Spawning clownfish, upset anemone!

[crittle143]

I bought a GBTA about a month ago and he has been pretty happy, but my pair of clowns hosted about two weeks ago and the anemone shrinks up about once a day. It got worse today when my true percs decided to spawn (for the first time) :dance:. But now my GBTA has shrivelled up and it's been about 5-6 hours, he looks really really upset. Is this normal?
55gal long, 4x t5 54w bulbs, 1white, 2actinics,1purple
nitrites: 0
nitrates:0
ammonia:0
salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2

 

[crittle143]

oops 54w

 

[crittle143]

Some before and after

Some before and after

Before and after

 

[SwampyBill]

How long has your tank been up & running? Your profile says 2 months. If so, it's nowhere near mature enough for an anemone to survive, much less thrive. How did you acclimate it to your lighting? Toddrtrex has a good thread on here about acclimating an anemone to different tank lights.

I suggest returning the anemone to LFS for store credit; then letting your tank mature about 6 months before getting another one.

 

[crittle143]

My tank is 7-8 months old. I didn't really acclimate him to my lights, he was at the top of the holding tank fully extended at the LFS. He has been doing really well and he has a good amount of brown to him. He opened up a little bit last night and all day today, but about 2 hours ago decided to shrivel up again.

 

[SwampyBill]

OK, at 7-8 mos, your tank should be mature enough & your water parameters seem fine to house a nem. Has it attached to the rockwork? Could be the clowns 'loving in it' too much, not having acclimated it to lights properly, or too much/not enough flow around it to be stressing the nem. Maybe someone else can chime in on what reasons could be...

 

[2Addicted]

What time in the day is it deflating? It looks like it has no place to get out of the light and it is trying to get shade for a little while. That is my guess. Most of my anemones have a little overhang above them That they can stretch away from to get light and retract a little bit when they want less light.

 

[crittle143]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was too much loving from the clowns, they have been very aggressive with it from the start, and since they spawned on Monday the male has been nipping its tentacles near the eggs. Unfortunately if it's the light I dont think I could move him, his foot is securely attached deep in the large piece of live rock it sits on. But he shrinks up a couple hours before lights off. Maybe lights on too long? Blues come on at 11am, then whites at 1130am. Lights off white 8pm and blues at 830pm. What do you think?

 

[2Addicted]

My guess is the same as in my post above. Bubble tips like to have a way to get out of the light when they want to. When they cant they just deflate to try to react into the crevice.

 

[steamman]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was too much loving from the clowns, they have been very aggressive with it from the start, and since they spawned on Monday the male has been nipping its tentacles near the eggs. Unfortunately if it's the light I dont think I could move him, his foot is securely attached deep in the large piece of live rock it sits on. But he shrinks up a couple hours before lights off. Maybe lights on too long? Blues come on at 11am, then whites at 1130am. Lights off white 8pm and blues at 830pm. What do you think?

My RBTA"s do this from time to time. I have a pair of spawning Maroon clowns that host them. I don't know why it happens. Too much loving like crittle143 says could be it. They always go back to normal.

Anemone's can go where they are more comfortable in the tank if they need to. If they want more light, different flow, ect. Although it seems my clown fish steer my anemones to locations that make the fish more comfortable.