Picture and video of my 7 year H. magnifica
- Thread starter delphinus
- Start date
delphinus
New member
Thanks. 
I have no idea what became of 5 out of the 6 peppermints I put in the tank in a vain effort to combat aiptasia (only 1 left the size of a small lobster), but apparently the cleaners are either smart enough to avoid the anemone or it's not interested.
I have a bit of a pest crab problem in the tank. The rocks are full of little rock crabs (the main reason I don't have a lot else in the tank - I used to have a fair zoanthid collection in there until I noticed they were disappearing on me). I can see their little burrows and networks of tunnels in the rock, it would probably be not too bad to deal with them if I could move the rock out of the tank, but I've learned that for the sake of the other fish in there it's best not to disturb the anemone too much.
I have no idea what became of 5 out of the 6 peppermints I put in the tank in a vain effort to combat aiptasia (only 1 left the size of a small lobster), but apparently the cleaners are either smart enough to avoid the anemone or it's not interested.
I have a bit of a pest crab problem in the tank. The rocks are full of little rock crabs (the main reason I don't have a lot else in the tank - I used to have a fair zoanthid collection in there until I noticed they were disappearing on me). I can see their little burrows and networks of tunnels in the rock, it would probably be not too bad to deal with them if I could move the rock out of the tank, but I've learned that for the sake of the other fish in there it's best not to disturb the anemone too much.
osprey3883
New member
Hello,
Beautiful nem, thanks for sharing.
Matt
Beautiful nem, thanks for sharing.
Matt
Congratulations for having it for so long.
delphinus
New member
Thanks. Tank is a 30x30x30 which is basically the smallest size I thought I could get away with for this guy without needing to worry about upgrading to a larger size. During summer months when the outside ambient lighting is brighter the anemone can expand to 24" diameter. Right now (in the video) it is probably closer to about 18". There are other factors though, sometimes it just is bigger and sometimes it just is smaller. I guess its probably related to how much food it catches in a week versus another and so on.
Lighting is a single 250W DE centred right above the anemone.
You could try T5's I suppose but I feel a halide is better for this species. At least with this one in particular, I find that it is very strongly attracted to the direction of the source of brightest light. With T5's, the light tends to be uniformly distributed, whereas with a halide, there is a "hot spot" so to speak where the light is most intense. I found that when I had two halides over him (in a previous tank I had him in), if one light would be burned out or whatever, he would move to be under the light that was still on. This could happen in a manner of minutes to hours. Ie., one time one light didn't turn on right away, it had only been 30 or so minutes before I noticed, but it had already moved to be under the other working light.
By having the one halide directly overhead, I find that it works to help keep him "rooted" to one spot. Ie., the anemone feels no need to wander to find "a better spot."
T5's might work OK for the species but then it would be doubly important to ensure the flow is high in the spot you want him in, also it helps if it can be in the highest spot in the rockwork. The other thing I've noticed with this anemone is that if it can sense a path "up" it will try to take it. That's another reason I have the tank as 30x30 footprint, it hopefully is large enough that it won't find the glass and then get tempted to walk up the glass to the top of the tank.
It has been in this tank since late 2005 so about 2.5 years now in this current setup. Seems to be doing OK.
I don't currently have any clownfish living in this tank .. I'm hoping to one day have some pink skunks or onyx clowns maybe. I had wanted to try maybe some chrysogaster or akindynos clowns but that was before I realized how hard they are to find in my area, plus I read that they are more prone to things like brook so I gave up on the idea of finding some more exotic species of clown for now.
Lighting is a single 250W DE centred right above the anemone.
You could try T5's I suppose but I feel a halide is better for this species. At least with this one in particular, I find that it is very strongly attracted to the direction of the source of brightest light. With T5's, the light tends to be uniformly distributed, whereas with a halide, there is a "hot spot" so to speak where the light is most intense. I found that when I had two halides over him (in a previous tank I had him in), if one light would be burned out or whatever, he would move to be under the light that was still on. This could happen in a manner of minutes to hours. Ie., one time one light didn't turn on right away, it had only been 30 or so minutes before I noticed, but it had already moved to be under the other working light.
By having the one halide directly overhead, I find that it works to help keep him "rooted" to one spot. Ie., the anemone feels no need to wander to find "a better spot."
T5's might work OK for the species but then it would be doubly important to ensure the flow is high in the spot you want him in, also it helps if it can be in the highest spot in the rockwork. The other thing I've noticed with this anemone is that if it can sense a path "up" it will try to take it. That's another reason I have the tank as 30x30 footprint, it hopefully is large enough that it won't find the glass and then get tempted to walk up the glass to the top of the tank.
It has been in this tank since late 2005 so about 2.5 years now in this current setup. Seems to be doing OK.
I don't currently have any clownfish living in this tank .. I'm hoping to one day have some pink skunks or onyx clowns maybe. I had wanted to try maybe some chrysogaster or akindynos clowns but that was before I realized how hard they are to find in my area, plus I read that they are more prone to things like brook so I gave up on the idea of finding some more exotic species of clown for now.
delphinus
New member
Hi Gary,
It's currently an Ushio 14k. It's a bit old though, it's not as blue as it was when I first put it on, I think it's shifted to a more 10k colour.
I was thinking of trying the Iwasaki 14k next maybe. I have that lamp in a 175W mogul size over another tank and love it, so I imagine it would be similar in the DE 250W size.
It's currently an Ushio 14k. It's a bit old though, it's not as blue as it was when I first put it on, I think it's shifted to a more 10k colour.
I was thinking of trying the Iwasaki 14k next maybe. I have that lamp in a 175W mogul size over another tank and love it, so I imagine it would be similar in the DE 250W size.
saltycreefer
New member
Yeah, great job! That's a tough one to acclimate. 7 years is awesome. Has it split?
delphinus
New member
Doesn't seem to want to split. It has spawned a few times though, which were interesting times (by "interesting" I mean "ew, gross, now I have to do a massive water change and stuff") :lol:
Thanks for the kind words. It's definitely been a challenge at times on account of its size.
It was about 5" when I purchased it and well over 12" within a couple months. Apparently they can grow quickly when they want to! Wish I would have thought to have done a photo sequence of it growing. Literally one day I sort of noticed "geeeeez this thing is getting big, when did that happen?"
Thanks for the kind words. It's definitely been a challenge at times on account of its size.
It was about 5" when I purchased it and well over 12" within a couple months. Apparently they can grow quickly when they want to! Wish I would have thought to have done a photo sequence of it growing. Literally one day I sort of noticed "geeeeez this thing is getting big, when did that happen?"
elegance coral
They call me EC
Simply amazing! How often, and what do you feed it?
sonofgaladriel
Shiny!
Simply awesome! Glad to hear it is still going strong. I think keeping a mag for 7 years is an accomplishment you should be proud of. How many reefers can say that? I bet your in a very elite club with that longevity.
If it every outgrows your cube, I'd be happy to put it in mine
I'd clear out my entire tank, even my black tang and prized regal angel, for that beauty!
If it every outgrows your cube, I'd be happy to put it in mine
I'd clear out my entire tank, even my black tang and prized regal angel, for that beauty!
Rod Buehler
New member
Nice Tony. Very nice!
delphinus
New member
Thanks guys.
Sonofgaladriel, we'll have to talk if that day comes!
Elegancecoral, I basically feed it mysis, although in the past I've fed it all sorts of things (mostly shrimp and cut prawn though). I find that mysis is a little easier to work with, the fish love it so everyone gets some, and doesn't put as heavy a bioload on the tank that a heavier food might (I have battled chronic high nitrates in this tank in the past, right now my NO3 hovers between 5 to 10 which is manageable, but I try to keep a close eye on things because it has been as high as 80). As for frequency I make sure it gets a decent feeding every week, but I suspect it catches the occasional mysis when I feed mysis to my fish every couple of days.
Sonofgaladriel, we'll have to talk if that day comes!
Elegancecoral, I basically feed it mysis, although in the past I've fed it all sorts of things (mostly shrimp and cut prawn though). I find that mysis is a little easier to work with, the fish love it so everyone gets some, and doesn't put as heavy a bioload on the tank that a heavier food might (I have battled chronic high nitrates in this tank in the past, right now my NO3 hovers between 5 to 10 which is manageable, but I try to keep a close eye on things because it has been as high as 80). As for frequency I make sure it gets a decent feeding every week, but I suspect it catches the occasional mysis when I feed mysis to my fish every couple of days.
