Magnifica + Gigantea....

[E.J. Coral]

..... Should I do it?

I currently have a Gigantea that has been with me for 8 months in my 60 cube. I am upgrading to a larger tank, and will be adding more anemones. Either a few more gigantea, or a magnifica. What do you guys think? Anyone have this combo for an extended period of time. The new tank is 48x30x17, and the total water volume will be around 150 gallons.......

 

[GSMguy]

no i would not do it, i would concentrate on growing a really large Gigantea. or add one more gigantea that would be cool too.

power feed it/them 3x weekly until huge, that would be way cool and you dont risk losing both anemones from chemical warfare between species,

 

[Mirror Pond]

I tried adding a very healthy gigantea that had been in an established tank for six months to my 180 that had a one year old magnifica. The gigantea lasted two weeks before it perished. I have read where people have claimed to have done this but my experience was not good. I have since added added a second magnifica to the tank and both of the mags are doing very well.

 

[Gig 'em]

I would be on the safe side and just get another aquarium if you really wanted to have a magnifica. Those two animals shouldn't have their loves risked

 

[phender]

This is a difficult question to get any hard data on because both gigantea and magnifica are so hard to keep. Seemingly healthy specimens will often die without warning.

"Ron Popeil" had this combination. I don't know if both individuals are still doing well or not.

I had them both at opposite ends of a 48" tank for over a year before the gigantea mysteriously died. I think it may have been a bad silverside but I will never really know.

I got another gigantea for the same tank about a month ago. So far both the mag and the gigantea are doing very well. The mag has actually but on a growth spurt.

It is difficult to prove that chemical warfare is the downfall of an anemone when they are so difficult to keep even under perfect conditions.

 

[E.J. Coral]

Thanks for the comments. It's a tough call .... but because healthy specimens of either species are so hard to come by, and because I have become quite attached to my current anemone, I'll probably stick to the same species .... I just wanted t see if anyone had been successful in a reasonable water volume..

Phender,

Do you only feed meaty food to your gigantea. I have found that while mine will greedily devour chunks of meat, it just seems happier eating enriched Mysis and shredded fish? This is completely different than other anemones that I have kept....

 

[delphinus]

I had this combination for about almost two years before splitting them into separate tanks. I still have both. The tank in question was a 90g.

Ultimately, if you have healthy specimens, I think you will find that the carpet is the less demanding of the two. However, the odds of getting a carpet to acclimate into captivity are probably lower than the odds of getting a ritteri to acclimate into captivity (although both are notoriously bad.. it just seems to me that of the two, the gigantea carpets fare the worse).

In my observation, the two species inhabit different areas of the reef. Carpets closer to the rock/sand interface, and ritteris as high as they can go. Other than that they seem to have the same preferences for high flow and high light. That suggests to me that they could possibly overlap in a tank should the tank be sized and designed appropriately.

That said I agree that the better way to hedge the odds with those species in particular is to house them in their own habitats. Ultimately, it's a judgment call.

 

[Rod Buehler]

My mag (1) RBTA (1) and giganteas (2) are on the same system (different tanks, but a common sump). and I see no issues. My mag used to share the same tank with BTAs and a hadoni and sometimes brushing against each other with no issues. I do run carbon.

Your millage may vary

 

[E.J. Coral]

Delphinus and Rod,

What is the total water volume on the systems where you have kept them together? Thanks!

 

[delphinus]

Mine was a 90g with a 40g sump, I estimate total volume (when you take into account minusing the rock volume and the unused sump volume) to be 110g.

The 90g wasn't really an appropriate tank for the ritteri though (which is why I had to take it down). The two things I would consider "key learnings" for me (with this species) is 1) that size (as in dimensions) is probably more important than overall volume (ie., make sure that where-ever it sits, the anemone can't touch any side walls or adjacent rock structures that might be higher, otherwise expect it to move there) and 2) that they produce an incredible amount of nitrates (at least mine does) so be prepared to invest in a really good skimmer to help keep the DOC from accumulating. (I had nitrates upwards of 70-80ppm at times before upgrading to a larger skimmer and mesh modding it as well).

 

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12433603#post12433603 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by E.J. Coral
Phender,
Do you only feed meaty food to your gigantea. I have found that while mine will greedily devour chunks of meat, it just seems happier eating enriched Mysis and shredded fish? This is completely different than other anemones that I have kept....

I usually feed the gigantea a little mysis or the last little bit of Formula 1 everyday when I feed my fish.
I will feed it some fish (I am using mahi mahi right now because that is what I have), shrimp or scallop about once every other week or so.

 

[delphinus]

FWIW I only feed my gigantea's mysis. I find that the feeding response is more vigourous with planktonic sized foods over larger pieces. They react quite vigourously to Cyclops-eeze and that's a really small particle size.

Mahi Mahi ... Phil - your anemones eat better than I do.