Let me see if I can answer a bunch of questions and post a couple pics all in the same post.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10523491#post10523491 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by marc price
Originally posted</a> by phender
"If you ever see a mertensii in person there will be no doubt as to what it is."
now that we're on the subject, i haven't seen one but am curious about the threat to non-clownfish in the aquarium? i've read that they have non-adhesive tentacles, where would they fit on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being h. crispa and 5 s. haddoni?
That is what it says in the Fautin book, but it is not true. They don't stick so hard that the tentacles get pulled off, but they do stick. I would say about a 3 on your scale. I used to think that they weren't able to catch fish, but but mine zapped a rabbitfish one day (rabbitfish are reeeally stupid). About 4-5 days later, when I thought the rabbitfish was just about healed, the mertens ate him. That was the only fish I lost in 5 years.
Giganteas come in in spurts. It seem like Christmas and the end of summer you will see them, but very seldom inbetween. I had been on a waiting list for 6 months with an LFS who has a really good connection, but they just weren't being shipped.
It is pretty tough to find big blue giganteas for less than $120-$200 retail even on the West Coast.
It is getting tougher for people to "cherry pick" at the wholesalers. Several don't allow online retailers or aquarium service business in. You have to have a storefront. Still others will let in the online guys and the service guys, but they have a $350 minimum. There are only a couple places that I can think of where it would be worth it to "cherry pick". One of those happens to be where a lot of the blue zoas, colorful sps and rare lps are brought in. I do get the feeling that some of the wholesalers pull stuff on their own and make some calls to people who specifically deal in rare stuff.
The anemone is a little under lit, but it worked really well for a previous gigantea that after doubling its size over the course of 18 months suddenly died of mysterious causes.
It is under a 150 watt XM 10k de bulb that is 8 inches from the water's surface. The anemone itself is only 2" under the water.
For flow, its about 7" away and directly at the same level from a 1" round return from a Mag 9.5. The Mag goes through a SQWD so the flow on the anemone starts and stops about every 7 seconds. There is also a Seio 620 about 6" away that blows constantly tangent to the front of the anemone. (and you thought you would never need geometry
)
As of now, it has a great feeding response. I have target fed it twice in the four days I've had it. Its mouth is as tight as it could possibly be. The tentacles are dense and long. Best of all it is holding itself in a wave and not flat. I hope I didn't just jinx myself. Giganteas can go bad really fast, especially in the first month or so.
Now the pictures:
