Malu or Crispa?

T

thetim6

New member
I picked up a sebae anemone on Saturday from a great LFS. They had a bunch of bleached H. crispas but this one sebae looked like a malu and isn't bleached, so I bought it for my pink skunk clowns. It was in a tank labeled 'assorted anemones 29$' with GBTA, h. auroras, LTA, and a few bleached crispas. They also had another tank of anemones that contained quite a few large ritteri's, a couple of blue and red carpets, and a larger sebae that appeared to be a malu as well.

The one I bought has a deep golden yellow foot and very sticky white verrucae. It also has somewhat sparse tentacles which vary tremendously in length, but with none longer than 1.5 inches.

It seems to be really healthy but it has shrunk up a few times, and it's mouth gets opened. It looked like it might have been crapping though. I've tried feeding it silver sides (small pieces) twice now. It looks promising with him closing up around the food and then he opens back up and eventually lets the food float away. What should I feed him? I know meaty marine foods like shrimp, clams, squid, fish, etc, but what's the best?



Here are some pictures:

IMG_4696.jpg


IMG_4705.jpg


IMG_4706.jpg


IMG_4708.jpg




So, finally, what do you anemone experts (and amateurs:) ) think? I know h. malu is rare in the hobby, but even if this is a H. crispa does it look healthy? He buried his foot the first night in sand, but it's actually attached to rock. He moved 4 inches from where I placed him, out of the light, and hasn't moved since. Thanks for looking, advice is welcome too.
 
i'm thinking H. malu because the oral disc color extends 3/4 way up on some of it's tentacles, giving them an almost banded look tword the top and because of the two toneed pattern on the oral disc. the tentacles are small enough to be H. malu however the anemone is still very small so i'm not 100% sure. will be interesting to see it in a year or two.
can you post a few pic's of the underside of the oral disc/column?
 
I would guess H. crispa myself. It looks very much like the many H. crispa found in lfs. Though it doesn't look to be in the best of health, it's not completely bleached. If it attaches and starts eating in the next few days, there is reason for optimism.
 
Sometimes it will lift up the oral disc, the yellow foot is easy to see when it does this. It's bigger than it looks in that picture, you can see how it's all folded up. It folds into a clover pattern and completely surrounds the foot and under side of the disc, blocking them from sight.
 
It's far from bleached compared to most sebaes I see in LFS. The other sebaes had much longer tentacles and were all snow white in color with purple tips.

It attached the first night and hasn't moved in over 72 hours so I'm optimistic.
 
Will do, thanks everyone. In the meantime, are silversides adequate for this anemone or should I give him some variety?
 
I would say variety, as in shrimp (fresh human consumption type), squid, scallop, etc. Just make sure the food is fresh and cut it into little pieces, no larger than 1/4 inch cube. It's good to hear it has attached, that is definitely a good sign. There are many examples of people bringing an anemone back that started off in considerably less health than yours.
 
Small pieces of silversides, fresh tuna, squid is good but I have had more luck in getting my H. Crispa to eat small pieces of sea scallops. I try to feed mine twice a week. Mine refuses shrimp no matter how fresh it is...I don't know if anyone else has a sebae that won't eat shrimp.
 
I'll buy some scallops and squid to try next. Thanks for the advice, Christina and Gary.

Here's a pic of it shrunk down, marc price (and anyone else who cares to comment.):
IMG_4735.jpg

Sorry it's so blurry, I had to take it at an angle looking through the glass to see the base and the base isn't visible from the sides.
 
christina that's too funny. mine loves table shrimp about much as perch but wont eat orange roughy. it even eats bassa filet which i hate more than shad, haven't tried feeding it that oily fish. thankfully we missed the shad season this year as i can only eat that stuff once or twice and never without the diced tomato olive oil and garlic sauce.
thetim, that column has a good deal of yellow/orange which is more common in H. malu than crispa and i'm still thinking the same as in my first re.
 
Physically, it does fit descriptions of H. malu and it appeared quite different than the bleached H. crispas I frequently see. One thing's for sure, time will tell!


Thanks again everyone.
 
These last pictures should shed some light on the situation, what do you guys think now?

I tried feeding him a piece of silverside last night. He held onto it for a couple hours, right by his mouth. When I went to bed at 11 PM last night he was still holding the food but hadn't swallowed it. This morning he looks great, he has been shrinking up less and less as the days move on and he stays shrunk up for less than 1 hour at most.

Is it possible I got an anemone that doesn't like silversides? I'm going to buy a couple pieces of fresh shrimp today and give it a try. He has a good feeding response and very sticky tentacles, but he doesn't seem interested in silver sides.

Which is great because I Just bought a huge pack of San Francisco bay brand silver sides!
 
not really.. H. Crispa's and H. Malu's pretty much look the same under the disc and foot. The oral disc, tentacle size and the look of the tentacles is what helps me determine which one it is.

When spot feeding them..set the food on its mouth and not its tentacles. Hold it on its mouth until it starts to pull the food in. Mine will eat silversides if I am determined to feed it that. Really..you should try small pieces of sea scallops..that gave me the fastest feeding response. I know, how can they get that food in the wild? Well they probably can't but anemones love it.
 
So if the tentacles exceed what length is it definitively H. crispa? It's going to take a while of feeding to be certain if the tentacles are short from hunger, but that sounds like the easiest way to determine the species.

I'll try to put the food right over his mouth and hold it there Christina. I was just putting it on the tentacles near the mouth. Hopefully I have more luck with your technique.

Also, do you use frozen scallops or fresh ones? I guess it really doesn't matter as long as it's uncooked?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Ritteri Swollen Mouth
Replies
8
Views
606
Bakeman
B
rrrrob
Thoughts on Purigen?
Replies
11
Views
577
alejandrodia
A
R
Clownfish in a small tank
Replies
13
Views
2K
Reefing102
Reefing102
R
Midas blenny missing
Replies
5
Views
175
griss
griss
A
First SPS coral. Is this bleaching?
Replies
6
Views
383
apavlik2
A
Back
Top