New H. magnifica

[Pericyte]

This is first post I am making, so hopefully the pictures uploads correctly.

A little bit of background: I have a 150 gallon reef that I have been running for about three years now. It has been a fun journey (with some highs and lows), but I have learned so much from this forum, I thought I would start giving back.

This is my new H. magnifica, it is doing great. It has a deep purple base. Light purple tentacles with golden tips. Unfortunately, I took pictures with my phone, which does not do the anemone justice.

I have tried an H. magnfica once before, the first time I bought an H. magnifica, it arrived in terrible shape. My girlfriend called it the "dead roast beef" the day I got it. I tried the antibiotics, but possibly too little too late. In the week I owned it, it never closed its mouth, was bleached and slowly decayed, with the inside of the mouth looking like torn muscle, and by the smell, I would guess a bacterial infection too.

THIS TIME I tried ordering through LiveAquaria.com, I have always had fantastic results with them, and I was not disappointed .

The anemone arrived in great shape. It's mouth was slightly open, and deflated, but the base had a great deep purple color (no bleaching), and the anemone was responsive when I picked up the bag. I did not drip acclimate the aneomone, just floated the bag. Then dipped it two buckets of tank water (just to try to get off extra debris, the water had been pulled out one minute before to keep same temp). I handled the anemone with a ziplock bag (just to make sure I did not get stung and something like latex did not irritate it). I was very nervous about putting it directly in the display tank, but for something this delicate and pretty, I made an exception.

Looking back on it, I think straight the display is the right way to go, if possible. As soon as I put the anemone in the tank the clownfish (true perculas) knew, even though they could not see it. They immediately started frantically searching the tank, like they were following a scent. (I have a RBTA in the tank that they have never shown any interest in.) The clownish were on it within 5 minutes. It was a beautiful thing to watch. The clownfish were bouncing up and down, pulling on the tentacles, all as the anemone slowly inflated. There are a couple of reasons I think it was good to go right in the display tank. One being the clownfish cleared the stomach contents for about an hour after they found it, until the mouth finally closed. The other being the clownfish spent the entire afternoon of the first day, pulling on any tentacle that started to deflate, while systematically going around the edge of the anemone, shaking their bodies under it so the anemone would hold its form, keeping everything but the foot off the rocks.

By day two, the anemone looked like it had been there for months, with no signs of deflation or open mouth.

A few other pieces of information: The anemone is currently under an Ecotech Radion Gen II with a circulation pump blasting the rock behind it. (I was trying to make random indirect flow.) I also did not block the light the first day. It did not seem bleached, so I put the anemone in before the lights came on, and let it run its first day according to the light schedule. So far the anemone seems to be happy!

I am not sure if this helps or not, but wanted to pass on my experience. I can tell you shipping seemed to be the determining factor between the two anemones.

Thanks!

 

[Pericyte]

 

[Pericyte]

 

[rhinonm]

did u order it off Divers Den?

 

[Pericyte]

Nope. Just random. I got the African species.

 

[JasonD]

I also ordered one Magnifica recently from Live aquaria, along with a couple of Sebae anemones. Mine unfortunately came in bleached and it went under some rocks for protection from the light, still getting a little. The water was a little cold in the shipment, I think they needed more heat packs.

Not sure if it bleached because of the temperature or it was shipped that way. I would say if your looking for a Magnifica its worth the chance to order one from Live Aquaria, they are going for around $90 right now. I would order again hopefully mine colors up soon. I too got the African species.

 

[jah hoeva]

Looks great! Love how the clowns helped it acclimate.

 

[ca1ore]

Unfortunately there is really no way to affect the shipping process. Some arrive in good shape, others do not. Nem looks very nice. Just keep an eye out for late afternoon deflation cycle.

 

[Pericyte]

For sure. I have cipro and a hospital tank ready in case the anemone takes a turn for the worse. I read a ton of Orion's threads before I got the anemone.

That being said, I also have an ulterior motive over the next couple of months. Currently I am a grad student in physiology/pharm . I have nothing to base this on, but I suspect using antibiotics on animals is going to become harder and harder over the next couple of years.

For the long term sustainability of future anemone keeping, I want to: A. Figure out what bacteria is affecting anemones (based on my first experience, I have an idea, but I will have to check if the anemone is sick again). B. I want to get the anemone healthy long-term and see if there is any kind of natural flora that out competes the bad bacteria, e.g. fungus, bacteria, etc.. My thought is that a natural symbiosis does crazy things. If you ever want a good read, check out leaf cutter ants. I would not be surprised if clownfish carry something in there gut (by mouth or by excrement) that introduces microbiota to keep the anemone healthy. If that were the case, we may be able to inoculate anemones before shipping and keep them healthier, without the use of antibiotics.

 

[Banff]

What size did you order? I notice that they list various sizes.

 

[Pericyte]

I got large, but smaller might be better for shipping stress.

 

[flakey]

Wow, love the color of the base !!

 

[Pericyte]

Thanks! Here's another picture of the base:

 

[Pericyte]

I wanted to update this, just because the idea was a newbie to mags blog. I ended up doing a cipro treatment for seven days. My mag deflated one afternoon and I did not want to wait to see if it got worse or repeated deflation over and over again. By the end of the cipro treatment the mag was all but climbing out of the hospital tank, and very fluffy. If I had it to over again, I think I would have just put it directly in the hospital tank.

I also have mixed feelings about whether the clownfish are helpful or not to a new mag. On one hand, I do think they really work to keep the mag fluffy and in the shape they want. I have never seen my true perculas fight anyone, but they do keep the bigger fish away from "their" anemone. On the other hand, I notice they tended to dive bomb the mouth when it opened and they are pretty relentless about harassing the anemone. Perhaps something that is unwanted for a stressed animal.

I will post a picture of the deflate later, just to show how it looked on afternoon.

 

[quackiedodle]

Hows the nem doing?

 

[D-Nak]

I wanted to update this, just because the idea was a newbie to mags blog. I ended up doing a cipro treatment for seven days. My mag deflated one afternoon and I did not want to wait to see if it got worse or repeated deflation over and over again. By the end of the cipro treatment the mag was all but climbing out of the hospital tank, and very fluffy. If I had it to over again, I think I would have just put it directly in the hospital tank.

I also have mixed feelings about whether the clownfish are helpful or not to a new mag. On one hand, I do think they really work to keep the mag fluffy and in the shape they want. I have never seen my true perculas fight anyone, but they do keep the bigger fish away from "their" anemone. On the other hand, I notice they tended to dive bomb the mouth when it opened and they are pretty relentless about harassing the anemone. Perhaps something that is unwanted for a stressed animal.

I will post a picture of the deflate later, just to show how it looked on afternoon.

I always recommend that people keep clownfish away from acclimating anemones. I believe that the harrassment of the anemone increases stress and can contribute to its demise. The dive bombing that you saw only happens with sick anemones. I actually use it as an indicator of whether to treat or not if it happens when the nem is in the DT. I'm guessing that the clownfish can sense (smell?) the dead zoox or pathogen that is harming the nem.

Much like we see clownfish taking food back to their host anemone and we think they are trying to feed it (Fautin/Allen note that this never occurs in nature) we also may assume that clownfish that are trying to help the nem by somehow removing the pathogen, when the reality is that it could just smell like food.

EDIT: I see that this is an old thread, but since it was bumped, I think it's important that others reading understand the importance of keeping clownfish away from acclimating anemones.