Sabae Anemone - purple tipped

[bmallia82]

Hello all,

I have been having problems w/ my sabae anemone since I got it. I can not find a place for him in my tank where he wants to settle in. Does not seem to be attatching himself to anything. I have put him up in the tank near rocks, and he did not like it there. Kinda enclosed him in as well.

Now he is on the floor, in the sand, with some rocks around him again for him to suck on to. Looked to be comfortable, and then this morning I found him out again.

Any1 have suggestions. Is it possible that he is damaged and can not suck on to anything. Please help.

 

[PSEUDOREEFER]

I'm guessing he's white right? And judging by your "Hobby Experience" he's in a 10 gallon that's 2 months old right? The white coloration means that it's "bleached". This is when a coral or anemone (zooxanthellate corals only- corals that get their food from light) expels their symbiotic zooxanthellae (pronounce zO-Zan-ThellA - Really... took me forever to get that right :lol: ). Zooxanthellae are a dinoflaggellate algae (technically a protozoan, but are photosynthetic - get food from photosynthesis- i.e. light). These single celled algae get their food from light and pass on the nutrients to their coral host. When the coral or anemone host experience certain stressful conditions, they expel their zooxanthellae causing them to turn white meaning that that coral loses it's food source (in turn causing it to starve). Sebaes are notorious for this. They need a bright light source and frequent feedings to recover (almost always metal halide- there are a few cases where non-metal halide lights have worked, but go by the norm, not the exception).

What this means for YOU. If you don't have halides I suggest you find someone in your area who does and give it away or try to return it to the store for credit. If you DO have halides, I would suggest frequent (every other day) feedings of small bits of meaty foods. It's probably not sticking to anything because it's starving (not a good sign- often means that the end is near). This species of anemone BTW buries its foot into the substrate (sand normally). When they are healthy, they can grow quite large (mine is about 18" in diameter normally). Please research as much as possible on inhabitants before purchasing (I always say that you should know everything about everything in your aquarium). There is far too much information in this hobby that people NEED to take advantage of. Good luck and BTW always good to see newcomers into the hobby

 

[roons]

mine moved around on the bottom till he found a spot he liked, been there ever since, and i have noticed a pair of clowns will keep them put as well.........................i never feed them, well maybe once every 6 months, clowns keep em fed, fun to watch my female bring him a big chunk of food , pretty neat........................and imo 2 months is too early, check the orp of your water, they dont like dirty water

 

[raoul]

Mine came in like yours - I didn't know any better. It was an impulse and I was excited because I got it in trade. If you don't have metal halide lighting, your other option is to get some, but they can get pricey. Mine rolled around for a bit too, I felt like it wouldn't make it, but stuck with it and it pulled through. It took a little while for it to attach though. We put it in a low flow area (the currents would take it all over) and boxed it in like it sounds like you tried to do. Ours stayed. As it got stronger it started attaching to the glass, then started burying it's foot in the sand. We had to do a little moving and now it's got it's foot in the sand between the rock work.
I think that everything we did made a difference - upgraded lighting to MH (needed an excuse anyway!), feeding small peices regularly (we even did daily when we fed mysis shrimp), and keeping our water parameters in check. It's a beautiful shade of brown now and many times it's original size! We also increased our light cycle, but with the extra nutrients we were putting in the tank, and the extra light, we got some extra algae that we didn't want!
Another tip, if it doesn't eat the first thing you offer, try some other things until it does - ours isn't so finicky anymore, but seems to like sea scallops quite a bit! you can try silversides (pet stores have them), shrimp, mussels, and other seafood morsels from your grocery store seafood counter, as well as mysis shrimp (petstore).
At this point, I wouldn't count on fish bringing food to the anemone, it's hit or miss. Roon's does but mine don't.
Good luck, keep us posted, keep asking questions if you have them!
Alta

 

[roons]

mine has doubled in size under t-5, i would have to beg to differ that metal halide is a must...............

 

[raoul]

We went from Power Compacts to Metal Halide, and I think the upgrade in lighting made the difference for ours, not necessarily what we upgraded to.

If bmallia82 has normal output, or pc's then an upgrade in lighting may be helpful.

I've been blown away by the amount of growth I've seen this past year, isn't it amazing!

I wish my clowns would feed my nem, that would be awesome! They're perfectly happy hosting in it, but won't feed it. They even steal food from him as he's bringing it to his mouth!

Alta

 

[PSEUDOREEFER]

mine has doubled in size under t-5, i would have to beg to differ that metal halide is a must...............

T-5's are a fairly high intensity light, but even so

(almost always metal halide- there are a few cases where non-metal halide lights have worked, but go by the norm, not the exception).

 

[bmallia82]

Thanks guys for the help. My anemone is still in the same shape. Some days good, some days bad. I have started to feed him a couple times a week, so we will see what happens.

Strange, b/c my sabae does host in him still and he does feed the anemone when I put flakes in the tank. I have recently enclosed the anemone b/w some larger rocks. This has also prevented some of the current flow which keeps him steady.

I would like to just ger rid of him of get a new one, but I dont want to lose hope. We shall see.

thanks for the help guys

 

[stykthyn]

man an anemone in a 10 that is 2 mo old? Return it unless you just want it to waste away, and dont bother with another. you can enjoy your clown without an anemone. Try a fuzzy mushroom or some xenia. But at least give the tank another couple of months to mature.