Randy's Red Haddoni

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This thread will cover the addition of a red Haddoni to my established display tank. I certainly hope it is successful, but come what may I'll track it here for others to follow.

I picked it up about 4 hours ago from an LFS (Jay's Aquatics in Salem NH). It had been there for only a few days, but seemed in reasonable health. It was firmly attached the the glass under the thin sand layer at the shop.

It also attached to the bottom of the transport bucket, and is now attached in my tank.

It took about 90 minutes to bring the salinity up from about 29 ppt to 35 ppt. The temp was about 74.5 deg F on arrival, and that was raised to about 80 deg F.

I added it to a spot in the front of my aquarium, and last night I added some additional sand to thicken the sand there to about 3 inches. I removed the old green star polyps from the area.

I sat it at the interface between a big rock and the sand, and dug a little hole for it in the sand, not all the way to the bottom. I hemmed it in with a couple of small rocks. It is now attached to the big rock, and if it moves back a bit more, will discover a deep hole through the bottom of the rock to more sand and the tank bottom below that, which I'd think would be perfect for an anemone foot, but I can't predict what it really wants.

Here's the first picture from 5 minutes in the tank:

Here's a somewhat older picture of the whole tank showing where it is going (lower front left where all the green star polyps used to be)

 

[Purple Haze]

Very nice. I've been wanting one for a while.

Good luck with it, Randy.

 

[Flighty]

It looks like it has transitioned very well. I'm surprised Jay had his salinity so low in that tank. Have you looked at the anemone under actinics yet? I bet it glows.

Is there a little patch of different colored tentacles near the mouth still? It looked like there were when I saw it at the store, but the crab was sitting right over them. Did that crab cause any problems by the way?

 

[traveller7]

It is showing some positive signs at that stage Randy.

Inflated decently, foot is actively on the move, fairly tight mouth, good tentacle coverage, not heavily bleached....I would have risked the investment as well.

Best of luck with it

Btw...if it keeps moving around consider a deep sand filled Tupperware container:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The mouth is now open more, after two hours in the tank:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is there a little patch of different colored tentacles near the mouth still? It looked like there were when I saw it at the store, but the crab was sitting right over them. Did that crab cause any problems by the way?

The crab was nowhere to be seen. There was a bit of krill in the mouth, and when I had it in the bucket, it was pretty loose so I just wafted it out. The damsel was also not spending a lot of time in the anemone. When I got there, the lights had only been on for a few minutes.

Yes, now that you mention it, there is a tiny patch of different color. I did not notice that before, but 5 little tentacles appear to be green and are surrounded by red ones. Not a stripe or anything like some folks have. Is that something other haddonis have?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Looks really good.

The mouth is open a bit in that last picture, but isn't the gaping that is a concern. Still early, but looks like the water exchange mouth.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK, I'll hope that is all it is.


Here's a poor picture of the green tentacles that are about 5 rows from the mouth:

 

[jthao]

wow, I've never seen one of those red carpets in the area. very nice.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

congratulations on the new red carpet Randy. ..it looks beautiful.

 

[afboundguy]

I saw this anenome at the LFS a couple of days ago and those pictures don't do it any justice. Great pick up...

 

[Greg Hiller]

Don't be surprised if you loose a lot of your fish to it in time. I remember all the purple tangs Larry Jax's haddoni ate.

 

[Haddonisreef]

Ok just how much did it set you back? Awesome addition to your tank! My lfs has a red 1 for 500 and its about 12in across! If anyone is interisted let me know and ill give the info via pm

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks.

The actinics are off now, and it has been in for four hours. It seems to be slowly expanding, but otherwise looking similar. It is a tad under 9" across when folded up as it is. The white bits are mostly sand grains that got onto it from the recent sand addition.

 

[elegance coral]

While it may be to early to be sure, I wouldn't worry to much about that anemone. It looks great. I wouldn't worry about the mouth being like that either. After all the changes it just went through I would have been shocked if it didn't do that.

If you have an extra LR you may want to temporarily place it between the haddoni and the crispa. Right where the clown fish is in the pic you posted. Just until you are sure the haddoni is going to stay where you put it. A long time ago, I had a crispa living with my haddoni. They lived together for a couple of years with no problems. Then one day I came home and the crispa had tried to move. It was upside down on top of the carpet, and died within days.

This is an old pic from before the carpet killed the crispa.

 

[animan]

Congratulations on the new Haddoni. Always fun to add new stuff to the tank

 

[kimsie]

Congrats on the new addition! It's beautiful!

 

[acrodave]

Not to take away from this thread but that fox coral is off the hook

 

[ReeferMedic]

Nice score Randy! Must have set you back a few $. That's only the second red carpet I've seen. The mouth looks to be slowly closing from the 2 hour pics to the 4 hour pics. FWIW, the green one you saw at my house looked pretty much the same when I moved it into it's current tank. It was in another tank in my system for a couple of years before I moved it. The mouth closed within a couple of days. I am curious as to why the salinity was so low when you brought it home though. Was it done on purpose, or was that the water from the store? Good luck with it!

 

[Freed]

Acrodave beat me to it I love the red carpet and hope it works for you. How long have you had the fox coral?