Missing new anemone!!!! HELP!!

jeromieg

New member
Ok, so I have to admit this is probably not my finest moment as a reef keeper. I gave in to my children and choose to buy a small (roughly 2-3" diameter when opened) green bubble tip with the juvenile black and orange clown pair that we purchased at our LFS. Not really an issue, except for the fact that I was not going to have a whole lot of time to watch them closely to ensure that the anemone was in a happy place.

Well, we left later that day after the anemone looked like it had moved around a bit and then taken residence in a nice slow flow area.

Now where I feel irresponsible as a reef keeper is that we left for a day and a half to go visit family and came back to a completely missing anemone!!!!

I have searched all over the tank and was told that since it was so small it may have found a small hole to hide in.

Now what! If it is closed and hiding in a hole, I assume that it is not eating and will end up dying! The rest of the tank is happy, no ammonia or nitrites. Nitrates are at 3 ppm. Alkalinity is at 1.027 (removed about a half gallon of salt water and replaced with RO/DI but haven't retested). Calcium was at 440. The only parameter that I was told was not great is that the kH was slightly high, but not high enough to be an alarm.

Anyone have any advice. I understand that if it dies, it will be toxic for the tank and likely cause a lot of death and destruction. Not exactly the life I had in mind for my tank inhabitants!!!

Any ideas or help would be really appreciated! Thanks!
 
Yep. Nothing in there. I am leaning towards doing a search for the rock he is in. If I can find it, maybe I can get it positioned so that I at least gets some light and food. Also tank specs are a Nuvo 30g with Kessil A350w LED lighting.
 
OK, So I found him and have moved the rock so that it is at least accessible so I can feed it. It was very small and closed up accept for a couple of very limp tentacles.

He responded to being moved, and I was able to feed him some Mysis shrimp, but now that the lights are off, he seems to be on the move again. This is really gonna suck if I lose him again. I just want to be sure that he is alive and getting fed.

Should I really worry if he ends up gone again?
 
Your nem is new in your tank and looking for a place it likes - flow, light, rock, etc. I wouldn't worry about it getting any food for at least 2 weeks. BTW, I pretty much never feed my 15 or so BTAs. They just get whatever the fish don't eat, but most of their needs will be met by the light they get. Your nem will move until it find a place it likes. BTAs usually like to find a hole in a rock for their foot and stretch out into the light. Sometimes moving/turning the rock so we can enjoy the nem, but sometimes they will move again. HTH!
 
unfortuently the nem gets to choose its placement or happy place... ive had many in the past choose less desirable areas for me.. your best option is to just let it go and if your tank is stable/mature dont worry about a thing... once its good n happy and you feed if its hosting the clowns they will bring it food
 
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