Ordered a Gigantea from Live Aquaria. Advice wanted.

GSMguy

GSMguy

New member
I ordered a "large" tan Gigantea from the invert section not DD. It is going into my 48x27x14 tank with a 6x39w ATI sunpower, flow is provided by 3 modded nanostreams and skimmer is quite large. I have been reading every thread about these anemones I can find for the last 5 years but if anyone has a good link to share please do.

What is the absolute best acclimation procedure? I was planning dripping it over the course of 2 hours or so? I am more interested in light acclimation, the fixture is brand new and very bright.

What i should be looking for and doing over the next 2 weeks?

should i change the carbon before i add it?

What i have done so far is create what i think looks like a good location with a sand and rock interface.

I will have pics friday night.
 
Dude! Haven't seen you around the anemone forum in a long time. Good to know you're still kickin.

IMHO......
As far as acclimation goes, it's a judgement call. If it looks bad in the bag, I'd get it into the tank as soon as possible. If the conditions in the shipping water have degraded, a long acclimation process may be worse than simply putting it in the tank.

With lighting, you really don't need to worry to much with gigantea. These are typically very shallow water anemones. Some exposed at low tide. The PAR they are exposed to in the wild is probably greater than what it will receive in your tank. I have kept several gigantea, and I've blasted them with MH's. I've never seen an adverse effect I could relate to over exposure to light. The gig I have now, was bleached when I got it. It's recovery didn't really kick in until I placed it just inches away from a 250W MH, in a lumbright reflector.

Your second question is arguable, and many of us don't agree on how to treat new anemones. Me personally, I feed mine as soon as they will eat. I figure they've been kept in the dark, with no food, for an unknown amount of time. They're pretty much all running on reserves when we get them. I figure, the more nutrition I can give them, the faster they'll recover.
Sometimes a new anemone will "crash", or deflate. When they do this, I change as much water as I can. I figure they're trying to get rid of something nasty inside them. I don't want the to reinflate and draw in some of the nasty stuff they just discharged.

Yes. I think new carbon would be a great idea.

I wouldn't worry about a sand/rock interface with gigantea. I know that much of what you've read states that these are sand dwellers. I don't necessarily agree with that. Most of the people here, that are successful with gigantea, keep them in the rocks. Mine is at the very top of my reef structure.
HTH
EC
 
I got the in stock notice on them too, and was pretty tempted. I'm excited to see how it goes for you.
When I have purchased healthy nems they sometimes attach to the bucket before they get in the tank, so it might be useful to keep that in mind. I've seen several methods of dealing with it; placing a rock in the acclimation bucket for it to hopefully attach to, placing the nem in a large pvc cap, or even lining the bucket with mesh or a plastic bag. I'm generally a fan of drip acclimation, but as EC already mentioned, there are exceptions. In regard to the carbon, yes I would put in new. Good luck
 
It has shipped, thanks for the replys.

I'm contemplating taking off work to be here when it arrives, otherwise it may have to sit in the a acclimation bucket until 10pm when I get off.
 
aday2remmbr said:
like elegance said, sometimes its best to just float the bag a while and get it in the tank as soon as possible.
Click to expand...

+1

If the nem appears to have survived the shipping ok, I would just temp float it and release. Also, these tan gigs sometimes turn mulitcolored when in your tank for a few months. They are really nice and the price is reasonable.
 
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Yea I knew that brown or tan is usually pretty colorful once settled.

Not sure what to do about work, would leaving it in the bucket with a small heater and pump for 6 hours be bad?
 
GSMguy said:
Yea I knew that brown or tan is usually pretty colorful once settled.

Not sure what to do about work, would leaving it in the bucket with a small heater and pump for 6 hours be bad?
Click to expand...

I would take the day off (( or half day )).

You have to figure that the water in the bag started to get a little funky, so getting it into the display tank, where it can do some internal water changes with clean water is going to go a long way. If it was sitting in the bucket, the water could go South pretty easily.
 
Lower the light to make it brighter? Or use less light?

I can use the 4 blue bulbs or 2 aquablue special daylight bulbs or all 6.
 
Gigantea's love light and are light hogs, can't get enough of it and I don't see your's being any exception. EC gave great advice. I dripped mine for less than an hour and I also had to work, but did things at work to get it prepped for home like put it with a heater, water movement and 10 gallons of my tank water from the tank that morning that I slowly moved it into fully than and brought it home to put it right in. Feeding I also believe in like EC said if they are inflated and sticky for a day or so, its time to feed
 
OK, I moved the light down to 7 inches above the water(thats as low as there going to go for now., and have the temp set to 82 degrees. The tank is only 14" tall, water is 13" and with sand its more like 12. LA describes it as "Large" it may be only under an inch or two of water at times
 
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If you have a short tank light that, than you probably don't have to lower the light that close. I didn't notice that, but choice is yours as I'm sure it won't hurt it at all. I wouldn't care for 82 degree's though. I usually keep it 79-80 max personally myself. Not sure where anyone is keeping theirs at the moment.
 
I try to keep mine below 80. If it reaches 82, I start doing things to bring down the temp. Especially if I have a new anemone in the tank. High temps cause infections to spread faster. There's a reason why hospitals are always so cold.
 
Thanks EC and Conrad.
I read quite a few posts in the Gigantea antibiotic sticky that they did better at warmer temps. No problem.

I turned the temp down to 80
 
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Its here!
It is not inside out, it is 2/3 deflated.

I am Floating it for 45 minutes then placing it in the tank, I turned the pumps down. I will turn them up slowly as it attatches and inflates.
 
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