magnifica or gigantea??

[TheOtherReefer]

I have a q for all those who have had success and no so much success keeping these beautiful anemones. First off-fwiw- I have kept several bta, long tentacle, condys and a haddonni with good success and have a substantial amout of experience in the hobby. Enough experience to research anything I have not kept to make sure I can keep it happy and healthy...so that's why I am here. The anemone will be in this tank for about a year then it, with the pair of percs, will be moved to a 120 gallon.

So the question.

I have a pair of onyx true percs, which anemone would be more suited for a host. Obviously maintanence is an issue.


Heteractis magnifica or Stichodactyla gigantea???


specs: running 9 months, 144 watts (8 x 18 t5 HO current pro fixture & current 2 x 18 fixture), 18 inch depth in tank, fuge/sump/octopus skimmer, 14 x per hour water turnover rate, 80 degrees, all parameters stable, no other fish in the tank, no corals in tank (yet..maybe), 60 total gallons, 5 gallon weekly water change, coralife UV.

early thanks to all who respond

cheers...

 

[phender]

Light and water flow requirements for the two are similar.

The set up of your tank will be quite different.
IME, the gigantea will want to have its foot attached to a rock in a hidden spot. That may be in a rock crevice or it may be under the sand. All of mine have been in a crevice. The oral disk needs to be able to spread out on the substrate a bit. This means sort of a tidepool-ish tank. The mag would do better in a pinnacle type set up away from the walls of the tank so it doesn't climb the glass.
The two types of tank will look very different. Its your choice as to which is more appealing.
The way the clowns interact with the mag is a little different than the carpet as well. Again, it is your choice.

As you probably know, the most crucial thing about either of these anemones is obtaining one that is healthy in the first place.
The difficulty in finding a healthy anemone of either species is about equal IMO. However, what is not equal is the ability to determine whether or not an individual is healthy. IMO, it is much easier to tell if a mag is healthy than a gigantea. It is very common(more common than not, actually) for a gigantea to look great and then a week after you bring it home it starts to go bad. IME, once you find a mag that looks good, I mean reeeally good, there is a pretty good chance that it will stay healthy for you.

Be aware that I have heard many stories about experienced anemone keepers who have lost well established mags during a simple tank upgrade. You should make every effort to make either anemones first home its final home. A 30 gal. cube is barely big enough for an initial home, considering both species can double their initial purchase size in a matter of several months.

 

[TheOtherReefer]

Phender, thanks for th advice.

I built my rock structure using dry base tonga branch rock and great stuff foam to connect them. The rocks stand against the back wall and there is about 85% of the sand that is open for them. The rocks are not leaning on the glass so there is a good amount of flow back there also. I designed this setup specifically for the anemones. I am going to have to move in about 9 months because my lease is up and when I do I am going to upgrade to the larger tank and transfer everything over. I would love to have the nem in its final home but that is just not a possibility right now. So pretty much the nem will have the entire cube of space for itself, I know it will be more than enough for the time being. I am not looking to initially purchase a large specimen, but if a healthy one comes around.... I do have very strict rules when it comes to my tanks. I am a minimalist and appreciate less is more. IN my 180 I only had 5 fish, 2 tangs, a pair of clowns, and a neon dottyback. The same has gone in my previous tanks, so I am going to make the best possible decision in chosing a nice nem for this size tank

AS for chosing a healthy nem, this seems to be the problem like you mentioned. I have been debating over where to get one from, local or internet. Mot sure yet. I am just going to keep reasearching and posting until I feel ready for one.

Again thanks for the info phender

 

[Flighty]

I echo everything phender said but will add to think of the anemone as that same mass of fish bioload wise. So a medium sized magnifica would be similar to several large tangs. That may be overestimating a little bit, but not a lot. I feed my anemones more food than all of the fish and other things in the tank combined.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

60 gallon aquarium is smallish for a mag

 

[phender]

If I were you I would wait until you move and get your other tank established before buying either of these very demanding anemones.

As far as where to get one, I would never trust an online dealer to pick out a healthy anemone for me. I think I have only purchased one anemone that I haven't gone back to see 3 or 4 times over the course of a week or so before I bought it. Even the one I bought on the same day, I paid for it and then came back to get it 2 hours later. You just can't get a good idea of an anemones health from a single moment in time, and especially not a photo.

 

[TheOtherReefer]

thanks a lot guys, think i might just get them a rbta until I move.