My 4th Magnifica...

flakey

flakey

Member
Hi all,
Unfortunately this is my 4th attempt with magnificas and i would really appreciate some help/advice on acclimatising him properly.
Bought him yesterday and he has not deflated yet. I set him up in a small tank with water from my DT. I think he looks ok, the mouth is closed but bubbled up. it stuck to the rock as soon as i put it in the tank and hasn't moved.
I aimed the small powerhead at it and after 30 minutes, it's mouth was gapping wide so i moved the flow off it and it looks much better now.

I have set the leds to 10% and an thinking about 2 or 3% every day as someone suggested raising the lighting over 3 to 4 weeks.

i tried feeding him today but the silverside just stuck on a few of its tenticles. and didn't look like it was interested.

Any advice would be much appreciated...

DSC_7228.jpg


You can just about make out it's mouth (lighter white patch in the centre)

DSC_7241.jpg
 
If you do not have a Magnifica in your tank, I would just place him in the tank directly, Why do you put him a treatment tank?
 
I don't have any mags in my DT. I'm only putting it in here because i hear i should acclimatise them to lighting gradually. If i put him into my DT, i'm worried that it would get stressed from the sudden intensity of lighting. do you think 3 to 4 weeks to get the lighting up is too long? do you think he looks healthy? I've only had him 1 day.
you've got loads of experience in mags, so would be really gratful if you could give me some advise.
 
I would not worry about light intensity. I would just put it into the DT directly. I never worry about the sudden increase in light. The corals and anemones may get lighter but never completely bleached. As long as your water and circulation is right, it will not bleach. The population of new zooxanthellae will populate the anemone in the mater of 1 to 2 weeks. The longer you wait, the longer this new population will stabilize,

I don't, but if you worry about the increase in light, just go to Home Depo and get some egg crates and put it on your tank to put a shadow right over the anemone and not affect the rest of the tank.
You will never get the environment in the treatment tank as good as your DT, the longer you wait, the weaker the anemone get. My QT is a reef tank optimal set up for Magnifica or Gigantea. It can stay there indefinitely or until it out growth the tank.

If you read my thread on my purple Gigantea, I put him from minimal light (tangential light from a MH 175 W at about 18 inches away) at the LFS to full under a 150 W MH with no problem.

You can use your tank as a treatment tank if your anemone start to look sick. That tank is too square. If and when this is needed, I would get a 20 g high to use as treatment tank. The egg crate is only a few dollars for a full sheet which is more than you will ever need. You can partition the tank like I did to keep the anemone from climb to the heater or PH. The condition there will not be optimal so it will walk around.

Good luck
 
I agree with Minh, I give my magnificas full light when they go in the tank, with mostly good results.

I also prefer short acclimation periods for nems in the bag, I have seen first hand a nem die because the acclimation period was to long and the ammonia in the bag raised to much. If you bought the nem locally, you can acclimate it to your tank conditions over an hour, but I honestly wouldn't go longer then that.

Another thing, I prefer to not feed silversides, I have seen and heard far to many horror stories with them. I feed either fresh table shrimp from the store or scallops/kalamari or mysid shrimp. On occasion I may also feed krill. Smaller pieces of food are easier to digest then one large peice which has potential to rot inside your anemone.

I also agree with putting him directly into your tank, unless you have some special reason to acclimate him in a tank with less then optimal conditions (IE anti biotic treatment like Minh).
 
So i've just moved him into the display tank. he's been in there for about 2 hours, slightly deflated and the mouth is open but looks to be closing up slowly since i introduced him.

Regarding water flow, the sump return is at the top rigth corner. You can also see the MP40 to the left of him, but the MP40 is placed more to the back of the tank and you can see that the majority of the flow is coming from the left side deflecting upwards. Is that ok? what is the ideal flow water flow?
please let me know if you think i should reposition the MP40.

It's also late now so the lights are dimming for night time. I have set the led's to 60% power during the day and will raise it slowly over the week.
I didn't put anything over him to cover the light as I really want him to stay where he is (here's hoping).

DSC_7262.jpg


DSC_7263.jpg
 
Actually, taking on board all your comments regarding lighting, i will set it back up to the normal 85% i usally have it at.

Advice on the water flow would be great.
 
I'd also be concerned with allelopathy. I've read many accounts of RBTAs and mags not doing well together, the mag being the loser. My personal opinion with anemones is to choose one species per tank to avoid any possible allelopathy from occurring, especially when it comes to mags and gigantea, where the first month is crucial to their survival. The idea is to create the most ideal environment for the mag to feel comfortable. Possible allelopathy is another hurdle for it to have to overcome.
 
D-Nak said:
I'd also be concerned with allelopathy. I've read many accounts of RBTAs and mags not doing well together, the mag being the loser. My personal opinion with anemones is to choose one species per tank to avoid any possible allelopathy from occurring, especially when it comes to mags and gigantea, where the first month is crucial to their survival. The idea is to create the most ideal environment for the mag to feel comfortable. Possible allelopathy is another hurdle for it to have to overcome.
Click to expand...

OP, since I am guessing you don't plan on removing either species, I would recommend running as much carbon as you can. This will help insulate the new Mag from most of the effects of allelopathy by removing the chemicals from the water. At least during the first month, this is a good idea with any new Magnifica IMO.

For the flow, the Mags like high, chaotic flow, but I would think you should not try to make it comfortable with high flow while it is so deflated, and with it's mouth open. If it perks up you can increase the flow gradually, but until then, the normal flow for this species could hurt more than help.
 
bradleym said:
OP, since I am guessing you don't plan on removing either species, I would recommend running as much carbon as you can. This will help insulate the new Mag from most of the effects of allelopathy by removing the chemicals from the water. At least during the first month, this is a good idea with any new Magnifica IMO.

For the flow, the Mags like high, chaotic flow, but I would think you should not try to make it comfortable with high flow while it is so deflated, and with it's mouth open. If it perks up you can increase the flow gradually, but until then, the normal flow for this species could hurt more than help.
Click to expand...

Thanks -- I completely forgot to mention carbon use.

However, in the photo above, it looks like the RBTA is within direct physical striking distance if the bubble tip tentacles were to become straight tentacles as often occurs with BTAs.

I also agree with Bradley regarding flow. In order for the mag to withstand increased flow, it needs to have enough energy to be able to hold itself upright on its column. Right now, in its deflated state, it looks like it's having a hard enough time staying planted.

Once it's healthy, it will be able to withstand, and even like, a lot of random flow. My mag looked like it actually perked up when my MP40 switched from pulse to constant (I ended up selling the mag for a gig).
 
I have Magnifica and BTA's in the same tank (within 12 inches) with no problems. If they do get close enough to touch the mag is the winner everytime with some retraction on the part of the BTA (Magnifica have a much more potent sting). They are more compatible IMHO then most any other anemone in close proximity to a magnifica.

My magnifica has not moved in 4 months, My btas have not moved in even longer (except one, who circled the rock structure once a couple months ago).

Just keep an eye on them and as stated above run carbon. But I think you can keep those species together with some decent success ratio, barring they are both healthy from the start.
 
I couldn't sleep last night kept getting up and checking on the mag. The feet was inflated but the tenticles were really stringy except from the side where it caught flow from the MP40 so i moved the small powerhead up into the display tank and put some flow across the top of the mag and this morning, although it's mouth is still a little open, the tenciles looks a bit more plump and healthier. It's still early morning so the lights haven't come on yet.

I will put some carbon into the tank and keep a close eye on any fighting.

Thanks guys...

IMG-20121024-00312.jpg
 
That Magnifica does not look too healthy. Hope he will improve at time go on and he adapted to the tank. A lot better this picture than the last.

Regarding allelopathy, I don't seem to have problem with it. I used to use carbon but not anymore. I have had one tank with one BTA, two H. malu, and one S gigantea (the new yellow Gigantea) with out visible problem. The BTA and H. malu have been together for years. The Gigantea in the tank for about 2 months or so. As the Gigantea get healthier and larger, it touch the larger Green Malu. I saw the tentacles touch twice. Both time both of the tentacles withdraw quickly. I believe that this indicated that there is interaction between the to and they could be fighting. When I saw this I moved the Gigantea (Gigantea on a rock while Malu is on the sand) and put a tile in between the two. Both happy at this time and not touching.

Good luck with your Magnifica. If it deflates, consider treating it with antibiotic. See my thread how I treated my anemone. If you decide to treat please document by either start your thread or just add on to mine. I am sure I will get sick anemones in the future and will keep that thread update.
 
If you have 2 anemones in the tank, you should remove the one that isn't the mag for the best chance. I was also confused as to why you put it in a QT type tank. Mags love high light and high flow. It won't settle until it has reached the highest rock in the tank. Try to build it a type of isolated rock that it can't walk all over your tank and make sure he attaches his foot. Are the tentacles sticky?
 
The QT tank thing was simply me thinking i failed in the past because i did not acclimatise them to strong lighting. I have been reading that mags are shipped in poor lighting and that the sudden shock of bright lights would stress them.

anyway, i now have 2 nano powerheads putting some flow across the mag and it is looking a bit better than before. yesterday, i had one powerhead and the tenticles on that side were looking ok'ish whereas the remainder were thin and stringy. I dont think the tenticles are sticky.
now with 2 i am getting a lot more flow all over the mag and most of the tenticles are inflated. the mouth is still slightly open but better than before.

how have you guys got your mags placed in the tank and how have you setup the flow over the mags?
maybe its the flow i havent been getting right. i hope he looks better in the morning....
 
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