy to me.

Really? You don't think it's a little bleached? It looks a little light to me, could be the picture though.

 

[55semireef]

raoul, it could be a little bleached, but just a little. But overall, it looks to be a healthy anemone. Look at the foot. Looks like it has zooxanthellae. The tentacles though look a little light. Additional feedings and proper conditions will darken it up though.

 

[raoul]

So, we agree

You're right, overall not bad looking at all, but wanted to make sure hoostw had a heads up that it could use a little extra food.

 

[hoostw]

thanks. I'll see if I can feed it again today. Any tips on how to feed it. I tried mysis shrimp, but the powerheads get most of it...

 

[edwardbotha]

looks good, just give ti time to adjust and find a spot where he is happy

 

[vest0830]

kick the powerhead off while feeding. Also, try a few different types of food.

That anenome looks perfectly fine to me. Like someone else said, feed it and give it the light it needs and it will darken up

 

[raoul]

As mentioned above, turning off the power heads/flow in the tank helps a lot!

You can try mysis, but it can probably handle something a bit bigger. You can start with pencil eraser sized chunks of meaty foods, most people use silversides but you can also try shrimp, clams, scallops, etc..

Good luck & have fun!

 

[GSMguy]

silversides nems love em

 

[Siapin]

is it possible to give it too much lighting?...or if you want it to darken up, should it have less light?

 

[raoul]

The darker color comes from the zooxanthellae inside the nem. This is a symbiotic algae that the anemone feeds off of. Algae feeds mainly off of lighting which is one of the primary reasons nems are typically higher light animals. Luckily, anemones can supplement this algae by eating meaty foods too.

I'm not sure if food alone will help regain zoox. without good lighting, but it should stop the anemone from consuming itself out of starvation.

Unfortunately, some bleached anemones will hide from the light because it's too intense for them in a bleached state, but usually if they're eating then they can control their exposure to the light, especially btas like this one since they usually have their foot anchored in a cave or crevice that they can retract into.

Hope this helped a little