What origin are the more colorful H. magnifica from?

[DogueDeBordeaux]

I am in the planning stages of a new reef tank. I would like to have 1 anemone/clown. The only site I have found that list H. magnifica anemones is LiveAquaria. They list 3 different origins Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka. Which area would I most likely get a colorful anemone?

 

[sonofgaladriel]

Good Choice! I have also been on the look out for that "one in a million" magnifica. It is by far my most favorite marine creature. My dream tank would be a large cube filled with only magnifica and a communal colony of clowns.
I was told by the guys at BlueZooAquatics that the blue/purple base magnifica come from Indonesia, green base from Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and the red/maroom base from Africa. The red/marroon base seem to a bit more rare these days due to collecting and shipping issues from Africa.

 

[BonsaiNut]

Good Choice! I have also been on the look out for that "one in a million" magnifica. It is by far my most favorite marine creature. My dream tank would be a large cube filled with only magnifica and a communal colony of clowns.
I was told by the guys at BlueZooAquatics that the blue/purple base magnifica come from Indonesia, green base from Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and the red/maroom base from Africa. The red/marroon base seem to a bit more rare these days due to collecting and shipping issues from Africa.

I don't know anything about Africa (having never dove there) but all the magnificas in French Polynesia have red bases and dark yellow tentacles with white tips. I didn't see any other color morphs - but there were a TON of these.

 

[maxxII]

I've seen green based H.magnifica's on Diver's Den listed as being collected in Indonesia...

Nick

 

[DogueDeBordeaux]

I've seen green based H.magnifica's on Diver's Den listed as being collected in Indonesia...

Nick

they are back in stock. I emailed them and they can not give me any details about the anemone. I would like to know the color before I spend $100. Only thing they said were they are at the LA wholesaler and are available.

Where can they be found for sale with a pic?

 

[ousnakebyte]

I've never seen any mags for sale out of AU, but I took these photos on the GBR last November:

I'm a touch on the color-blind side (no joking), but this looked like a red base to me:

And here are a few of the purple based ones:

I also have pics of brown-based ones from AU and Indonesia. I've never seen one of those awesome green-with-purple-tips mags in the wild - that's a dive bucket list. I'd probably use the entire battery life or space on my card shooting it...


Cheers
Mike

 

[D-Nak]

I personally would not buy a mag that was freshly imported, especially without seeing it. Not to say that buying from Live Aquaria won't yield good results, but when purchasing from Divers Den all of the anemones are quarantined. I'm sure you know that mags are terrible shippers, so finding one that's been in captivity for a while will only increase its odds of surviving the trip to your house.

 

[illcssd]

These pictures are all taken on the reef in Madang, Papa New Guinea:

 

[sonofgaladriel]

Without question, one of, if not the most, beautiful reef creatures! I would give my right kidney for a large cube tank filled with these nems! I'm still searching.

 

[Rotknee]

Thanks for posting the pics above. I saw them and thought to myself..."one day, I'll get a chance to dive in a location like this...one day"

How deep were you when taking the pic above? While the equipment to measure PAR levels at depths like this are probably incredibly expensive I'll admit I'm very curios.

 

[m'akoyPINOY]

i am loving these creatures,too.i have 1 mag at the moment and looking for the red base ones.
awesome dive pics guys!

 

[m'akoyPINOY]

i am loving these creatures,too.i have 1 mag at the moment and looking for the red base ones.
awesome dive pics guys!

 

[ousnakebyte]

How deep were you when taking the pic above? While the equipment to measure PAR levels at depths like this are probably incredibly expensive I'll admit I'm very curios.

Hmmm.... That was the second-to-last dive of that trip... on Norman Reef. I want to say I was hovering around 20 ft there, give or take a couple of feet.

Well, this was all recreational diving, but I have measured PAR on a reef before on some of my research trips. All we did was put the par meter in a ziplock bag and take measurements off the top, sides and undersides of a big A. palmata colony in about 10 feet of water around noon-ish.

So, it can be done, but again, we were very shallow, and if the bag started to leak (it didn't), all we had to do was just quickly pop to the surface - no safety stops or anything like that.

Cheers
Mike