What carpet anemone do I want? Gigantea? Haddoni? Magnifica? Mertensii?

[Jeff000]

I have searched and read for a couple hours now. And was pretty sure I want a Gigantea. But not sure I should count the others out for no reason.

I want a large anemone for my 330g DT with 200g sump.
I have 4 snowflake clowns.
Then fish like goldflake angel, blue throat trigger pair, chevron tang, purple tang, etc.
3x250w MH lighting with 252w of LED as well.

Have tonnes of flow, tunze power heads, 3 6055, 2 6105, 1 6095.

I want the carpet to look pretty, have my clowns love it, and not eat all my fish.
What is my best bet?

 

[Jerm0007]

If its your first carpet and you are set on a carpet I would try a saddle ( haddoni ) before a Gigantea.. Gigs are the most difficult to keep and if you are a first time carpet keeper you may it a bit challenging. I have found Haddoni's much easier to keep alive. Now, granted, if you are a very experienced reefer and are very confident in your abilities then IMO the coolest creature in the sea is a Gig.

 

[celamb89]

Think about the placement of the nem... do you have open rock space where the gig or magnifica (favorite) can set foot? Or more sand space maybe a haddoni?

 

[Jeff000]

Think about the placement of the nem... do you have open rock space where the gig or magnifica (favorite) can set foot? Or more sand space maybe a haddoni?

I have lots of both.
what's the difference between a gig and magnifica?

It is an SPS dominated tank, and I can keep some very hard and very rare corals alive, so I am pretty confident that I can give whatever carpet a great chance at survival.

It's my understanding that about all of them suffer the worst fatalities from shipping.

I have a couple RBTA's as well, in searches this seems to get mixed answers on if it is a problem.

 

[bjledbetter]

I don't think you would have a problem with the bta's they get along with most other anemones well. And you are correct most carpets are lost in shipping and at the lfs. If you can find a good healthy one that isnt bleached and the foots not damaged you have a decent chance at keeping it alive as long as your water parameters stay in check, and you have good lighting which you do. My advice would be find one that a lfs will hold for you a week or so and keep a eye on it to see if it survives shipping from where ever first, and then that the mouth is gonna stay closed and the foot looks health. aslo if it keeps inflating and deflating leave it there thats a good sign usually that its on its way out.

 

[bjledbetter]

Also gigs are know fish eaters. I like ritteris alot and if you can find one thats healthy on arrival they will usually do well for you and my clowns love it.

 

[bradleym]

H. Magnifica isn't actually a carpet anemone for the record. For the brightest/most colorful options - Haddonis, then Gigs, then Mags. For fish eating - Haddonis, then Gigs, then Mags. For clownfish compatabilty - Mags, then Gigs, then Haddonis (for your species).

Also, Haddonis do not like flow. The lower the better. Mags and Gigs love flow.

 

[bradleym]

Sorry, DP

 

[Jeff000]

H. Magnifica isn't actually a carpet anemone for the record. For the brightest/most colorful options - Haddonis, then Gigs, then Mags. For fish eating - Haddonis, then Gigs, then Mags. For clownfish compatabilty - Mags, then Gigs, then Haddonis (for your species).

Also, Haddonis do not like flow. The lower the better. Mags and Gigs love flow.

Would any of them really eat a healthy 5"+ fish?

A Mag isn't a carpet? hmm, looks like one though right? The LFS gets nice looking bright green mags pretty often. Although I really like the blue/purple gigs.

A Magnifica might be my best option then eh?

 

[garygb]

Yeah, mags aren't considered carpets. Doesn't exactly look like a carpet and is in a different genus. The carpets are Stichodactyla and magnifica is Heteractis. Indeed, if you want your clowns to have a natural host and almost certainly go into the anemone immediately, mags and gigantea are your best bet. Haddoni is not a natural host for your species of clownfish, but in aquariums they sometimes will be hosted (or eaten) by haddoni. Of the species listed, only haddoni would semi-likely kill and eat a 5 inch fish . There are plenty of accounts of healthy fish of that size being devoured. They pack a potent punch and get very large.

If your lfs gets nice looking mags pretty often, and the anemone are in good shape (as you've heard both mags and gigs are notoriously poor shippers), then that would be a nice addition. If you love purple gigs, see if you can get one. Both of those species prefer to attach in the rocks. In the case of mags, a smooth large flat surfaced piece of live rock is preferable. Also, I can tell you from experience, mags prefer very low/undetectable nitrates and will not look their perkiest even with relatively low levels. They will survive even if the nitrates get high (60-80ppm), but they will shift around or begin to wander in your tank, which is annoying and potentially a threat to other animals such as corals, as they too have a moderately strong sting.

 

[God.]

If you have a sps dominated tank then you have the building blocks for both H. Mag or S. Gig; which include low nutrients aka nitrates, strong alternating water flow and bright lighting.

Both anemones prefer rock peaks or pedistals so they can fully extend and open. So you will need a good spot for either. IMO both are brilliantly eye catching, so I would take what I can get. You could special order a gig from your lfs but you might pay an arm and a leg for it.

On that note someone mentioned earlier about not buying bleached carpets. IME bleached gigs seem to have a higher survival rate. I currently have 1 huge blue gig for 10 months. I purchased it bleached. I also have 3 other bleached gigs at my work (lfs) 1 green 1 blue and 1 gold. All bleached at the moment and treated with antibiotics. All hqve been in qt or display for 16 days today.

However I would never buy a bleached mag lol

 

[bjledbetter]

On that note someone mentioned earlier about not buying bleached carpets. IME bleached gigs seem to have a higher survival rate. I currently have 1 huge blue gig for 10 months. I purchased it bleached. I also have 3 other bleached gigs at my work (lfs) 1 green 1 blue and 1 gold. All bleached at the moment and treated with antibiotics. All hqve been in qt or display for 16 days today.

However I would never buy a bleached mag lol

Sorry I should have slowed down and read and thought about what I was typing more earlier. +1 to mags not being carpets I read that too quick and didnt catch that you thought that they were. When I was talking about bleached anemones I was thinking mags which is what I have and should have specified. I agree don't buy one thats bleached, for that matter if anything looks off about it leave it at the store for a while to see if it will make it. Bleached gigs and haddoni with proper care can and most of the time will recover from bleaching. Ive saw a completly bleached white gig from petco go from white to a greenish/blue tint in a friends tank. It takes alot of time and care but it can be done