vanishing H. Malu

[zotzer]

I have a mated pair of true percs which I bought from a local reefer after he suffered a vacation-related tank crash. They had previously been hosting in a purple h. malu.

Anyway, to make a short story long, I picked up a purplish-tinted, but definitely more tan colored h. malu (I had read that the tan ones were a tad easier to keep). She dug herself into the sand very quickly yesterday, in a decent spot right in front of the tank. Part of her is a little more shaded in a cove than I'd prefer, but she seemed happy and active.

Tonight, I decided to give a go at feeding her. Well, she grabbed the reef tweezers, and the shrimp, and retracted into the sand like greased lightening! I can see about an inch of contracted tentacles sticking out from the bottom of a big rock and the sand, but she is very slow to re-emerge. (an no, she didn't *really* manage to snag the tweezers, but she had a good grab on them!)

Is this normal? Should I even bother trying to feed her in this manner? How long without re-emerging should I start to worry?

Thanks for your help!
Tracy

 

[marc price]

h. malu is known to retract into the sand in the wild , don't worry about it it's fine. what size is it?

 

[zotzer]

She's about 7" - 8" across when fully expanded. Here's a pic when she was introduced to the tank and was busy digging herself in.

Tracy

 

[marc price]

that looks like m. doreensis, what color is the column?

quote: Often found in mud, generally no deeper than 5 m, commonly without fish; can retract completely into sediment*.

*http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/ch1.html#doreen

 

[zotzer]

the column/foot is bright red.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Going to have to agree with "marc price" you have an LTA ( m. doreensis )

 

[zotzer]

Hmmmm. Well, I bought it from the same LFS where the previous clownfish owner had purchased his purple "h. malu". We went back and forth whether I should wait for an identical purple one, or go with this one. (the LFS guy...who actually IS pretty knowledgeable and well-respected in our reef club, WAMAS) knew the exact anemone I was trying to replace.

Anyway...guess I will now study up on the LTA, and hope that the percs will take to it like they did their former purple one. If not, I can always bring it back....as long as I don't accidentally kill it first.

Arghhhhh.

 

[zotzer]

Here are some more pics, now that she's back out and fully expanded. So what do you think? Is it m. doreensis? After reading up, I think it might also be h. crispa?

Half of it is in a "cove" in my tank. Will it move to more light if it needs to?

Tracy

 

[Toddrtrex]

Looks like all the LTAs that I have. While the color is a little bit different, it looks like mine.

Also, are there some bumps ( can't remember the actual name for them, but it starts with a "v" ) on the underside of the oral disc? They would like similar to this. --- ignore the hole in the foot of this one, and look at the bumps on the underside.

 

[zotzer]

yes, it has those same markings!