Mix the Stichs?

[Rapide]

My LFS got a delivery from Far East yesterday (maybe Indonesia) and there was 3 Stichodactylas. One bright neon yellow/greenish Haddoni and two nems that were listed as mertensii/gigantea by the sender.
I tried to have a better look, and it seems to me that they are gigantea. No orange or purple verrucae to be seen. The other one is blue with a green shade around the mouth, and the other one is sort of beige or "tan".

I put the blue one reservation untill I see it's OK to be moved.
How long should I wait? I mean in what time should I see that it will make it?
Mouth was gaping just a bit, but foot was well attached on the rock.

Would it be wise to put a gigantea in a tank that already has 3 Haddonis?
First hand experience please

 

[Tmoriarty]

I have had haddoni's with BTA's (I know not the same) and did not have warfare issues, with a 660gal system I would think you would be fine keeping a gigantea as well if their was sufficient space between them (12" +).

What to look for is deflations. If you go in (I would check numerous times) and see the anemone is deflated the chances are more than likely it will not make it. Giganteas rarely make it after starting deflation/inflation cycles.

 

[garygb]

I suggest you quarantine the new anemone. Too many reports of established anemones getting infected by new imports.

 

[Rapide]

Yesterday it was not deflated at all. I will go and take a look again today...

I have 3 Haddonis, multiple BTA's, and many many other anemones. Everything has gone fine with them
Actually I just spotted a small 1/2" BTA baby last night!

 

[stickleback]

Yesterday it was not deflated at all. I will go and take a look again today...

I have 3 Haddonis, multiple BTA's, and many many other anemones. Everything has gone fine with them
Actually I just spotted a small 1/2" BTA baby last night!

Try and get a few pictures. Always helps with identification and advice:thumbsup:

 

[emdr888]

Would it be wise to put a gigantea in a tank that already has 3 Haddonis?
First hand experience please

I recently put a gig in with my haddonis and all seems well for now. I run carbon and ozone.

I think EC has a mag, haddoni and gig all doing well in his tank

 

[OrionN]

I would quarantine the new anemone. Once it is healthy, they likely tolerate eachother Ok if they are not touching. Running carbon mey help.
FWIW the following is my current experiemce:

I would quarantine the new anemone. Once it is healthy, they likely tolerate each other Ok if they are not touching. Running carbon may help.
FWIW the following is my current experiences:

I have Haddoni with Magnifica no problem, sometime carbon to keep water from getting yellow.

One Gigantea with 2 Malu, Three Tapetum and three BTA with no problem. The Gigantea touch the Tapetum no significant visible injury from either but the Tapetum seem to be able to keep the Gigantea from cover him up. The gigantea see to be a little retracted where it touch the Tapetum. I run carbon on this tank occasionally to keep the water clear also.

When the Gigantea was new, there was a day when it moves to close to the Malu. I saw the tentacles from the Malu and Gigantea touch, both withdraw quickly (like being stung) no visible injury. I put a tile between the two to separate them then later move the Gigantea away from the Malu. Both stay put and have not been in contact since.

IMHO, as long as the anemone does not touch once another, it should be fine. It does not make logical sense to me to think that anemone manufacture toxin just to release into the water. These toxins are energy intensive to make. The ocean is so vast that it dilute quickly. It seems pointless for anemone release these toxins spontaneously into the water.

In nature, there are organism release toxins to suppress competition but these toxin stay where they release. I cannot think of a single confirmed case where toxins release just to the air or into the water.

 

[OrionN]

My Haddoni, Gigatea and Magnifica kill all the coral within reach. However, Green star polyps able to stung and cause my Haddoni to retracted when ever it touch the GSP

 

[Toddrtrex]

I suggest you quarantine the new anemone. Too many reports of established anemones getting infected by new imports.

Need to stress this -- PLEASE QT THE NEW ADDITIONS.

I lost a 6 month old red S. haddoni and a 15 year old tan one when I introduced a new purple S. haddoni -- it was infected and took out the existing ones in about a week, was very painful to watch, more so with the 15 year old one.

 

[OrionN]

the same thing happen to me. I put ina Purple tip Magnifica that was infected and it took out my Magenta Magnifica and my Orange base Yellow Magnifica in 2 weeks. One was 5 years and 1 was 1 year under my care.

I hope this does not happen to anyone else.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Need to stress this -- PLEASE QT THE NEW ADDITIONS.

Good to see you back. Hope everything is going well and you are recovering nicely.

 

[OrionN]

Todd,
I look at your picture library, You are a very good photographer.

 

[Rapide]

I went to see the anemones today, and the tan one was fine and then suddenly deflated. Soon it was back to it's shape. Is this the deflation/inflation cycle you were talking about?
The blue one looked really good!

I took some pics for you, but only one of them can be uploaded...

I friend of mine has been trying to get a blue carpet for years, and I actually said that he can get this one, if he wants it. He lives far from the big LFS' and is not able to come and see what they have. Feels kind of bad to let someone else get that anemone, but at the same time I feel really good. After I had reserved it there were many people interested of it and wanted to buy it. Glad I was on time!!

 

[Rapide]

Oh...That is the picture where the anemones had just arrived from the airport. It looked a lot better today

 

[D-Nak]

In my opinion, it looks terrible. It definitely looks like a gigantea, but a very sick one. Typical signs are: short tentacles, exposed mouth with siphonoglyph showing, gaping mouth, inability to hold its oral disc away from the rock (meaning it looks like it's flat like a pancake, with a very short column) and balding -- as if the tentacles are spread apart so the oral disc is exposed.

IME gigs should never deflate. Mine shrinks down to about 3/4 size at night, but as soon as its exposed to light, it quickly grows to full size. I don't consider this deflation. I define deflation as when the nem looks like it is removing all of the water within it, like a balloon losing ALL of its air. If the nem does this more than once, it's a bad sign.

 

[Rapide]

Oh really?? Maybe I have to re-think this... This picture was taken after it had been in the tank for an hour or so after a loooong flight from Indonesia to Finland.

Today it looked a lot better... On and it's quite small, like 4" or so

 

[Toddrtrex]

Good to see you back. Hope everything is going well and you are recovering nicely.

Thanks, I been stopping by a bit this week.

Todd,
I look at your picture library, You are a very good photographer.

Thanks, though I tend to do better with outdoor nature shots -- at least IMO.






For reference, here is a blue one that I had years ago (( lost it when I went in for emergency back surgery and the main pump seized up. )) the attached one (( not sure if it is a gig or haddoni, but same issue )) has too much space b/t the tentacles.

S. haddoni,

 

[OrionN]

That Gigantea does look exptreemly stressed. I would wait a few days until he recover a littel and see. Anemone deflating repeately (or even once is a bad for Gigantea) is unlikely to survide unless treated with something.

The picture below is a picture of a Gigantea in poor care and bleached but otherwise OK. The second picture is the picture today about 3 months later increased from 8 inches to 16 inches or so and is outgrwoing his aquarium at this time. The third picture is that of another healthy Gigantea. Just to let you know what healthy Gigantea look like.

 

[Rapide]

The anemone in my picture is a gigantea, I did check today.
Thank you guys for your help!!

It does not look that bad in flesh, actually rather good.
I will keep it in the store for at least a month until I will bring it home - if at all...

 

[D-Nak]

That's perfect. I estimate the 4 week mark as the point where gigs will either be dead, or recovered from collection and shipping stress.