Show off your S. gigantea

[TheOtherReefer]

my blue gigantea, massive, sorry for the quality, it is as royal blue as it gets

click on picture below for video

 

[TheOtherReefer]

this is the photo I saw when it was for sale, same nem

 

[OrionN]

That is one nice anemone

 

[schprock]

I got this anemone 1 week ago. Flow is provided by a tunze 6055 alternating from 30% for 15s and 100% for 10s during the day. Maximum reduced to 65% at night. The gigantea has been eating mysis and rods reef predator chunks. Haven't deflated at this time.

 

[OrionN]

Looking good schprock. Do you have a chunk of rock so he can attach to? IME, they don't like to attach to horizontal surface and may move up the wall of the aquarium on you. If they attach to a rock, you can easily move it from one spot to another.
No deflation after 1 week is a major, huge hurdle for these guys.

 

[OrionN]

6 weeks in my tank, the anemone is doing really well.
Below are side by side pictures of the first week and this AM. I think he is out of the wood. If he died now it is all my fault not due to stress and injury from before I got him

Close up

Full view

 

[schprock]

Here is a pic of the other side. Just can't see the rock from the first picture. The foot is between the rock and sand.

Just fed a few pieces of small shrimp about 1/4" in size and mysis. I am a firm believer of feeding small pieces. The previous anemone I had regurgitated silversides and larger pieces of whole shrimp, then rapidly decline. I am suspicious that undigested food attracts bacteria into the gut. These bacterial population attacks the host anemone that already has an already weak immune system from shipping stress. The subsequent inflation/deflation cycle may be the anemones attempt to flush out the bacteria and bacterial toxins.

 

[BonsaiNut]

Just fed a few pieces of small shrimp about 1/4" in size and mysis. I am a firm believer of feeding small pieces. The previous anemone I had regurgitated silversides and larger pieces of whole shrimp, then rapidly decline. I am suspicious that undigested food attracts bacteria into the gut. These bacterial population attacks the host anemone that already has an already weak immune system from shipping stress. The subsequent inflation/deflation cycle may be the anemones attempt to flush out the bacteria and bacterial toxins.

I also am a firm believe in small pieces of food.

I hadn't thought about your explanation before, but it makes sense given what we know about these creatures (and how sensitive they seem to be to bacterial infections). Thanks for sharing - I love it when I hear something that makes me think differently about a subject

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

add me to the list: feed small foods to anemones!

Bonsai I heard a rumor you have video of S. gigantea in situ from a recent trip.. Can you post a link or direct me?

 

[OrionN]

I agree that unless the anemone is healthy and able to digest the food, feeding them is detrimental to their healthy. Once they are able to handle the food, feeding will really help them recover and growth.

schprock, keep us update. Your anemone is a beauty. Good luck with him.

 

[Merfin70]

Mine is just a little baby and an impulse purchase (cheap) from the local fish store. It has baby blue tips. I have noticed recently that it is getting brown blotches lower down on the tentacles. Any of the more experienced owners have an opinion to offer on why ? So far the tentacles are keeping the baby blue tips. I was worried about my clown given how big he is compared to the nem but so far, the nem seems to be doing OK with her.

5 Weeks Ago

3 Weeks Ago - Moved Up the Rock a Bit

Today. See the Brown Splotches in the Tentacles

 

[OrionN]

Mine is just a little baby and an impulse purchase (cheap) from the local fish store. It has baby blue tips. I have noticed recently that it is getting brown blotches lower down on the tentacles. Any of the more experienced owners have an opinion to offer on why ? ....

George,
What you see there is the zooxanthellae population start to come back. Your anemone was bleached and lost much of it's zooxanthellae. It is healthier now and should continue to recover. It will be browner but hopefully the brown will not mask the beautiful blue color of the tentacle tips. You can see the color change of my anemone. Expect similar coloration changes with your's.
Feed him and he will grow fast for you until the size that you want to keep him. Stop feeding him regularly at that time and his grow will slow down for you.
You are very lucky to find a beautiful healthy Gigantea for "cheap". Good luck with him.

 

[Merfin70]

George,
What you see there is the zooxanthellae population start to come back. Your anemone was bleached and lost much of it's zooxanthellae. It is healthier now and should continue to recover. It will be browner but hopefully the brown will not mask the beautiful blue color of the tentacle tips. You can see the color change of my anemone. Expect similar coloration changes with your's.
Feed him and he will grow fast for you until the size that you want to keep him. Stop feeding him regularly at that time and his grow will slow down for you.
You are very lucky to find a beautiful healthy Gigantea for "cheap". Good luck with him.

Thanks Minh. I thought that was what was happening. I've been keeping him well fed on Shrimp and saved some Red Snapper from tonight's dinner for him. Good thing for me the LFS didn't actually know what their "misc Carpet" actually should be worth. Seems like yours has kept the purple tips quite nicely so I have hope that mine will do the same with the blue. I know at only 6 week in my tank, I have a long way to go but I have nothing but time.

 

[Woogiekids]

Here's mine with his new phantom buddies.

When I first got it, rather yellow (and hosting Spotcinctus clowns) Darkening up to pure brown as the months go on.

Now:

 

[schprock]

Blue gigantea still kicking around. Have not deflated so far. Eating rods food mixed with mysis soaked in extracted garlic and amino acid. The anemone initially did not like the taste of garlic and spits out the frozen food - now it eats more garlic than a pregnant female.

Week 2

Week 3 - tentacles are elongating compared to first week

 

[OrionN]

Very nice. Do you see any color coming back yet? If you know other people who keep Gigantea, you may want to do a Zooxanthellae. Feed it food with a tentacle or two of a healthy Gigantea. If he is completely bleached, this may help him recover.

 

[OrionN]

My new yellow Gigantea, in my tank for a few days.

And my Purple Gigantea pictured today

 

[schprock]

The base may seem a bit browner or this could just be my imagination. I have a small brown anemone on the other side of the rock as well. I could cut a brown tentacle off and feed the blue but then I may end up with two brown anemones.

The brown anemone was actually on a different rock across the sand 4-5" away. I was gone for 24 hours and when I came back the little one had managed to dig his foot into the same rock as the blue gigantea and touching each other. I am not sure what this means in terms of gigantea interaction. From what I have read on this forum, many people have had bad experience adding giganteas, but these two seems to want company. Or at least the small one seems to like company - the bigger one have not moved away yet. They are both touching each other.

 

[OrionN]

Zooxanthellae coloration is different from the color of the anemone. I would use a stick (bamboo skewer) or some thing like that and let the healthy anemone grab a hold of it. Pull back quickly and some of the Gigantea tentacles will be sticking on the stick. Slit a small piece of fish or shrimp and jam this tentacles into it and feed it to the bleached anemone. That is how I would do a Zooxanthellae transplant.

Picture of your other anemone please,

 

[schprock]

Thanks for the tip Minh. I will give it a try then. The other anemone is on the other side. Will put up pics in the morning.