New anemone

[Small Heavens]

Magnificas have tentacles all over the oral disk.

The Macrodactyla have the circle of tentacles in the middle of the oral disk, surrounded by skirts of outer tentacles (as seen on the picture showing the anemone from above here).

Their base/foot/root is supposed to be orange or bright red, hence the nickname red foot anemone, but, when they get bleached, it can turn just as white as the rest of the Nem.

 

[justthewife]

Well, he is now settled in the sand in the cave. He has not moved from there and he looks like he might be attached. His foot is white. I guess I will eventually find out what kind of anemone he is for sure. I am leaning toward the long tentacle because he was in a tank at the fish store with a bunch of other long tentacle anemone that all came in at the same time. But he did not look like those. They were big and had red or purple feet and he is small. Like a little bigger than a ping pong ball size. I am just happy he is not floating all over the tank and getting stuck on the power head. :thumbsup:

 

[justthewife]

Not to add to the confusion, but what does the foot look like? Does it have prominent verrucae? Can u take a pic? I'm asking bc the tentacles look like a magnifica nem to me.

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I can't get a picture of the base but I have seen it and it does look white with a frilly part up near the tentacles that appears to be polka dottie.

 

[Small Heavens]

People seem to prefer BTA or Ritteri nems but macrodactylas are my interest. I have a dedicated macrodactyla tank and when I got a neo green white tipped one, the store had two.

One had pointy tentacles and the other rounded like yours.
I have seen at least four in that colour in that store, when they get a new one, I will link you the page.

This is just a small macrodactyla, mine died because clowns dug out its root constantly and it fled into the powerhead and gave up after much commotion and heartache

Yours is a Macrodactyla Doreensis, no question at all, it will become bigger than BTAs but not as big as the Ritteri.

Sorry for the discussion, I just wanted to be clear that it is possible to make a certain ID on this. The Macrodactyla is wonderful, I really do not think any other Nem compares in beauty to that one species.
Anyway, have fun

 

[justthewife]

This anemone is driving me nuts!!!!! He was settled for a bit and then not and then settled and then not and then I put him in an open top playpen with a rock and some deeper sand and he seemed fine and today I find him face down in the sand again. :debi: So he is now on his own.

 

[Small Heavens]

Oh darn, I'm sorry to hear so, they are a breed that have a harder time during the acclimatise period, remember to not blame yourself.

I found a type of the colouration at my favourite online trader, although this is not showing its central disk and tentacles that clearly on the picture there:
https://www.whitecorals.com/en/macrodactyla-green-an_171118_11

I think it usually means the various gasses inside it have killed it when they turn upside down. Did it make it?

 

[justthewife]

Oh darn, I'm sorry to hear so, they are a breed that have a harder time during the acclimatise period, remember to not blame yourself.

I found a type of the colouration at my favourite online trader, although this is not showing its central disk and tentacles that clearly on the picture there:
https://www.whitecorals.com/en/macrodactyla-green-an_171118_11

I think it usually means the various gasses inside it have killed it when they turn upside down. Did it make it?

He is definitely still alive. We now have him in a breeder box hoping he will get bigger and be able to thrive a little better. He is still pretty small but he eats pieces of squid. He doesn't seem to mind being in the breeder box. Since the last powerhead incident, he was down in a cave and I finally decided to get him out because he looked like he was not doing so well under there. When I got him out he was not colored up too well. We also were not able to feed him under there. Anyway, he looks a lot greener again. I just wish he would get a bit bigger. He is only the size of a half dollar coin. But he is still hanging in there. His mouth is tight and he is eating and his color looks a whole lot better again. In the meantime, we got a new anemone that is super healthy. It is a rose bubbletip. Having no issues with that one at all. It is attached in the rocks, it eats like crazy and is a good size. Thanks for asking about the little guy. :spin1:

 

[Small Heavens]

Deleted this because I double posted the reply.

 

[Small Heavens]

That's so good to hear!
I actually thought I killed my LTA some weeks ago after getting too much reef cement glue stuff in the water.

It pouted for a week and didn't want to blow up and was just small and mad and angry until it got all the stuff out I guess.

As far as I have been "told" by reading online, if you keep feeding it, growth should be easy (after it has settled in ofcourse), but they reach their normal "full size" in a year or two people tend to say.

I also hear that LTAs are not that good at handling transport but after that, they do grow hardy.

Nice that you got a rose! They are absolutely one of the best looking nems available!

I guess people often say:
"the Nem will move by itself where it wants too" but I see them more be "carried where the flow wants them" than anything else.

Good that yours was just sleeping with it's face down into the sand and it wasn't gasses as I feared it was.

Congratulations on hosting two live anemones, it's not a small task and we really do need humans to become more skillful at hosting Marine lifeforms. Every small contribution counts in the long run and I hope you have great fun.