MACNA Rose Bubble Tip Anenome saga continues

[Scrandrew]

In our last episode, for all of you that have followed this story, I informed you how my rose tip bubble anemone had opted to spend its life, and impending death, in the predrilled overflow box of my all glass aquarium. If you remeber, it managed to crawl, or float, into the 1/2 inch gap in between the tank high pieces of black plastic that constitute the barrier for the predrilled overflow boxes. Since the day after MACNA, the anemone has resided inside, completely devoid of light, to my knowledge.

I tried to fashion a net at the top of the overflow, perhaps, to catch him if he released. Every day I checked the net, to find nothing.

I went through the gambit of the grieving process. Sad because I was really fond of the animal. Guilt because I lost an animal in my charge. Next, anger, because the brainless animal was so stupid as to have gone there. Finally, the resolution that I would never see the animal again. I capped off this process today, by purchasing a long tentacled plate - to give me the appearance of an anemone but without the drawback of it wandering.

Then...

Episode 2 - A New Hope (obvious Star Wars reference)

While mixing up my batch of Kalk for the evening, I manged to see some sort of lump on the side of my 150 gallon rubbermade stock tank sump. "What is that, I thought?" Well...guess what. Here is the anemone, a bit worse for wear, attached to the side. Apparently, after his month long sojourn in darkness, he decided to release, avoid my net to catch him, and then, after taking a wild ride through my piping system, managed to attach to the side and live in very turbulent water, with ominous impeller intakes close by. Furthermore, I cannot envision the water conditions as great because I dose my Kalk into there. Despite that, here he is.

I looked at him. He appeared to have bleached a bit, but, does still have large portions that are the same awesome bright red. Accordingly, I pose these queries to you, in hopes of saving this damn animal.

1. Will his zoxanthellae (sp?) recover?
2. How do I remove him without injury? I have been told to message the base, gently pull him off, etc. In my life, I can truly tell you, I never envisioned giving foot message to a cnidarian.
3. Assuming I get him off, how do I make this jackass atach and not do this crap again?

Please, please, please, please help me...

Andy


Oh, and by the way, I put a drop cord icandescent bulb over him, and he has inflated a bit.

A~

 

[Toddrtrex]

1 ) Yes it will recover and repopulate
2 ) Try to wedge your finger b/t its foot and the side of the tank. Just do your best not to damage the foot.
3) Luck. But, IME, they like to have their foot deep in a rock crevice

 

[traveller7]

While I understand the frustration, they will wander until they find a suitable habitat. Those include substrate, water conditions, lighting, feeding, circulation, lack of predators, etc.

As suggested, a rock pile with crevices is a good start. Preferably one with sand surrounding it.

Let's keep the vocabulary family friendly.

Thanks.

 

[Jovreefer]

HAHA your post made me laugh! I loved the commentary.

I'm by far an expert in anem's, & I know this is not the right solution but maybe try lowering your flow for a day till it attaches. It will move once you increase your flow again but hopefully it will walk & not float to the overflow.

 

[Scrandrew]

The latest...

For better or worse, I decided to use the credit card method. I slowly scraped him off of the sump wall. I may have caused very minor damage, or, I could have just caused him to slime. I then put a rock in my tank. In an attempt to prevent this from happening again, I built an anemone cage. I took an empty bucket from an oceanic 200 gallon salt mix. I cut off the bottom and aprt of the top, leaving me with about a 14 or so inch bottomless and topless cylinder. I then drilled three holes near the top and cut a piece of eggcrate the size of the top. I attached with cable ties, through the three holes, the eggcrate lid to the top, and, slid the cylinder over the rock and into the gravel. Effectively, I have prevented the harsh flow from hitting him, but, allowed light to come in to the top. Hopefully he will attach to the rock, and then, I will remove the sleave and he can live out his life in peace.

What will probably happen, however, is that he will attach to the inside of the cylinder and I will be screwed again. If that happens, at this point, I am so aggravated, I will just let it happen. As Kramer from Seinfeld stated in refrence to Fredo the parrot who ate the key, if he does this again, he is weak and stupid.

Anyway, at about 11:00 P.M., I was cutting a bucket, once again, elbows covered in saltwater. My wife stated to me, you are doing all of this, what did that anemone cost? I answered, $9.99, of course, the cost of every expensive coral in my tank. She added, would you go through all of this trouble for me? I answered, of course not!

The lengths that I will go through to allow my daughter to see two clownfish swimming in an anemone are boundless.

A~

 

[Scrandrew]

Well...two days later, I removed the bucket and cage contraption. He attached to the rock!!! He also has about 80% or so of his color. He was opened up well today. I tried to build him a bit of a cove in which to live. I may have turned the corner.

A~

 

[gberry]

Congratulations on your recovery! I was wondering what had happened to your spelunking anenome :lol:

 

[Slakker]

Congrats on finding him and getting him introduced successfully into the tank!!!

 

[Scrandrew]

This AM, he is in the exact same place and he is opening pretty nicely. I think I will try to feed him a piece of raw shrimp. If this thing does survive and thrive, it will be such a story!

A~

 

[Scrandrew]

He just ate a piece of uncooked shrimp from Shoprite. It was in his mouth within 15 minutes. I cannot believe that he survived this battle and appears to be doing so well. Plus, he seems to like where he is as he has not yet moved.

A~

 

[Noise]

Glad to hear the anemone made it.

A bit off topic, but this story makes me ask, has anyone found that RBTAs are hardier than green or brown ones? Or is that just my experience?

 

[Scrandrew]

I am not the person to really ask, as this is my first BTA. But, I can tell you, although I am not completely sure I am out of the woods with this specimen, this RBTA appears to be incredibly resilient.

A~