What's the most "stationary" anemone?

[garygb]

Very nice tank, since you want a host anemone and since you have lots of live rock, I would definitely go with a nice RBTA. Once they settle in, providing they have adequate random water flow and good light, they stay put. It is true that when they clone the smaller "half" tends to go wandering until it finds a nice cave or crevice in the live rock.

Gary

 

[phender]

I think in your situation a nice purple H. crispa (sebae anemone) might be just the thing.
I see several places in the rock/sand interface of your aquascaping that would be perfect. If you put it in before the sps and let it find its place, it will not be likely to move.
Most the purple ones that are available are small and reasonably priced. They max out at about 18".

 

[asia102485]

Well i would go with a BTA. I've had my RBTA for 6 months now and it has not moved since it found a hole in the middle of my rock. Plus the RBTA is the only anemone that my clowns hosted withing 30 seconds of me adding the anemone to my tank. (that was cool )

 

[GSMguy]

Percula seem to really take well to Crispa also, nice alternative to LTA

 

[OrionN]

I agree with Phil. Either a H. crispa or a H. malu would fit what you want. They are relatively hardy and stay on the sand and thus will not kill your SPS. My Crispa have not move for the 14 months since I have him.
For anemone, if you don't want to grow, then just don't feed them too much. My 6 inches H. crispa is only about 7-8 inches in my tank for the last 14 months. I have two in my 24 g tank. One green and one purple (only 3 inches).

 

[marc price]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11259081#post11259081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phender
I think in your situation a nice purple H. crispa (sebae anemone) might be just the thing.

i couldn't agree more.

furthermore if you're more interested in a smaller anemone you could give h. malu a try, they generally tend to be a bit more colorful. you may inadvertently end up with one by starting with a small sebae. i have trouble differentiating most of them when small. not to hijack the thread but i'm starting to think my current sebae which i got eight months ago at ~1.5" is h. malu. the tentacles overall are 1.5"-1.75"(a few stretch out to ~2"), most are teardrop shaped and it seems to have stopped growing at 6"-7"ø. i don't want to disturb it to check out the column, so i'll have to wait and see. in any case it hasn't moved, neither did my previous sebae. and they're not aggressive fish eaters.
btw, i was convinced my previous sebae was h. malu when new at 3"- 4"ø & regaining it's zooxanthellae (looked much like the h. malu pictured on the lower right p.58 INVERTEBRATES A QUICK REF. GUIDE by j. sprung), until it grew to 12"- 15"ø with ~5" long & slender tentacles.
it recently seems to me as though every sebae over 8" on live aquaria divers den are dubbed h. crispa and all under 6" have been labeled h. malu. some of the smaller ones do exhibit classic h. malu traits but others aren't so clearly one or the other. aside from the pic at www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/ch1.html#malu i've never actually seen what clearly looked like a h. malu in my lfs'(s), exhibit the tell-tail trait of a long column in expansion. i'm not entirely convinced that the above sebae pictured in phender's re. isn't h. malu. it's tentacles are of varying length, some are stout and it resembles many of the 6" sebaes which live aquaria dubbed h. malu.

a recent pic of my current sebae shortly after it was fed (every 2nd - 3rd day):

[/IMG]

 

[phender]

Marc,
I couldn't agree with you more. Small sebae anemones are very difficult to ID. For a long time I wasn't sure there was even a difference between H. crispa and H. malu. I felt that enviromental issues might be the reasons for the differences we think we see.

For my purposes, I consider them H. malu only if they have definite rings on the tentacles. That may not be accurate, but that is the best I can do.

The one I pictured is now in a friends tank and is ~18" across. The column is white and very tough/leathery. Here is another pic showing longer tentacles.

I have another purple sebae that is similar to yours, and most of the other small purple sebaes offered for sale.(mine has grown to over 6" across) I am pretty sure it is H. crispa, but I often wonder as to its true classification. I have had it quite a while and it has been in several different aquariums. In each situation it takes on a slightly different morphology. I guess we should just enjoy them and be glad that our clowns accept them.

 

[Dudester]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. This thread has been incredibly informative and educational for me. The sebae looks like a very nice option for my needs. Now I just have to find one. I don't wish to close down the conversation here since it's been so enlightening, so if people have more they would like to offer then I'm all ears (eyes).