Nocturnal Anenome?

[papagimp]

I have a Sabea in a 55g reef setup, and ever since he was donated to me I've have never seen him open up (been a couple weeks now), Well, the other night I noticed him directly under one of the led moon lights, wide open and looking great. Then the lights turned on that morning and he shrunk away again. I figured he would move to where he needed if he was unhappy, but he seems to like his current spot and only to open up at night. Any suggestions or comments?

 

[raoul]

You said it was donated, what type of lighting was in the previous tank?

I'm not an expert, especially when it comes to the technical stuff, but you may want to upgrade your lighting, especially if it is used to more light.

What color is the nem? When we got ours, it was very white (bleached) and in pretty bad shape. We had 110watts of pc over our 30 gal. It wasn't enough. The nem didn't start showing signs of improvement until we upgraded to 250 mh lighting. Your 260 w of pc over a 55 gal is a little more than our pc lighting on our 30, but I don't know if it's enough.

Some people (with years of experience) have been able to keep theirs under pc lighting, but I don't recall the wattage, and generally, they respond better to something more than pc lighting.

Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in here!
Good luck

 

[stykthyn]

it is a vampire anemone

 

[dantodd]

That explains the red tips.

 

[papagimp]

lol, actually he has blue tips.

He was under a couple of cheap flourecent bulbs that came with my mothers tank (I think there like 17 watts or some such crap) so he's definatly getting more lighting. currently he's very very white, he's always been that way since my mother purchased him about 6 months ago. I realize he could due with better lighting but I only took him until I can get him to move off of the nice piece of rock he is on, lol, then he's getting returned to the LFS or donated to another hobbyist with a better setup for such creatures. I plan to get some clownfish in the near future but I think I'll try my best to get the fishies to be friendly with the frogspawn instead of an anemone.

 

[dantodd]

you have much more light than your mom's tank. he's just getting used to the better lighting.

 

[papagimp]

I sure hope your right, I'd hate to see the little bugger not make it. He seems so lonely all by himself in the corner.

 

[dantodd]

while you do have much more light than your mom's tank it is still not really an adequate home for a sebae. Be sure to feed your anemone regularly. This will help alot. If it is only open at night then don't hesitate to feed him at night. The best things to feed him are sliversides, scallops or raw cocktail shrimp. If he hasn't been eating then be sure to chop the food up into pieces less than 1/4" per side.

cheers,
Dan

 

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7375771#post7375771 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by papagimp
currently he's very very white, he's always been that way since my mother purchased him about 6 months ago.

It's probably CTD.
That color description makes me think that the anemone is bleached. Sebae anemones will commonly expel their zooxanthellae in aquaria. Then it's only a matter of time; sometimes it can take a long time, but they rarely make it for a full year.

Dave

 

[papagimp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7378548#post7378548 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wolverine
Sebae anemones will commonly expel their zooxanthellae in aquaria.

That's exactly what I was thinking too, I was hoping I was wrong but fear the worst. I appreciate all the advise everyone.