Minh's Purple S. gigantea
- Thread starter OrionN
- Start date
OrionN
Moved on
Thanks everybody.
All is not well with my anemone. It moved yesterday from front to back of the rock it is on now wedge between the rock and the "main reef". It is a small tank so there isn't much of a "main reef".
The optimistic part of me said that he is getting larger, eating, no longer bleached. The pessimistic side of me said his mouth looks bad, and he seem to be less rigid in term of holding his folds again the current and hugs the rock and sand more than he used to be a week ago. I was home and observed all day yesterday. I did not think that he is improving, rather, he seem to be moving backward health wise.
I cannot decide if his tentacles is getting longer so I must said that it is not. I keep the fish with him for about 4 days. Friday I saw that they put their face into his mouth so I removed them. They did not go all the way into him like I saw before like my previous fail attempt to get an Gigantea. Anyway, the tank is fish less at this time.
The tank have been established for more than 2 years but the whole last year was just there with light and top off water. It was full of macro-algae, pods some Xenia and some SPS. I only top off water, not significant feeding, no water change for at least 6 months. I clan up the whole thing. Do a 100% water change, take the rock out clean all the macro algae off, remove the damsel, vacuum the sand about 10 days before I put the anemone in. It is very stable and I have change 5 gallons every week since (out of 30 g tank). The SPS and Xenia I put in the tank grew like crazy. The Xenia is pulsing well and the clams are extending well and also growing in the month that I have them in this tank. Coraline algae is also start to grow with water changes and removal of the macro-algae. It is light by a 150 W double ended MH 10,000K. Right now circulation is by a single Vortech MP 10. Temperature is set at 83 degree and stable. It is cooled by fan when the light is on and I have a hang on CPR skimmer in the back. It produce some skimmates and is a place for the temp probe and for the heater.
I fed him every other day since got back from vacation 1 week ago. He is eating but seem to eat slower yesterday than he did before. As far as I know there were no additive or preservative added tot he shrimp. Human food but the shrimp probably not the freshest shrimp I have eaten. It does have some what of a strong shrimp smell. IME, fresh seafood have almost no odor to it. I think I will get some fish at the market and change his diet nest week. I will reduce the amount of food I feed him.
Here is a picture I just took. I thinks he looks a little better today than all day yesterday. The mouth, which cannot be seen easily, stills open. Overall, I am pessimistic at this point regarding how this anemone will do long term.
All is not well with my anemone. It moved yesterday from front to back of the rock it is on now wedge between the rock and the "main reef". It is a small tank so there isn't much of a "main reef".
The optimistic part of me said that he is getting larger, eating, no longer bleached. The pessimistic side of me said his mouth looks bad, and he seem to be less rigid in term of holding his folds again the current and hugs the rock and sand more than he used to be a week ago. I was home and observed all day yesterday. I did not think that he is improving, rather, he seem to be moving backward health wise.
I cannot decide if his tentacles is getting longer so I must said that it is not. I keep the fish with him for about 4 days. Friday I saw that they put their face into his mouth so I removed them. They did not go all the way into him like I saw before like my previous fail attempt to get an Gigantea. Anyway, the tank is fish less at this time.
The tank have been established for more than 2 years but the whole last year was just there with light and top off water. It was full of macro-algae, pods some Xenia and some SPS. I only top off water, not significant feeding, no water change for at least 6 months. I clan up the whole thing. Do a 100% water change, take the rock out clean all the macro algae off, remove the damsel, vacuum the sand about 10 days before I put the anemone in. It is very stable and I have change 5 gallons every week since (out of 30 g tank). The SPS and Xenia I put in the tank grew like crazy. The Xenia is pulsing well and the clams are extending well and also growing in the month that I have them in this tank. Coraline algae is also start to grow with water changes and removal of the macro-algae. It is light by a 150 W double ended MH 10,000K. Right now circulation is by a single Vortech MP 10. Temperature is set at 83 degree and stable. It is cooled by fan when the light is on and I have a hang on CPR skimmer in the back. It produce some skimmates and is a place for the temp probe and for the heater.
I fed him every other day since got back from vacation 1 week ago. He is eating but seem to eat slower yesterday than he did before. As far as I know there were no additive or preservative added tot he shrimp. Human food but the shrimp probably not the freshest shrimp I have eaten. It does have some what of a strong shrimp smell. IME, fresh seafood have almost no odor to it. I think I will get some fish at the market and change his diet nest week. I will reduce the amount of food I feed him.
Here is a picture I just took. I thinks he looks a little better today than all day yesterday. The mouth, which cannot be seen easily, stills open. Overall, I am pessimistic at this point regarding how this anemone will do long term.
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Reef1589
Anemones for life
i think your over thinking it, it looks good, and it has gotten darker...
i would say mine took 2-3 weeks for mouth to fully close, and it did pull a houdini on me that worried me as well, when i first set it in the tank it stayed put, and i would say about 4-5 weeks later, for about a week, it was moving in about a 4''-6'' area of where it was already put, i dont know what it was doing or why it was doing it, but since that, it has not moved since.. i think it was deciding if it liked being attached to the rock or being attached to the bottom of the tank.. (where it currently is attached now)..
anyway you can snap another pic of the mouth?
i would say mine took 2-3 weeks for mouth to fully close, and it did pull a houdini on me that worried me as well, when i first set it in the tank it stayed put, and i would say about 4-5 weeks later, for about a week, it was moving in about a 4''-6'' area of where it was already put, i dont know what it was doing or why it was doing it, but since that, it has not moved since.. i think it was deciding if it liked being attached to the rock or being attached to the bottom of the tank.. (where it currently is attached now)..
anyway you can snap another pic of the mouth?
jonnybravo22
New member
I'm not an expert and don't want to offer contrary advice too strongly, but I would not feed it as much as you do. Particularly when settling in a new tank I think the nem needs some time to just relax. It takes significant effort and energy for it to eat and digest food. also each time you put something in there you risk it having problems digesting until you figure out what it likes (I suggest Rod's and small pieces of scallop, you can buy frozen from grocery store and thaw a small piece at a time). I have not directly fed my anemone in months. I have 2 clowns in there, the only food the anemone gets are the scraps the clowns bring it when i feed frozen every week or 2. if you have good lighting the nem can go a long time without direct feeding, and while you're just letting it settle in, that would be my approach.
Certainly you don't need to feed it every other day. This makes it grow larger, but I don't think it increases chances of survival. I would feed once or twice in a week or 2 just so it has energy if it needs it while acclimating to the light and so you are comfortable that it can eat but then I'd leave it alone. In other words, I don't think there is any danger of "starving" the anemone, provided you have good lighting.
FWIW my clowns put their heads in the nem's mouth from time to time.
Are you running carbon? I would suggest it. Also the temp is a little high as a benchmark, if it goes up a degree or 2 to 85 in the hot summer i'd think that's higher than you'd want. I keep mine at 81. Hope it holds up, it looks very pretty.
Certainly you don't need to feed it every other day. This makes it grow larger, but I don't think it increases chances of survival. I would feed once or twice in a week or 2 just so it has energy if it needs it while acclimating to the light and so you are comfortable that it can eat but then I'd leave it alone. In other words, I don't think there is any danger of "starving" the anemone, provided you have good lighting.
FWIW my clowns put their heads in the nem's mouth from time to time.
Are you running carbon? I would suggest it. Also the temp is a little high as a benchmark, if it goes up a degree or 2 to 85 in the hot summer i'd think that's higher than you'd want. I keep mine at 81. Hope it holds up, it looks very pretty.
OrionN
Moved on
Thanks Robbie. I took another picture of the mouth and here it is:
Johnny,
I keep the tank at 83 degree because that is how hot it get with my cooling mechanism for the tank in the late afternoon before the light goes out. It actually reach that temperature soon after the light and fan goes on. I set the heater so that it does not decrease at night. I think many people documented that Gigantea requires high end temperature. The longest captive Giganea that I know (Rod's Gigantea) being keep at about 86 degrees.
I am feeding them to try to get them recover from the stress of shipping and adapting to my aquarium. Once (if ever) I think that it is healthy again I will not feed it much if any. I do not spot feed my anemones normally unless I want it to grow, or breed (my H. Malu). I will certainly feed it less and see if it change any in the next few weeks. Thanks
Johnny,
I keep the tank at 83 degree because that is how hot it get with my cooling mechanism for the tank in the late afternoon before the light goes out. It actually reach that temperature soon after the light and fan goes on. I set the heater so that it does not decrease at night. I think many people documented that Gigantea requires high end temperature. The longest captive Giganea that I know (Rod's Gigantea) being keep at about 86 degrees.
I am feeding them to try to get them recover from the stress of shipping and adapting to my aquarium. Once (if ever) I think that it is healthy again I will not feed it much if any. I do not spot feed my anemones normally unless I want it to grow, or breed (my H. Malu). I will certainly feed it less and see if it change any in the next few weeks. Thanks
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jonnybravo22
New member
Ok. In my view feeding it a lot early causes more stress, not less. But I dont know the answer to what makes an anemone survive or not.
Good luck with your approach. :beer:
Jamie1210
Active member
might be over thinking it
might be over thinking it
Hi, I've been following your purple gig thread, and wanted to chime in. My blue one's mouth was always a bit open when I got him at 4 weeks and it freaked me out like no other. HOWEVER, he never deflated or moved during the the whole time I got it. The true percs would want to dive into the slightly open mouth, but I finally just removed them. I really think having clowns with a stressed 'nem only causes more stress to the 'nem. Eventually, the mouth closed 100%, and everything is GREAT til this day. Your gigantea looks good to me. No balding tentacles, no inflation/deflation ... I think it will be ok, just my opinion.
might be over thinking it
Hi, I've been following your purple gig thread, and wanted to chime in. My blue one's mouth was always a bit open when I got him at 4 weeks and it freaked me out like no other. HOWEVER, he never deflated or moved during the the whole time I got it. The true percs would want to dive into the slightly open mouth, but I finally just removed them. I really think having clowns with a stressed 'nem only causes more stress to the 'nem. Eventually, the mouth closed 100%, and everything is GREAT til this day. Your gigantea looks good to me. No balding tentacles, no inflation/deflation ... I think it will be ok, just my opinion.
Reef1589
Anemones for life
Thanks Robbie. I took another picture of the mouth and here it is:
i definantly see what your saying now between a fat mouth and a skinny mouth...
when was the last time you did a water change?
ive heard stories of where people got S. Gig's and did awsome for week 1-2... and around week 3-4 they started to go down hill... i did have that kind of happen with my other purple one in my 150g that i bought the same time as my purple in my 65g shallow.. however the one in the 150 never closed his mouth really at all..and around the 4 week mark we took it out of the 150 and moved to its own QT tank.. needless to say it did not end well..
but the difference between mine and yours, is mine didnt have a firm stance like yours does... yours still looks promising, because of its firm look in my opinion..
but that mouth too would make me nervous as well, i would just say watch him and monitor him, idk what else you could really do aside from a water change
Jamie1210
Active member
If I remember correctly, the first week I got it, I left it alone, the mouth was tight. I started feeding tiny pieces of shrimp on Week 2--but even that was rare. I believe I only fed it 2x's the whole week. On Week 4 when the mouth was open, I still fed it very seldomly, although I remember that it definitely ate even when mouth was slightly open. It would eat, look ok, and then mouth went back to being open slightly, which really freaked me out.
I also remember that mine even bleached slightly in the beginning, so I added eggcrate for shade in the beginning few weeks as well and slowly acclimated it to my lighting. That helped w/the bleaching a lot.
Can you maybe play around w/the flow (point it in a slightly different direction?) and adjust it a bit and see if it responds differently?
I looked at your picture above and yes, yours appeared to look like mine when mine had the mouth open.
Also, when you feed it, are you 100% sure that it's not throwing it back up? When I had sick giganteas that did not make it, they could never keep the food down, so I always knew from then that they were probably goners
I also remember that mine even bleached slightly in the beginning, so I added eggcrate for shade in the beginning few weeks as well and slowly acclimated it to my lighting. That helped w/the bleaching a lot.
Can you maybe play around w/the flow (point it in a slightly different direction?) and adjust it a bit and see if it responds differently?
I looked at your picture above and yes, yours appeared to look like mine when mine had the mouth open.
Also, when you feed it, are you 100% sure that it's not throwing it back up? When I had sick giganteas that did not make it, they could never keep the food down, so I always knew from then that they were probably goners
fishmanstan
New member
How much did you pay for him, Orion?
God.
New member
Hey Orion thought I might add my 2 cents. When I got mine it was bleached more then yours was so I fed it at most 2x a week with fresh shrimp. The first week I had it I only fed once. After 3 weeks I switched to tuna loin chunks that I soaked in aminomega by brightwell. It has highly unsaturated fatty acids or HUFA and I fed that once a week until about 2 weeks ago and now it just gets pellets everyone and then but I think giving them plenty of time to digest is important. Also on temperature... I have a 20 long with a 250w MH 6" from surface so heat and evaporation is a struggle. One day my tank hit 86 and he seemed to LOVE it. Awesome extension and inflation. Hope this helps
OrionN
Moved on
Not much change. It certainly not worst but may be improved a little last 2-3 days. I have not feed it since Saturday AM. Just snap a picture right before the light goes out this evening.
I can easily adjust the temperature of this tank. My be I will bring it up one degree a day for the next day or two to 85 F.
I can easily adjust the temperature of this tank. My be I will bring it up one degree a day for the next day or two to 85 F.
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OrionN
Moved on
OK, Pick your poison. Which is worst? Gigantea with open mouth about 1-1.5 cm2 with paper thin lip or somewhat of a larger mouth with lips that is fuller and fleshier more like normal lip thickness?
IMO the larger mouth but fuller lip is better. I have had Gigantea with open small mouth thin lip that progress to get worst and worst and died on me.
Today is the 4 weeks since I put him into the tank. He seem to be better the last few days. Will post picture later today when I get home.
IMO the larger mouth but fuller lip is better. I have had Gigantea with open small mouth thin lip that progress to get worst and worst and died on me.
Today is the 4 weeks since I put him into the tank. He seem to be better the last few days. Will post picture later today when I get home.
OrionN
Moved on
I turn the temperature up to 84 last night. This afternoon I got home early and found this in the tank. The mouth is smaller and also the anemone is moving back to the front of the rock I placed him on. He is looking well and is holding himself above the substrate against the current. I have not seem him looking this healthy for a long time. The mouth is still open but much smaller, and he looks like this for several hours so far since I got home.
IMO he is better. Is it because the increase in temp, due to not feeding or just his recovery from moving into a new tank naturally or all three, or combination of some of the three? I am not sure. I will continue not feeding him until I think he is completely healthy. Will continue with 1/5 water change weekly and will increase temperature to 95 degree tonight. Will see how he does tomorrow. Here are two pictures this afternoon, 4 week since I took him home.
IMO he is better. Is it because the increase in temp, due to not feeding or just his recovery from moving into a new tank naturally or all three, or combination of some of the three? I am not sure. I will continue not feeding him until I think he is completely healthy. Will continue with 1/5 water change weekly and will increase temperature to 95 degree tonight. Will see how he does tomorrow. Here are two pictures this afternoon, 4 week since I took him home.
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OrionN
Moved on
The anemone looks good this PM. I turned the temp to 85 degree last night. The tank is doing great, tones of Coraline algae growing and the Xenia and SPS are growing well. The clams fully extended and looks well. I thin the Xenia will show temp stress if I increase the tank temperature a few more degrees.
Attached is a picture of the anemone tonight. The circulation is great and the tentacles are moving too fast thus blurred. Please excuse the dirty front glass. I have not clean it for weeks.
In the future if this anemone get better, I think I will do an experiment on temp of the tank and subjectively how I think the anemone is doing along with standardized pictures of the anemone at certain time of the day. I am getting ahead of myself here. The mouth is still open a little. I think he is on his way to recover.
Attached is a picture of the anemone tonight. The circulation is great and the tentacles are moving too fast thus blurred. Please excuse the dirty front glass. I have not clean it for weeks.
In the future if this anemone get better, I think I will do an experiment on temp of the tank and subjectively how I think the anemone is doing along with standardized pictures of the anemone at certain time of the day. I am getting ahead of myself here. The mouth is still open a little. I think he is on his way to recover.
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OrionN
Moved on
I went out of town over the weekend. Just got back this evening. The anemone looks great. However he still have a small open mouth.
Other than the anemone, SPS and Xenia, I got 3 clams, a Marine Beta and a Mandarin fish in this tank. I also just put into the tank a Pair of baby Picasso clowns. Coralline also start to grow like crazy and start to grow on the new MP10 and side glass and rock.
I was feeding the Marine Beta and clowns some frozen mysis. The anemone caught some and have no problem get them over to his mouth. Other than this, I have not feed him in the last 10 days or so.
Mid of last week, I crank the temp of the tank to 85 degree. Everything seem to do great with this temperature. The SPS are growing fast and Xenia having no problem. The clams expanding well without problem either. I am setting up a 100 g tank for him (30X30X30). Once he is healthy, I will move him into this tank and keep my 30 g cube as a anemone quarantine tank. At this point I am optimistic that I have a keeper. Still not out of the deep wood yet but I think I see some light ahead and maybe some clearing up ahead.
I clean the front glass of the tank so the water is not optimal for pictures. I will tank some pictures and post them tomorrow.
Other than the anemone, SPS and Xenia, I got 3 clams, a Marine Beta and a Mandarin fish in this tank. I also just put into the tank a Pair of baby Picasso clowns. Coralline also start to grow like crazy and start to grow on the new MP10 and side glass and rock.
I was feeding the Marine Beta and clowns some frozen mysis. The anemone caught some and have no problem get them over to his mouth. Other than this, I have not feed him in the last 10 days or so.
Mid of last week, I crank the temp of the tank to 85 degree. Everything seem to do great with this temperature. The SPS are growing fast and Xenia having no problem. The clams expanding well without problem either. I am setting up a 100 g tank for him (30X30X30). Once he is healthy, I will move him into this tank and keep my 30 g cube as a anemone quarantine tank. At this point I am optimistic that I have a keeper. Still not out of the deep wood yet but I think I see some light ahead and maybe some clearing up ahead.
I clean the front glass of the tank so the water is not optimal for pictures. I will tank some pictures and post them tomorrow.
OrionN
Moved on
I snapped a few pictures just as the light turn on this AM. The anemone not fully extended yet but still looking good.
The two babies A. percula, and a FTS today. I don't think I show off the two clowns at their best. Maybe in a few weeks. The spots on the glass are actually pods. The front glass I just clean last night.
FTS
Young A. percula
The two babies A. percula, and a FTS today. I don't think I show off the two clowns at their best. Maybe in a few weeks. The spots on the glass are actually pods. The front glass I just clean last night.
FTS
Young A. percula
