Two anemone on new live rock, Aiptasia maybe?

[Gunsnroses]

Picked up about 20 lbs of live rock today and I think one of them has aiptasia. There is also another small new that is pretty much transparent. Can you identify?

 

[MinnFish]

Your maybe, is correct. There might be more. Treat immediately.

 

[Gunsnroses]

That's what I figured. I do have a Peppermint shrimp in the tank. Maybe give him a few days to see if he will eat it. In the mean time, I can order some aptasia X.
What about the one in the other picture. Any I.D.?

 

[MinnFish]

Second pic, hard to tell. But, from what little I can see. I would count that as one too.

 

[ReefRehab]

I would give it a little bit on the second one to grow out. What region is the rock from? Looks like it might be a generic rock anemone or something along those lines based upon the layout of the oral disk. He is too small to cause issues at this point. I have had a couple small unidentified anemones in the past and rapidly expanding zoas were the only thing that they bugged. I agree that the first one is an aiptasia.

 

[Gunsnroses]

Not sure what region the rock is from. The store just marked it as live rock.
I don't know much about Aiptasia, but does it sleep?
Cause when I turned the lights on this morning, it was not there anymore. Fingers crossed that the Peppermint shrimp ate it.

 

[nickg]

Yep aptasia..

 

[shesacharmer]

The easiest way to identify aiptasia is to attempt to touch it...if it is aiptasia it will withdraw like lightning becoming nearly invisible or as small as possible! If it is something else it will shy away and curl up like a paly does. Keep an eye on the second one in case it is a Majano.

 

[Gunsnroses]

I guess the the good news is, something ate the aiptasia. I'm guessing it was the Peppermint shrimp.
He should be full for a while cause that aiptasia was pretty big.
But at least something in there likes them. So that's good news for me.

 

[Gunsnroses]

O.k. maybe spoke to soon.
I picked up the rock the aiptasia was on last night and now it has moved to other side of the rock.
Do these things really move around?

 

[JoeVandal49]

It could very well be another individual. From what i have read, where there is one, thee is likely more. I have not had it yet to deal with though.

 

[Gunsnroses]

If it is indeed another one then I am not to concerned.
Because that means my peppermint shrimp ate the first one and he will get this one to.
But if this is the same one, then I will need to deal with it myself.
So, can these things just move around the rock at will?

 

[Gunsnroses]

O.k. bought some Aiptasia X today and put it on the Aiptasia.
Kinda cool watching it pop!!
So hopefully that is that.

 

[Khemul]

They can sort of move. They don't seem to move like large anemones do, but they'll shift small distances. If there are holes/tunnels in the rock then small distance becomes a rather relative term. They also seem to be able to detach and let the current carry them around.

 

[poweraid]

I have had good luck with peppermint shrimp. From what I have read it's best to have a small group so that there is competition for the aiptasia as a food source. I don't have a LFS were I live and had a bad case of them in my tank. I put 3 peppermint shrimp in my tank and they cleared it up in about a week!