Sea Apple keepers?
- Thread starter dendro982
- Start date
harleychic
New member
Hey dendro, is this the 10g sea apple tank? Can we see pics, get some info?
Yep.
Refugium type of the tank, 10g, Rio Nano skimmer at the right (big apple's spot of choice), Mini-Jet 606 (one click less, than max flow, directed up, so the side of flow brushes the aplle's tentacles).
Side sump on the left, EBay analog of small AquaFuge, filled by rubble rock, Seachem Matrix biomedia. Heater, almost never changed bag of RowaPhos, return pump Mini-Jet 606 at full strength, 159 gph. No mechanical filtration (tried, not actually necessary and tank is doing so far well as is). Sump is connected to main tank by 2 U-tubes, no surface skimming.
2 walls are covered by rubble rock, glued to the wall (this tank was planned to be the grow out tank for sun coral babies), bare bottom. Mysids are swarming there, between rocks (observable from the back), a lot of bristle worms and some amphypods.
All algae I had, plus hitchhiking yellow polyps, red mushrooms, Kenya trees, gsp and some kind of not pulsing xenia (looks like).
Light is 27W daylight (6,500K) CFL.
The big apple, around 6" long without tentacles), when it takes the usual elongated, rear end up, shape:
Most worries about feeding such big mass. Would like to know, how the others did that.
Small, a little more, than 2", at the bottom, left, facing retung pump's flow:
Better colored:
This is a disagreeable little fellow, that closed tentacles for a month after I tried to feed it by DT live phytoplankton (premium live blend, not fouled - other organisms did well in the same tank) according the R. Toonen's article.
Tank holds water parameters quite well: zero nitrates and phosphates on usual weekly 25% water changes, and 10ppm NO3, still zero PO4 after 2.5 weeks without water changes at all. Cleanest of my tanks.
Fed abundantly 6-8 times a day.
I assume, that cucumbers are very efficient at using food, because the same content without them, used as refugium for the big tank, always ends with red cyano and diatoms, polluting tank, instead of cleaning it.
Temperature is lower, than usual, around 76F - apples expanded better during one of the power failure, when only pumps are on backup.
Artificial salt mix, Instant Ocean or Red Sea, SG 1.026, alkalinity ~8 dKH (have to keep eye on it, it drops, if no weekly WC), tap water (I know, I know. Have to, or close the whole shop).
I have sea apple tank for 6 months only.
Who keeps or kept them, or has the links to the keeper's posts, share what worked for you. Please?
Refugium type of the tank, 10g, Rio Nano skimmer at the right (big apple's spot of choice), Mini-Jet 606 (one click less, than max flow, directed up, so the side of flow brushes the aplle's tentacles).
Side sump on the left, EBay analog of small AquaFuge, filled by rubble rock, Seachem Matrix biomedia. Heater, almost never changed bag of RowaPhos, return pump Mini-Jet 606 at full strength, 159 gph. No mechanical filtration (tried, not actually necessary and tank is doing so far well as is). Sump is connected to main tank by 2 U-tubes, no surface skimming.
2 walls are covered by rubble rock, glued to the wall (this tank was planned to be the grow out tank for sun coral babies), bare bottom. Mysids are swarming there, between rocks (observable from the back), a lot of bristle worms and some amphypods.
All algae I had, plus hitchhiking yellow polyps, red mushrooms, Kenya trees, gsp and some kind of not pulsing xenia (looks like).
Light is 27W daylight (6,500K) CFL.
The big apple, around 6" long without tentacles), when it takes the usual elongated, rear end up, shape:
Most worries about feeding such big mass. Would like to know, how the others did that.
Small, a little more, than 2", at the bottom, left, facing retung pump's flow:
Better colored:
This is a disagreeable little fellow, that closed tentacles for a month after I tried to feed it by DT live phytoplankton (premium live blend, not fouled - other organisms did well in the same tank) according the R. Toonen's article.
Tank holds water parameters quite well: zero nitrates and phosphates on usual weekly 25% water changes, and 10ppm NO3, still zero PO4 after 2.5 weeks without water changes at all. Cleanest of my tanks.
Fed abundantly 6-8 times a day.
I assume, that cucumbers are very efficient at using food, because the same content without them, used as refugium for the big tank, always ends with red cyano and diatoms, polluting tank, instead of cleaning it.
Temperature is lower, than usual, around 76F - apples expanded better during one of the power failure, when only pumps are on backup.
Artificial salt mix, Instant Ocean or Red Sea, SG 1.026, alkalinity ~8 dKH (have to keep eye on it, it drops, if no weekly WC), tap water (I know, I know. Have to, or close the whole shop).
I have sea apple tank for 6 months only.
Who keeps or kept them, or has the links to the keeper's posts, share what worked for you. Please?
We've kept our sea apple (just like your large) for a year and it's doing great, in a well established tank with once or twice a day feedings of micro-vert. It situated itself right under a filter flow and has stayed there for at least 5 months. It got stung by two anemones, and developed a white spot that has healed nicely. We weren't warned about tank poisoning when we bought ours, but found plenty of info in books, online, not many people will keep them we've noticed. People that we tell we have a sea apple look at us like we're insane. It does have it's own tank, with lots of live rock fauna and a single humbug damsel. Good luck with yours, we're very happy with ours, I'd like to get a couple more to add color.
Thank you, very helpful!
What amount of MicroVert are you giving each time, for what size sea apple? I should increase dose proportionately to the body mass of mine.
What other food thank receives?
Can you post photo of the tank setup and description, or link to it?
So far I'm feeding anything of the very small size, that I could find and on what sea apples do not give negative reaction. Different frozen, concentrated and dried phytoplankton ("Instant algae" Nannocloropsis, Shellfish Diet (very limited amount), ESV spry dried phyto sometimes, Brightwell Chromo Phyto 8-30 microns (but stopped after finishing bottle)), live super small rotifrers strain, fed by these concentrated microalgae, sometimes Marine Snow and finest part of the homemade seafood blend, powdered fry food (for vitamins and additives), ZoPlan (dried small zooplankton), decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, even dried Cyclop Eeze, but this is too big, and, unless I'm mistaken (what I'm seeing in the sea apples poo), it acts like a fiber in diet for humans. Frozen San Fransisco Bay Reef Plankton (Red Calanus), when I have it.
I'll add MicrroVert too.
I also want very much to add other sea apples, with best yellow color of tentacles, that I had ever seen. But each of them is 6+", and I'm not sure what amount, what kind of food and how frequently should be given to them. Tried to follow article recommendations, it didn't worked for my apple.
What amount of MicroVert are you giving each time, for what size sea apple? I should increase dose proportionately to the body mass of mine.
What other food thank receives?
Can you post photo of the tank setup and description, or link to it?
So far I'm feeding anything of the very small size, that I could find and on what sea apples do not give negative reaction. Different frozen, concentrated and dried phytoplankton ("Instant algae" Nannocloropsis, Shellfish Diet (very limited amount), ESV spry dried phyto sometimes, Brightwell Chromo Phyto 8-30 microns (but stopped after finishing bottle)), live super small rotifrers strain, fed by these concentrated microalgae, sometimes Marine Snow and finest part of the homemade seafood blend, powdered fry food (for vitamins and additives), ZoPlan (dried small zooplankton), decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, even dried Cyclop Eeze, but this is too big, and, unless I'm mistaken (what I'm seeing in the sea apples poo), it acts like a fiber in diet for humans. Frozen San Fransisco Bay Reef Plankton (Red Calanus), when I have it.
I'll add MicrroVert too.
I also want very much to add other sea apples, with best yellow color of tentacles, that I had ever seen. But each of them is 6+", and I'm not sure what amount, what kind of food and how frequently should be given to them. Tried to follow article recommendations, it didn't worked for my apple.
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Our sea apple is about 6-7" and I probably drop a tablespoon in there two or three times a day. We add rotifers occasionally and Chroma-plex sometimes too. Honestly he seems quite content and a lot hardier then other corals in our other tank. He is in a 40 gallon, no sump, penguin bio-wheel filtered tank that gets water changes fairly often. Essn elements are added on occasion also. We inherited his tank from someone a long while back and it was infested with aiptasia. I've been using the "lemon-juice injection" method to irradicate them, and everytime I do that, the apple seems to expand with joy, streching his tentacles as far as they will go when I'm "destroying" the aiptasia.
That bites: $30 a month for a food only for one sea apple :rolleye1:
Like the feeders for lionfish.
Penguin bio-wheel filter is the biggest model, right? How frequently do you change the cartridges (or modified filtration)? It is quite an amount of food to be processed or filtered.
Picture of the tank will be appreciated, or at least a photo of the the small spot - to see what kind of hitchhiking life it has. Like this, in my tank:
Back wall LR harbors bristle worms and mysids:
Closeup of the top corner, microalgae:
It's very interesting, that sea apple react this way on lemon juice treatment for aiptasia. Can you post details, how you do that? I never used it, kalkwasser, vinegar, hot water and Joe's Juice only.
Like the feeders for lionfish.
Penguin bio-wheel filter is the biggest model, right? How frequently do you change the cartridges (or modified filtration)? It is quite an amount of food to be processed or filtered.
Picture of the tank will be appreciated, or at least a photo of the the small spot - to see what kind of hitchhiking life it has. Like this, in my tank:
Back wall LR harbors bristle worms and mysids:
Closeup of the top corner, microalgae:
It's very interesting, that sea apple react this way on lemon juice treatment for aiptasia. Can you post details, how you do that? I never used it, kalkwasser, vinegar, hot water and Joe's Juice only.
I love my sea apple, he's my pride and joy (him and my parrot). My significant other thinks the corals are cooler, but everyone has coral.....not apples.
I read about the lemon juice on a website and ran it by a long time friend of salt water and she said to give it a shot. I bought a 3 mil. needle used for equine vaccines, and all I do is inject each anenome with a small amount of lemon juice concentrate, and they disappear. It only really works on the larger ones though
As for the hitchhikers, I have tons and tons of small bristle worms, snails, brittle sea stars (just a couple inches across) numerous clams, all kinds of pods and sponges all over the rocks and walls of this tank, the coralinne algea is beautiful and I can't even count the fanworms growing in there, even with the aiptasia. Generally I don't do a lot of maintenance on the tank, I do water changes every couple weeks (about 12 gallons) and I keep the carbon changed and clean. I believe the aiptasia, and possibly some of the other inhabitants may consume some of the left over apple food. There is also a small, cheap protien skimmer on the back of the tank. The hitchhiker life is plentiful enough I often pick it out of the 40 gallon and drop it into the 125 gallon to add diversity.
I love your tank, I'd like to get another apple or two, if I could find some other colors (I only see the purple body, red tentacle, yellow footed ones around here). There's a really pretty one at foster and smith, but it's well out of price range for a sea apple if you ask me. I'd like to post pics, but I bought a digital camera and took it camping, left it in the glovebox and it cooked
I read about the lemon juice on a website and ran it by a long time friend of salt water and she said to give it a shot. I bought a 3 mil. needle used for equine vaccines, and all I do is inject each anenome with a small amount of lemon juice concentrate, and they disappear. It only really works on the larger ones though
As for the hitchhikers, I have tons and tons of small bristle worms, snails, brittle sea stars (just a couple inches across) numerous clams, all kinds of pods and sponges all over the rocks and walls of this tank, the coralinne algea is beautiful and I can't even count the fanworms growing in there, even with the aiptasia. Generally I don't do a lot of maintenance on the tank, I do water changes every couple weeks (about 12 gallons) and I keep the carbon changed and clean. I believe the aiptasia, and possibly some of the other inhabitants may consume some of the left over apple food. There is also a small, cheap protien skimmer on the back of the tank. The hitchhiker life is plentiful enough I often pick it out of the 40 gallon and drop it into the 125 gallon to add diversity.
I love your tank, I'd like to get another apple or two, if I could find some other colors (I only see the purple body, red tentacle, yellow footed ones around here). There's a really pretty one at foster and smith, but it's well out of price range for a sea apple if you ask me. I'd like to post pics, but I bought a digital camera and took it camping, left it in the glovebox and it cooked
Do you actually puncture the body of aiptasia (mine retract fast), or applying onto the mouth? What is the limit of the amount of lemon juice concentrate (undiluted?) for one time treatment (for avoiding pH swing)? Do you siphon out died aiptasia?
My treatments were less successful and safe for the tanks, alas.
If you don't mind, how frequently do you change mechanical filtration media (or filter cartridges)?
Kinds of sea apples, that I had seen here (all are yellow feet):
1. My small, pale light blue, multiple colors on tentacles. Maybe because it is young, or just of different colors:
Red spot on the back is far from intense, comparing to the big apple:
2. Very similar, when closed, also small, but paler and with colorless tentacles (moral - do not buy or follow advice of salesperson, unless see tentacles):
More violet, then blue, on oral disk:
3. The big one has intense blue and red colors, the solid deep red spot on the back - just like apple fruits have. Less variety of colors in tentacles.
4. Also the big one, but with best shade of yellow I had ever seen: not hot yellow, not pale, not cold yellow, just the best.
And one potential tank mate for sea apples, also filter feeding cucumber, Pentacta anceps:
This didn't close, like sea apples, on walking around and photographing.
I had seen them in two varieties: bigger, than thumb and rather pale and crude, and more fine of more clear colors (on the photo). Same feeding, same conditions.
Or Yellow filter feeding Colochirus (sp?) cucumbers, couldn't find them.
My treatments were less successful and safe for the tanks, alas.
If you don't mind, how frequently do you change mechanical filtration media (or filter cartridges)?
Kinds of sea apples, that I had seen here (all are yellow feet):
1. My small, pale light blue, multiple colors on tentacles. Maybe because it is young, or just of different colors:
Red spot on the back is far from intense, comparing to the big apple:
2. Very similar, when closed, also small, but paler and with colorless tentacles (moral - do not buy or follow advice of salesperson, unless see tentacles):
More violet, then blue, on oral disk:
3. The big one has intense blue and red colors, the solid deep red spot on the back - just like apple fruits have. Less variety of colors in tentacles.
4. Also the big one, but with best shade of yellow I had ever seen: not hot yellow, not pale, not cold yellow, just the best.
And one potential tank mate for sea apples, also filter feeding cucumber, Pentacta anceps:
This didn't close, like sea apples, on walking around and photographing.
I had seen them in two varieties: bigger, than thumb and rather pale and crude, and more fine of more clear colors (on the photo). Same feeding, same conditions.
Or Yellow filter feeding Colochirus (sp?) cucumbers, couldn't find them.
Wow, ours is the only sea apple we've seen here, and we learned quickly about not believing sales people who say anything to make a sale. I personnaly don't buy things without research first, but my boyfriend does, and the sea apple was one of them. He brought it home, I found out what it ate and how to care for it, and now it's in my tank as my pet.
As for the lemon juice, I limit the amount to 15 mL of undiluted lemon juice and inject into the stem of about 10-13 anenomes per treatment. It doesn't seem to take long and I pull the dead bodies out. Their mouths turn white and they shrivel and their foot lets go and they float away. I catch them in a net and throw them in the rose garden. I give it a couple days and go again. I have not had a large pH swing and it's working pretty well on the pests. I change the filter cartrige every month or so. I keep two cups of carbon in a sock behind the cartrige and change that every couple weeks. No nitrates, phosphates, the rocks are clean, and everything does well, so low maint. Honestly the only problem is the aiptasia. Our big tank is a pain, with regular water changes, and constant calcium monitoring, blah blah. I keep to my simple apple tank and the boy takes care of his reef tank (even though I take care of our big anenomes and the candy cane corals in his tank).
Thank you so much for the pics of those apples, I'm printing them and putting them in my invertabrate folder/wish list.
As for the lemon juice, I limit the amount to 15 mL of undiluted lemon juice and inject into the stem of about 10-13 anenomes per treatment. It doesn't seem to take long and I pull the dead bodies out. Their mouths turn white and they shrivel and their foot lets go and they float away. I catch them in a net and throw them in the rose garden. I give it a couple days and go again. I have not had a large pH swing and it's working pretty well on the pests. I change the filter cartrige every month or so. I keep two cups of carbon in a sock behind the cartrige and change that every couple weeks. No nitrates, phosphates, the rocks are clean, and everything does well, so low maint. Honestly the only problem is the aiptasia. Our big tank is a pain, with regular water changes, and constant calcium monitoring, blah blah. I keep to my simple apple tank and the boy takes care of his reef tank (even though I take care of our big anenomes and the candy cane corals in his tank).
Thank you so much for the pics of those apples, I'm printing them and putting them in my invertabrate folder/wish list.
Thank you for the info, I'll try it.
I was walking around the tank with sea apples in LFS for month, biting nails (figuratively speaking) and convincing myself, that I shouldn't do that for a lot of different reasons. But with the lack of interesting animals and my particular fondness to filter feeding cucumbers...
As for the price, this is $40 store, except some rare corals from Australia.
I was walking around the tank with sea apples in LFS for month, biting nails (figuratively speaking) and convincing myself, that I shouldn't do that for a lot of different reasons. But with the lack of interesting animals and my particular fondness to filter feeding cucumbers...
As for the price, this is $40 store, except some rare corals from Australia.Similar threads
