Moving a large Carpet Nem

[Neogenocide]

Thanks....I worked hard on the towers, it hurt to have to tear one down, they are all stacked - not glued, but the awesomeness of that nem makes up for it. There are currently no clowns in the tank, however the nem did come with a 5" Clarkii, which is as mean as a maroon when he's with the nem. Away from it it's it's very mild mannered. So......when I moved it, the clowngot banished to the sump for the time being, in a 40g partition out of a 125g tank. So....it has a LOT of room to itself. I'm just not crazy about a fish that is going to attack me every time I need to clean the tank.

So......I'm not sure if trying to pair it up would soften it's mean ways, otherwise I REALLY want a pair of those black ice snowflakes....but I really don't want to see the price on them when they are available. Otherwise possibly a reg pair of snowflakes, or my sister is starting to breed the Black Ocelaris. I may pickup a pair of misbars from her....we'll see. She has also talked about picking up a clutch of eggs from Tropicorium from one of their designed breeds up there. I'm really not sure which way I'll end up going yet.

Scott

 

[LesMartin]

Nice anemone ! I really like the colour. FWIW my red haddoni also ignores mysis but my green reacts to the smallest piece. It's quite funny how it curls it's oral disc right over a 1/2" mysis. You'd think it was starving.....

 

[Neogenocide]

How long should I wait before I try feeding this guy? It hasn't moved since it set it's foot, everything seems good. If you've followed the thread, it reacts when mysis hits it, but it never tries to pull it in, so I was going to try some larger food, either silver sides or raw shrimp.

Thoughts?

 

[LesMartin]

Give it a try. If it's not ready to feed it wont. As it's quite large I'd try a 1 inch piece of raw prawn. you can leave the shell on. I wouldn't do silversides. Too many reports of anemones going downhill fast after a silverside. I feed mine raw prawn, squid, scallop and they have occasionally in the past helped themselves to the odd fish, tuxedo urchin, cerith snail, hermit crab.......

 

[Neogenocide]

Well.....good news!!! My nem fed last night, although it took quite a while to get the food to it's mouth. Since it's sitting in a different attitude that it was before I got it, it's like it had to relearn how to get the food to it's mouth. It couldn't get i there on the first attempt, so it let go, grabbed it again and that time it was successful. I fed it raw unshelled shrimp. This morning in the dark the pedal looked a lot more thick and inflated. I'm curious as to how it'll look when I get home.

 

[BonsaiNut]

Anemones have definite feeding preferences and produce different digestive enzymes based on the prevalence of different prey types where they live. If they are not used to eating raw shrimp they may not recognize it as food, per se... or may initially have trouble digesting it. Feed smaller pieces, frequently, versus large pieces infrequently. Over time your anemone will probably get accustomed to the new feeding regimen.

 

[Neogenocide]

That's news to me....and I appreciate the advice. I know the previous owner fed strictly silversides, so that could explain some of it. As for the size of shrimp I fed it, it was no larger than it's mouth, so it wasn't huge by any means. Maybe I'll cut it in half next time. Do you think it would be wise to mix in silversides in the beginning to wean it over to shrimp?

Thanks again for the advice

 

[BonsaiNut]

I'm not sure that "weaning" it over is the proper term. I don't know enough about digestive processes in anemones (extracellular or intracellular) to really comment. It is possible that the same digestive enzymes that break down silversides will work fine for shrimp.

Anemones have the ability to differentiate food items from non-food items by contact. Spirocysts (grabbing cnidae) may fire based on contact with inanimate objects, but nematocysts (stinging cnidae) will usually only fire if the proper trigger is present. Thus, a falling pebble will get "grabbed" by an anemone, but it will be released without triggering a feeding response. Different nematocysts have different functions even within a single anemone - some are prey capture while others may serve a defensive role. Small food items may be swept up and captured and transferred to the mouth via muscular or ciliary action without illiciting a stinging response. So anemones can tell what they are touching - and whether it is edible or not. They tend to be indiscriminate feeders - but that doesn't mean they don't have preferences.

Generally speaking, try to feed an anemone what you know it has been eating in the past. If you don't know, try a varied diet and see what triggers the fastest response, and/or what gets fully digested versus what is "spit out" only partially digested.

 

[Neogenocide]

I will definitely try that. One other question, if a nem is going to spit out it's food, generally how long would it take to do that?

 

[BonsaiNut]

I will definitely try that. One other question, if a nem is going to spit out it's food, generally how long would it take to do that?

Depends. In some cases an anemone will spit something out almost before ingesting it. In other cases it will ingest something and spit it out after an hour or two - half eaten. I would say generally that if something isn't spit out in 24 hours, it has been fully digested.

You can tell this easily in the case of a fish capture. What you WANT to see in the case of a healthy S. haddoni, is nothing but fish bones and scales coming out. Raw shrimp without the shell - you should see almost nothing. Any waste released should look fluid - there should be no "chunks".

Also - digesting large food items comes at a much higher energy cost to an anemone than digesting small items. A pea-sized piece of shrimp might take an hour to digest, while a whole shrimp might take a day. In this case, you would probably be better off feeding 24 small pieces of shrimp (one per hour) than a whole chunk of shrimp. (I use this as an illustration rather than to suggest that you need to do this, literally).

 

[Neogenocide]

LOL.....point taken....smaller pieces more often. I will monitor closely.

Thanks again, for all the information.

 

[Neogenocide]

Bonsai,

Thanks for all the information you have provided, but I again have another question. My nem has started to move, around 4 inches over the last 2 days, which isn't a big deal, but there is obviously something it doesn't like. I'm guessing it's linked to light, as it went from 250w halides over a 75g tank, to LED's over my 180g. My questions is, will the nem give any visual indications whether it's getting too much or not enough light? The only other thing that has changed would be flow. I had a power head fail, and am awaiting the warranted replacement so flow is a little less direct and less overall with them power head I have in there.

Thoughts?

 

[BonsaiNut]

Bonsai,

Thanks for all the information you have provided, but I again have another question. My nem has started to move, around 4 inches over the last 2 days, which isn't a big deal, but there is obviously something it doesn't like. I'm guessing it's linked to light, as it went from 250w halides over a 75g tank, to LED's over my 180g. My questions is, will the nem give any visual indications whether it's getting too much or not enough light? The only other thing that has changed would be flow. I had a power head fail, and am awaiting the warranted replacement so flow is a little less direct and less overall with them power head I have in there.

Thoughts?

I don't think there is any way to really know why they move. In some cases they move because their foot isn't secure/wedged tightly enough, and it has nothing to do with the environmental conditions, per se. This is why some people with large haddonis have been successful using a PCV pipe section that is backfilled with gravel - the haddoni lodges its foot at the bottom of the PVC, feels secure, and then you can move the PVC around your tank to the location that works best for you.

Otherwise I would recommend keeping tank conditions as stable as possible, and the anemone will settle where it is happiest. Then you can put all your coral back in places where it won't get stung At least that's how I have to work with anemones - when they start to move just move everything out of the way.

 

[Neogenocide]

Sounds good. I would be surprised if the nem would move out of the general area where I put it, but we'll see what happens. I would prefer it stays there, but as long as it stays visible, I'll be happy. That entire area around the nem is coral free for that reason. Good news is I waited a week, fed it again, a smaller piece of shrimp this time, and the feeding response was much better this time.

Keeping the fingers crossed that everything keeps going good.

Thanks again!!!

Scott

 

[charleneatkins]

I want to thank you for starting this thread. I too have rescued a green carpet w/clarki. I had no knowledge of care at the time. They had been housed temporarily in my 10g and have been transfer to a 90. My situation is SO similar and this has been invaluable to me. Luckily so far the transition has gone beautifully. I still need to upgrade on equipment. Your comments about the eating habits problaby explains why when I fed it the shrimp that was given to me, he ate ok but when I tried to give him the altenate food, it was released. Please keep me updated.:wave: Charlene

 

[Neogenocide]

Charlene,

Glad this thread helps. I did a lot of reading before hand, however this was all stuff I didn't see anywhere. Moving it to under LED's had me a little worried as well, but things seem well so far. I will definitely keep the thread updated.

Scott

 

[charleneatkins]

Hello Scott, I do not want to hijack your thread but the timing of this was absolutely perfect. Thank you for responding. This is a new area for me. I feel very lucky with the transition and almost a mirror of what is happening.
The only difference is I have not separated the carpet/clown. They have been in the 90 for only 4 days and so far has stayed put. The nem seems to have footed very well and the clown is helping him settle in. There is so much to read but these are still individual animals and have their own moods but its nice to see what others are experiencing. Have a good day

 

[Neogenocide]

That's good to hear about your Clarkii. I'm really not liking the one that came with mine, it's one mean SOB. My wife and I have decided to get a pair of Picasso's, now just to find a home for the clarkii and them find a pair without paying a arm and a leg for. We are only looking for grade B specimens, but they are proving to be difficult to find.

 

[charleneatkins]

my clowns must be getting drugs from outside:lolspin: I have a maroon in my 55, a pr of B&W in 29, a pr of occe's in 28 and now clarkii in 90. they are all "whooseys" :bounce3: Makes for a mellow set of tanks

 

[dunk373]

i have had my nem move a little bit a few times and its all linked to light in my case. i have a similiar rock set up as yours and it just moves without releasing i marked the bottom of the tank where the foot is. when i change spectrum it will twist or move. One suggestion if possible is put a little overhang above the nem it will help diagnose if light too much or not enough i have some led on the tank but not over the nem. Some of the led light shined on it about a 3"x3" area it seemed to like it. but with the overhang it can move out for more light or in for less I really hope it stays in place it has been here for 7 years it moved around the corner about a year ago but hasn't released again this is my favorite part of the tank and it has been a great animal.