S. Haddoni carpet anemone spawning??

[tufacody]

i suggest you do a search for some genetic studies that were done on anemone tissue, as you might find them interesting. One was done by a Cali school and another was done by an Italian university. I wish I had saved them. The studies focused on genetic markers to ensure that testing was not being done on clones, if I recall correctly. Both articles noted complete lack of genetic mutation, commonly associated with tissues that age.

 

[TEDALLEN80]

Ok today (day 7) there is no change in the anemone. Same as yesterday. He has stopped moving and is dug in like a tick. Attached really well. Water params are the same, no change in water chemistry.

 

[BonsaiNut]

i suggest you do a search for some genetic studies that were done on anemone tissue, as you might find them interesting. One was done by a Cali school and another was done by an Italian university. I wish I had saved them. The studies focused on genetic markers to ensure that testing was not being done on clones, if I recall correctly. Both articles noted complete lack of genetic mutation, commonly associated with tissues that age.

Ahhh.... here is the article I was looking for From way back in 2002. Scroll down to the bottom to read about tank-raising a S. gigantea from the size of a penny to 12 inches (with minimal supplemental feeding) in 3 years. A quote:

"This brings up the question of age. Fautin and Allen (1992) proposed that large anemones could be more than a century old. While I do not dispute that some anemones may indeed be very long lived, to infer that something must be old simply because it is large is not entirely valid in my opinion. In the case of our S. gigantea, I think it would be safe to say that they should attain a diameter of close to a meter in less than ten years."

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/feature.htm

 

[tufacody]

Bonsai - I don't disagree that size and age may be unrelated in individual specimens, especially those in a captive environment. However, when you consider the animals in the ocean, and the fact that their natural lifespans can be huge, you would think that size would otherwise be uniform in any particular locale. Thus when you see smaller anemones in the wild, I think the GENERALIZATION that smaller ones are younger is perfectly valid. Nobody is saying that any particular anemone IS 100 years old, but there is no reason to discount it either, at least in my opinion. It's a sombering fact that is worthy of consideration when attempting to keep one captive.

 

[BonsaiNut]

Nobody is saying that any particular anemone IS 100 years old, but there is no reason to discount it either, at least in my opinion.

I thought you were saying it Quote: "It's probably also at least 100 years old." That was what started the whole thread of this conversation...

 

[puter]

Ok today (day 7) there is no change in the anemone. Same as yesterday. He has stopped moving and is dug in like a tick...

Excellent! Exactly what you want. Hopefully "he's" found himself a home.

 

[TEDALLEN80]

Lets hope so. Got a long road ahead of us. I will post day 8 pics tonight

 

[TEDALLEN80]

Ok today was not a good day. Checked the tank and the anemone looked good. I took my turkey baster to blow the debris off and the water felt cold. ???? whats going on. I checked my Aquacontroller and the temp was 75.5!!!
Oh my god!! Checked the heaters and both are kaput. 300w and a 200w backup. I immediately tested the outlet on the DC 8. Works fine. So good thing i had an extra 300w heater laying around. Fired it up. I also have 1000 watts of light over the system and 2 big fans that blow across the water. I added a program to have the fans turn off for anything below 79 this was just dropping the temp even more since the heaters were inoperable. Needless to say i dont thing the nem was affected nearly that much:

here is day 8 with the temperature swing to 75.5

 

[smoke15]

my red and green carpet anemones has lived through 75 degree water without issue

 

[puter]

I agree. Temporary lower temperatures, in particular, are not a big deal. Err on the side of bringing the temperature back up to normal more slowly than too fast. What temp are you shooting for? I typically keep S. haddoni anemones at 78-80F so you're really not very far off...

 

[TEDALLEN80]

shooting for 79-81. My corals seem to do better in this range.

 

[tufacody]

For under $10 you can make an alarm to plug into the DC8, and set the AC3 to sound it whenever parameters fall out of whack. That's what I did, and its saved my arse a few times.

 

[TEDALLEN80]

its an AC jr. if it can be done send me the specs and schematics

 

[tufacody]

no schematics. buy 120v buzzer or siren. buy $.78 extension cord and cut off recepticle end. connect wires. plug into outlet in dc8. program "if temp < 76 then alarm on." done

I have also used this with the proper walwart adapter:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/ES-11/PAINFULLY-LOUD-MINI-SIREN/1.html

I went to a buzzer because this one not only wakes up the house, it wakes up the neighbors, lol.

 

[TEDALLEN80]

sweet, i was thinking of something like that. I hope i have an outlet available

 

[TEDALLEN80]

Day 9 no affect on the temperature drop. Thats good news. Seems to be a little more inflated today. Pics soon

 

[TEDALLEN80]

day 9 pics: Would anyone suggest a small feeding at this point.

 

[puter]

I'd wait... looking good though.

 

[TEDALLEN80]

It seems through out the day the mouth will be wider at some points. Early in the day, its wide. Coming to the end of the light cycle the mouth/stomach is pulled in more and smaller. Is there any justification for this?

 

[Peter Eichler]

Personally, I don't think PH nor alkalinity or temperature have much factor in S. haddoni's well being as long as they're within a reasonable range. I've kept S. haddoni in anywhere from 72-88 degrees without and visible signs of stress, the same goes for varying alkalinity and PH. In fact in nature I can guarantee you these animals go through some wild temperature fluctuations in addition to baking in the sun from time to time.

In short, don't worry about the temp dip you had and don't overly fixate on your parameters or if you're doing too few or not enough water changes... It's a new carpet anemone, they just need time to adapt. Sadly many carpets don't make it for long after being put in new surroundings, some do. I guarantee you many many of those anemones that didn't make it were in as close to ideal conditions as you'll find in home aquaria. Nowadays, assuming decent parameters, I thinks it's luck of the draw more than anything.

As for feeding, I'd personally wait, but if you want to feed it a little something I don't think it'll be harmful as long as it's something fairly small in particle size.

Their mouths are often a little more visible and open over night and before lights on, so your observations aren't anything out of the ordinary.

Lastly, from your last photos, you may not be out of the woods yet, but I can see a clearing

Good luck, it's a gorgeous anemone!