LTA growth opinions please!

[WaterbugJenn]

This is my first Nem (LTA) that I purchased in early January. The first pic is just after acclimating. My maroon clown found the nem within 15min, so it had to be isolated to let it settle in. Sorry the pics are not that great.

This pic is 1 week later. The Nem is fully extended.

The last two Pics were taken today.

What do you all think? I know it is not a unique specimen but thats OK. My next nem will be much better. Does it look healthy, and should I cut back my feedings before this becomes a monster. I should mention that my clown is just over 3in long.

 

[WaterbugJenn]

I am truly surprised that nobody here has any thoughts or opinions.

 

[seaduck]

Very nice lta-doreensis...It seems to have a green tint to it. I have one that is a little smaller that is hosting a small tomato clown. The lil tom. is pretty ruff on my nem so i feed him 1/4 silverside every other day. How often do u feed urs? From the looks of it ur clown is pretty gentle.....Nice pics too.

 

[WaterbugJenn]

Thanks Seaduck,
LOL no my maroon clown is a terror always digging up the nem and trying to push it around. It finaly worked itself partially under a rock so now the clown cant move it. I have been feeding it everyother day, small pieces of shrimp and squid. Oh and yea its color is green and brown, glows beautifully green under the actinics.
How long have you had your nem?

 

[seaduck]

Since x-mas..so far so good but i worry about the clown abuse. Its one tuff cookie to put up with hours of abuse...I call it abuse but i guess its the natural thing to do for both of them??? The clown gets particularly ruff when he sees me approaching the tank...some sort of protective response i guess.....I dont think he is as ruff when im away so hopefully the nem only has to put up with him for a few hours while im feeding/cleaning the tank.

 

[WaterbugJenn]

Cool, since x-mas so just a bit older than mine. You say yours is smaller than mine weird. This is why I posted this It just seems like my nem is growing really really fast. As you can see from the pics I wanted it to grow fast to sort of catch up with clown. So the clown did not beat it to death. I guess as it goes becareful what you wish for LOL. My maroon seems to act the same way, as you say maybe a protective thing. It is like the clown is saying this nem is mine back off. She likes to dig up all the sand around the nem. So every night I push the sand back in, this really ****es the clown off. LOL I have seen my clown rip a tentacle off of the nem. I do not believe this was meant to harm the nem. There must be a reason for the weird behavior. If only we knew why they do this.

Seaduck, do you have a pic of your LTA?

 

[DJChesnutRabbit]

LTA's are pretty tough. I nursed mine back to health from a little 3 inch, stubby tenicle, bleached thing. Now 6 months later it's tenticles are 4-5 inches long and it's about 10-12 inches wide.
Mine is hosting a true perc pair.

 

[WaterbugJenn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9357785#post9357785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DJChesnutRabbit
LTA's are pretty tough. I nursed mine back to health from a little 3 inch, stubby tenicle, bleached thing. Now 6 months later it's tenticles are 4-5 inches long and it's about 10-12 inches wide.
Mine is hosting a true perc pair.

DJChesnut, thats pretty cool.
How often do you feed yours? Do you hava a pic?

 

[seaduck]

No pics, i've been meaning to take some but just too busy..plus dont really know how to post pics and dont have the time to learn...sad isnt it.....My nem was as big as urs before i put the clown in...now the clown keeps beating it down to a smaller size so i keep feeding it hoping that it will outgrow the clown so i can add another tom. clown and have a pair. Then my poor nem will have double trouble....poor thing it's doomed...hope to have a mating pair of t.clowns cause i want to raise baby clowns...thats my goal...working on a pair of ocellaris in my 75 too.

 

[DJChesnutRabbit]

By request.

 

[WaterbugJenn]

Seaduck, your poor nem the clown is beating it that much. Ouch
Good luck on the Occelaris pair. I had an occelaris pair till an unfortunate accident with a pump. The poor guy, I only have my occelaris female in my 46bow.

Djchesnut, Thanks for the pics that is really pretty. If I keep feeding mine the way I am in no time should be as large as yours.
I am considering getting a maroon male and an occelaris male so that i have 2 pairs (2 dif tanks). I dont know how the introductions would go.

 

[cschweitzer]

Personally, I do not like cutting back feeding to control anems growth, although this is likely how they retain size in the wild. Personally, I think there are too many problems associated with feeding cutback. Besides, it looks like it has room to grow and an anem should be at least 2-3 times the size of the clowns hosting for both the anem and clown(s) to be comfortable. Beautiful nem and it looks like you're doing everything right for it. Keep up with what you're doing and although it will grow really big, it will be happy. And if it is not moving around, then you should have little worry of its growth rate as you will have ample time to move things accordingly.

 

[WaterbugJenn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9358639#post9358639 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cschweitzer
Personally, I do not like cutting back feeding to control anems growth, although this is likely how they retain size in the wild. Personally, I think there are too many problems associated with feeding cutback. Besides, it looks like it has room to grow and an anem should be at least 2-3 times the size of the clowns hosting for both the anem and clown(s) to be comfortable. Beautiful nem and it looks like you're doing everything right for it. Keep up with what you're doing and although it will grow really big, it will be happy. And if it is not moving around, then you should have little worry of its growth rate as you will have ample time to move things accordingly.

Thanks,
you are prob right about the cutting back of food. I tried to arrange my tank so the nem had a lot of room, but of course it had to settle right where I wanted it too. Amazingly it did within a few inches.

 

[DJChesnutRabbit]

I have to say, I cut back on feeding mine. Like I said it was quite sick, so I was feeding a siverside every 2-3 days. Now I feed about once a week, but it also eats any fish food that falls into it. It seems to be doing quite well, so I guess I'm doing something right.

 

[WaterbugJenn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9362830#post9362830 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DJChesnutRabbit
I have to say, I cut back on feeding mine. Like I said it was quite sick, so I was feeding a siverside every 2-3 days. Now I feed about once a week, but it also eats any fish food that falls into it. It seems to be doing quite well, so I guess I'm doing something right.

Certainly seems like you are doing things right, based on the look and size of your Nem. It does not look sick anymore. My nem seems to catch a lot of fish food as well. BY the way your nem seems to have an orange tone, is that its color or just the way the lights make it look.

 

[DJChesnutRabbit]

It is orange with a purple tinge to it. I've had T5's and now MH and the color has pretty much stayed the same. Although with the MH, the anemone has grown ALOT more zoanthe so it has brown up alot.

 

[davocean]

Waterbug, that nem is growing pretty fast.
That's good right now so it can get big enough to deal w/ your clown.
I personally only feed my nems once a week, one silverside each.
They do also pick up food from fish feedings.
Pics in gallery.