elegance coral
They call me EC
Sounds like a good plan. Did it crash again tonight?
Randy's Red Haddoni
- Thread starter Randy Holmes-Farley
- Start date
Day 9 in the tank.
I've been holding off for a couple of days on updating to try to get some additional info on what was happening.
Unfortunately, it continues to deflate once a day, mid afternoon, and then stays closed until the night. Even in the reduced light setting.
When deflated 2 days ago, I happened to notice my cowfish searching for food along the bottom, mouthing things as he went. Incredibly, he continued right over the deflated anemone, giving it a bite (or maybe something on it), and causing it to deflate even more. I temporarily relocated him to a different tank (much to the the family's disagreement), and hoped the anemone might do better yesterday without any cowfish attacks, but it was exactly the same, Deflated about 2:30 -3:00 pm and stayed that way until after I went to sleep.
This morning it is inflated again. Mouth similar to previous days. Two opposite sides of the mouth a bit raised but the diameter is similar and nothing is really sticking out.
In any case, I'm pretty concerned for it.
I've been holding off for a couple of days on updating to try to get some additional info on what was happening.
Unfortunately, it continues to deflate once a day, mid afternoon, and then stays closed until the night. Even in the reduced light setting.
When deflated 2 days ago, I happened to notice my cowfish searching for food along the bottom, mouthing things as he went. Incredibly, he continued right over the deflated anemone, giving it a bite (or maybe something on it), and causing it to deflate even more. I temporarily relocated him to a different tank (much to the the family's disagreement), and hoped the anemone might do better yesterday without any cowfish attacks, but it was exactly the same, Deflated about 2:30 -3:00 pm and stayed that way until after I went to sleep.
This morning it is inflated again. Mouth similar to previous days. Two opposite sides of the mouth a bit raised but the diameter is similar and nothing is really sticking out.
In any case, I'm pretty concerned for it.
elegance coral
They call me EC
What size system is it in now?
The haddoni? It is in a 120 gallon tank on a total about 350 gallon system. 
Randy,
Any environmentals which coincide with that time of day? Ph or temp shifts from lighting, etc. Although, I don't think they would be the root cause of the behavior, they may be exacerbating the recovery/acclimation.
Has it moved at all or does it remain firmly attached?
Has it been grabbing at and eating food that blows by when feeding the rest of the tank?
fwiw: a single pick or two from the cowfish would not be the cause of the cyclic events, but might be the cause of the cowfish's demise if the haddoni was feeling 100%.
Any environmentals which coincide with that time of day? Ph or temp shifts from lighting, etc. Although, I don't think they would be the root cause of the behavior, they may be exacerbating the recovery/acclimation.
Has it moved at all or does it remain firmly attached?
Has it been grabbing at and eating food that blows by when feeding the rest of the tank?
fwiw: a single pick or two from the cowfish would not be the cause of the cyclic events, but might be the cause of the cowfish's demise if the haddoni was feeling 100%.
Here's the mouth taken with a flash:
Randy, Can you post a shot at the 2-3pm collapse interval as well? Thanks.
Day 9 still. Here's the overall:
OK, I'll take a photo when it deflates. It is very small then. Thanks for any input.
puter
Active member
The slightly raised "two opposite ends of the mouth" you're seeing are probably the anemone's siphonoglyphs, structures which facilitate bringing water into the anemone. It's fine for them to be slightly raised. You can clearly see the right-side siphonoglyph in the picture I posted earlier.
With the caveat that I'm not confident there's any particular things you can do that will affect the outcome --this anemone may just be one of the ones destined to make it or not-- I'll offer what I would do if the anemone were in my care:
First, I know of three reasons why anemones deflate:
1) To achieve osmotic equilibration with the surrounding seawater. This reportedly takes from 3-6 hours after a change in salinity. So, it's likely no longer relevant in your case.
2) As a defensive maneuver so they can retract under the rock or sand.
3) When they're attempting to expel wastes.
I'd assume the anemone is still trying to get "stuff" out. The S. haddoni anemones I've had that fully everted their "stomach" had little brown specs of "stuff" in there. When those floated away, the anemone would pull the insides back in and then reinflate. That's not something you can help much with.
But, it can influence what you choose to feed. The anemone is going to store each piece of food you give it in different "folds" (mesenteries) within it. There seems to be a lot of effort involved in mechanically getting the food in and the waste back out.
At nine days, IMO, the anemone has had plenty of time to adjust to your tank conditions. So, I'd start trying to feed it. Specifically, I'd provide a very limited number of pieces of food (probably just one), shred it so it has much surface area as possible, and fortify it with something like Selcon. Hopefully, that would enable the anemone to get as much nutition with as little effort as possible.
Likewise, I personally wouldn't cut back on the lighting schedule. Many S. haddoni anemones come from shallow regions, some so shallow that they are exposed during low tide, and such areas have extremely high lighting compared to what is in our tanks.
I've put a number of newly acquired S. haddoni anemones in a shallow tank, inches below a 250W MH fixture in an area which produces PAR readings around 500 decreasing radially outward. If there's just sand in that area, they move to find rocks. Once achored, they stretch back towards the higher light center.
FWIW,
Mark
With the caveat that I'm not confident there's any particular things you can do that will affect the outcome --this anemone may just be one of the ones destined to make it or not-- I'll offer what I would do if the anemone were in my care:
First, I know of three reasons why anemones deflate:
1) To achieve osmotic equilibration with the surrounding seawater. This reportedly takes from 3-6 hours after a change in salinity. So, it's likely no longer relevant in your case.
2) As a defensive maneuver so they can retract under the rock or sand.
3) When they're attempting to expel wastes.
I'd assume the anemone is still trying to get "stuff" out. The S. haddoni anemones I've had that fully everted their "stomach" had little brown specs of "stuff" in there. When those floated away, the anemone would pull the insides back in and then reinflate. That's not something you can help much with.
But, it can influence what you choose to feed. The anemone is going to store each piece of food you give it in different "folds" (mesenteries) within it. There seems to be a lot of effort involved in mechanically getting the food in and the waste back out.
At nine days, IMO, the anemone has had plenty of time to adjust to your tank conditions. So, I'd start trying to feed it. Specifically, I'd provide a very limited number of pieces of food (probably just one), shred it so it has much surface area as possible, and fortify it with something like Selcon. Hopefully, that would enable the anemone to get as much nutition with as little effort as possible.
Likewise, I personally wouldn't cut back on the lighting schedule. Many S. haddoni anemones come from shallow regions, some so shallow that they are exposed during low tide, and such areas have extremely high lighting compared to what is in our tanks.
I've put a number of newly acquired S. haddoni anemones in a shallow tank, inches below a 250W MH fixture in an area which produces PAR readings around 500 decreasing radially outward. If there's just sand in that area, they move to find rocks. Once achored, they stretch back towards the higher light center.
FWIW,
Mark
Thanks.
I'd assume the anemone is still trying to get "stuff" out. The S. haddoni anemones I've had that fully everted their "stomach" had little brown specs of "stuff" in there. When those floated away, the anemone would pull the insides back in and then reinflate. That's not something you can help much with.
Yes, there are still some bits of brown waste blobs that appear occasionally.
At nine days, IMO, the anemone has had plenty of time to adjust to your tank conditions. So, I'd start trying to feed it. Specifically, I'd provide a very limited number of pieces of food (probably just one), shred it so it has much surface area as possible, and fortify it with something like Selcon. Hopefully, that would enable the anemone to get as much nutition with as little effort as possible.
What actual food would you fed it?
Likewise, I personally wouldn't cut back on the lighting schedule. Many S. haddoni anemones come from shallow regions, some so shallow that they are exposed during low tide, and such areas have extremely high lighting compared to what is in our tanks.
I'm close to going back to brighter lights, or at least brighter than now, since that didn't seem to help after 2 days. I did notice that the column is standing taller the past couple of days, but did not before connect to it possibly stretching for the light.
I'd assume the anemone is still trying to get "stuff" out. The S. haddoni anemones I've had that fully everted their "stomach" had little brown specs of "stuff" in there. When those floated away, the anemone would pull the insides back in and then reinflate. That's not something you can help much with.
Yes, there are still some bits of brown waste blobs that appear occasionally.
At nine days, IMO, the anemone has had plenty of time to adjust to your tank conditions. So, I'd start trying to feed it. Specifically, I'd provide a very limited number of pieces of food (probably just one), shred it so it has much surface area as possible, and fortify it with something like Selcon. Hopefully, that would enable the anemone to get as much nutition with as little effort as possible.
What actual food would you fed it?
Likewise, I personally wouldn't cut back on the lighting schedule. Many S. haddoni anemones come from shallow regions, some so shallow that they are exposed during low tide, and such areas have extremely high lighting compared to what is in our tanks.
I'm close to going back to brighter lights, or at least brighter than now, since that didn't seem to help after 2 days. I did notice that the column is standing taller the past couple of days, but did not before connect to it possibly stretching for the light.
puter
Active member
I start out with cooked table shrimp, well shredded and fortified. It may not be the most nutritious food out there, but I want to ensure whatever I feed at this stage is as innocuous as possible.
Having tried it, I no longer feed things like mysis or cyclopeeze at this point, specifically to avoid introducing a bunch of small particles that the anemone then has to work to expel.
That said, I can't claim to have come up with a procedure that dramatically changes the survival rate. Hopefully, Todd, Phil and others that have worked with a number of anemones and had them go both ways will chime in. I'd like to think there's more to this than just the luck of the draw.
BTW, while it's almost certainly just academic to how your anemone fairs, if you're interested in how anemones function at a biological/chemical level, shoot me an email and I'll send you some references of "light" reading materials. For example, a section on osmoconformity:
Was reading that and figured it was right up your alley.
Mark
OK, the 3:00 witching hour has come and gone and it is looking fine so far. 
I start out with cooked table shrimp, well shredded and fortified.
OK, thanks. I'll have to get some Selcon as I don't normally use it.
Was reading that and figured it was right up your alley
Excellent.
I start out with cooked table shrimp, well shredded and fortified.
OK, thanks. I'll have to get some Selcon as I don't normally use it.
Was reading that and figured it was right up your alley
Excellent.
Haddonisreef
New member
I feed my Haddonis Green shell muscle meat from Sealord, from king sooper they come already deshelled. I also soak in selcon and vitachem W/ regular feedings of muscle, you can tell good meat, nice and pink from waste all dark and on the very inside of the muscle! (3 x a week ) As far as feeding the shrimp i dont like to feed anything that the anemone will have a hard time digesting like a shell from a shrimp that why i go w/ muscle and you know that its getting some goods! Just a thought! Good luck!
Flighty
Premium Member
I would think fish for a haddoni just because of what they seem to eat in our tanks. Maybe an excuse to have a nice salmon or tuna steak diner for yourself and share Either way I don't think the food itself makes or breaks an anemone as long as it is being eaten and it doesn't have a load of bacteria. They seem to do really well at getting what they need from whatever they get their mouths around.
If it reassures you at all, we saw several anemones in the wild that had their mouths open a bit. Here is a haddoni that is in about three feet of water, but it had an open mouth the times I looked at it.
http://picasaweb.google.com/FlightyMail/Anemones6Oct2#4993388771554885650
Either way I don't think the food itself makes or breaks an anemone as long as it is being eaten and it doesn't have a load of bacteria. They seem to do really well at getting what they need from whatever they get their mouths around.If it reassures you at all, we saw several anemones in the wild that had their mouths open a bit. Here is a haddoni that is in about three feet of water, but it had an open mouth the times I looked at it.
http://picasaweb.google.com/FlightyMail/Anemones6Oct2#4993388771554885650
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Thanks for the input everyone, and the pictures, flighty.
Here's the evening photo to show the deflation. It did not get nearly as small today, and did not really start to deflate till later in the light cycle. i suppose that's good.
Here' the look about 1 h after the main lights went out (by flash):
Here's the evening photo to show the deflation. It did not get nearly as small today, and did not really start to deflate till later in the light cycle. i suppose that's good.
Here' the look about 1 h after the main lights went out (by flash):
maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
My H.mag did the same thing, (inflate/deflate daily at similar times of day). Since it occurred daily at approximately the same time, I assumed it was due to the anemone getting acclimated to my lighting. It stopped entirely after a month and the anemone has been fine ever since.
That was almost 3 years ago.
Nick
That was almost 3 years ago.
Nick
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