Okay, just added Ritteri / Magnifica... Now what? What should I watch for?

[AliKat]

Just happened upon a very reasonably priced Ritteri. Not the color I had in mind, but the price was right.

What should I watch for? I have it toward the top of the tank in strong flow. My two onyx clowns have found it and are loving on it.

It's open, though. I thought it was supposed to be "standing up", so to speak. Should I be worried? I guess it's probably still acclimating.

Over the next couple of days, what do I need to look for? I want to make sure this guy makes it!

 

[kris4647]

Look for.....................

"deflating" or purging very often
gaping mouth
the stickier the better

G'luck

Kris

 

[AliKat]

Thanks. Is it normal that it's completely open? I thought they were at least partially closed most of the time.

Of course, he's only been in the tank for a few hours. Maybe it's too early for me to worry. At least he's still in the same spot that I put him in.

When I was acclimating him, I put a piece of rock in the bucket. He attached to it and is still on the same rock.

Will try to get a picture tomorrow.

 

[garygb]

Yeah, pics will help. Not sure what you mean by open. What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[AliKat]

mH lighting.

I mean that it's completely open, not folded up (closed up) like I have seen it in pictures. It was puckering up its lips a lot earlier. Do Ritteris do that a lot? I wouldn't say its mouth was gaping, but it was puckering up big time.

 

[garygb]

Yeah, they actually do that sometimes. There is an article on WetWebMedia about H. magnifica where it discusses how they are more likely to do that with their mouths than most anemones. Do acclimate the anemone slowly to MH, it could shock it if you don't.

 

[AliKat]

Okay, took some pics. Not very good quality because I had to take them with my camera. (Too lazy to go upstairs and mess with digital camera and photocard!) Will try to take some better photos tomorrow.

 

[AliKat]

Kind of a boring washed out purple/pink color.

 

[AliKat]

Okay, managed to get some pics of its mouth, although they aren't very good quality. Reminds me of "Audrey II" from "Little Shop of Horrors"!

 

[garygb]

The shape of the anemone and the mouth look normal enough. From the pics, it's hard to tell the color, but even if it is somewhat bleached, it will acclimate to your aquarium. You have 175 MH, so that's plenty of light. What is the Kelvin temp. on that bulb? What are your water parameters again?

 

[JamesJR]

175 watts? I don't think that is enough. I would opt for 250's possibly 400's. What type of bulbs you running?

 

[AliKat]

I actually have 250 and it's 20K

 

[AliKat]

Water params are all fine.

The color is this really boring light purple/pink. I sure hope you all are right and it perks up in color some. It's not the prettiest thing right now.

Seems happy, though. It hasn't moved, and neither have the clowns.

 

[garygb]

175 watt MH is fine in a 55 gallon, 250 can be if you have the MH well above the tank. The 20,000K I would change myself. I would go for at most 14,000K. With a more daylight bulb, you will definitely want to acclimate the anemone slowly. The PAR is going to be higher as you have more daylight.

 

[AliKat]

What is "PAR"? I should probably know, but I don't.

Now it is a 55 tall, so it's taller than a normal 55 gallon. Don't know if that makes a big difference.

 

[garygb]

Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Shallow water animals like H. mag benegit from daylight. 20000K is blue and more similar to deeper water environs. Well, the "tall" is good, since further from the bulbs helps considerably from shocking the anemone. I had PC's for years on my H. mags and when I went to MH they took something like 8 weeks to start looking good. Those were 10,000K bulbs, so a lot more PAR than yours, but I would still be careful. The anemones would close up and look stringy if I removed the screens (plastic window screen between the bulb and the anemone can be used to acclimate them) that I was using to acclimate them. Slowly I would remove one layer of screen and keep it that way for about 4 or 5 days and then remove another one.

 

[AliKat]

I do have a piece of acrylic that slides in to my light fixture, and I always have it on there to keep the salt off of the lights.

So, hopefully it's okay then. The nem seems pretty happy. So, just keep an eye on him for the next few days?

 

[garygb]

Yeah, and maybe order a 10 or 14K bulb.

 

[AliKat]

Would 14k make that big a difference? If it will, I'll get one. It's just that this newest bulb is only a couple of months old.

 

[garygb]

I suggest you research it before you buy another bulb, but I personally think it makes a very big difference. 20000K is an entirely different spectrum than where H. mags come from.