What's wrong with my gigantea?

[D-Nak]

Looks much better. Glad you were able to save it.

I've seen my clowns rub the center of one of my gigs which prevents the tentacles from expanding, and it appears to almost wear them down into short nubs. I don't think it permanently damages the nem and it seems to quickly recover once the clowns stop focusing on one part of the nem.

 

[ThRoewer]

Looks much better. Glad you were able to save it.

I've seen my clowns rub the center of one of my gigs which prevents the tentacles from expanding, and it appears to almost wear them down into short nubs. I don't think it permanently damages the nem and it seems to quickly recover once the clowns stop focusing on one part of the nem.

I would be really upset if this one died since I have it now for 4 years.

The short tentacles may have been caused by the few months of it and the clowns being confined to a small planter basked while I was getting the garage organized (not done yet) and the big tank back up and running.

BTW, what do you use as first food for your percula offspring?
Since I have with the anemone also the percula nest out of the tank I was hoping to take the opportunity and collect the larva to try raising them.
Right now I only have tigger pods (though lots of them), some green water, but no rotifers or brine shrimp eggs.
I may try if I can filter out the small larva stages of the Tigriopus but in the past I wasn't really able to find many of them - I think they must be hiding in the mud.

 

[D-Nak]

I would be really upset if this one died since I have it now for 4 years.

The short tentacles may have been caused by the few months of it and the clowns being confined to a small planter basked while I was getting the garage organized (not done yet) and the big tank back up and running.

BTW, what do you use as first food for your percula offspring?
Since I have with the anemone also the percula nest out of the tank I was hoping to take the opportunity and collect the larva to try raising them.
Right now I only have tigger pods (though lots of them), some green water, but no rotifers or brine shrimp eggs.
I may try if I can filter out the small larva stages of the Tigriopus but in the past I wasn't really able to find many of them - I think they must be hiding in the mud.

The first food for my offspring has always been rotifers. I've had large clutches and they can quickly eat a 5 gallon bucket culture of rotifers in a couple of days, so I've had to have multiple buckets for grow out. In other words, unless you're planning on collecting only a few larva, even if you can somehow collect Tigriopus larva, you probably won't have enough.

 

[ThRoewer]

The first food for my offspring has always been rotifers. I've had large clutches and they can quickly eat a 5 gallon bucket culture of rotifers in a couple of days, so I've had to have multiple buckets for grow out. In other words, unless you're planning on collecting only a few larva, even if you can somehow collect Tigriopus larva, you probably won't have enough.

In the past I actually managed to raise anemonefish without rotifers. All I fed was freshly hatched brine shrimp and frozen cyclops. The trick was to keep the parents and fry at lower salinity and let the freshly hatched larva go hungry a few hours before the first feeding. And of course purpose built larva rearing tanks.
My biggest problem right now is that I'm utterly unprepared to deal with larva but I hope I will be able to change that soon.
But this clutch of my percula is rather small (~100) so I hope to be able to scrape enough food together to get some through.

 

[D-Nak]

In the past I actually managed to raise anemonefish without rotifers. All I fed was freshly hatched brine shrimp and frozen cyclops. The trick was to keep the parents and fry at lower salinity and let the freshly hatched larva go hungry a few hours before the first feeding. And of course purpose built larva rearing tanks.
My biggest problem right now is that I'm utterly unprepared to deal with larva but I hope I will be able to change that soon.
But this clutch of my percula is rather small (~100) so I hope to be able to scrape enough food together to get some through.

I've heard that a few people have done this successfully (using brine shrimp nauplii) in the past. I just chose to have my parents and fry at a slightly lower salinity and my rotifer culture at a higher salinity to get them to a point where they're both close and the rotifers don't go into shock when I transfer them.

 

[ThRoewer]

It was deflated again when I came home this evening:

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Water temperature may have been a factor - it was 30°C!

It improved quickly after a water change

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[ThRoewer]

Looked pretty good today

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But it still has its mouth open

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Did another water change and administered the 5th Cipro dose. Let's hope it is done with deflating and I can return it soon... the percula pair misses it already. They can smell the other gigs in the system, especially after I stop the return pump for a while. Once it comes back on and pumps the water from the other gigs back up the percula swim towards the return pipe, following the chemical signature of the gigs in the sump tank.

 

[ThRoewer]

It didn't deflate anymore over the last days.
It also looks much better in general but it still has its mouth slightly open.
I gave it the last Cipro dose tonight and will return it back to the display tomorrow evening.

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[ThRoewer]

of the host anemones I know that E. quadricolor, H. magnifica, H. malu and S. gigantea have separate sex. I also read that Haddoni also have separate sex, not hermaphrodites.
Of these anemones, BTA, Malu and Gigantea sexually reproduced by internal fertilization. These three species released fully formed baby anemone, and should be able to be raised and reproduced sexually in captivity.
BTA was successfully reproduced sexually at the Waikiki aquarium in Hawaii. H. malu was raised successfully reproduced sexually by Dr. Anna Scott in Australia. Only Gigantea have not been reproduced in captivity yet, but it will be just a mater of time before we will be able to do this.
Feeding them regularly should bring them into breeding condition, and having multiple of these anemone is needed.

H. crispa was successfully bred in captivity as well:
Effects of Feeding on the Growth Rates of Captive-Bred Heteractis Crispa: A Popular Marine Ornamental for Aquariums

Experimental Design and Setup."”Thirty-five H. crispa were collected from North Solitary Island, Solitary Islands Marine Park, New South Wales, Australia (29°55΄S, 153°23΄E), and monitored for spawning activity at the National Marine Science Centre, Coffs Harbour (Scott and Harrison 2007a). Broadcast-spawned gametes from six males and three females were collected (Scott and Harrison 2007a,b), and the resulting larvae were settled onto biologically conditioned settlement tiles (Scott and Harrison 2008). Settlement began 4 d after spawning, and juvenile anemones were grown for 34 mo before the start of the feeding experiment. Before the experiment, the juveniles were potentially able to feed on small invertebrates that may have been present, and receive photosynthate translocated by endosymbiotic zooxanthellae (Scott and Harrison 2007b). All of the individuals occasionally received supplementary feeding with 1"“2 ml of liquid invertebrate food (Aquasonic Pty, Ltd., Australia).

Embryonic and larval development of the host sea anemones Entacmaea quadricolor and Heteractis crispa.

Abstract
Little information is available on the sexual reproductive biology of anemones that provide essential habitat for anemonefish. Here we provide the first information on the surface ultrastructural and morphological changes during development of the embryos and planula larvae of Entacmaea quadricolor and Heteractis crispa, using light and scanning electron microscopy. Newly spawned eggs of E. quadricolor and H. crispa averaged 794 microm and 589 microm diameter, respectively, and were covered by many spires of microvilli that were evenly distributed over the egg surface, except for a single bare patch. Eggs of both species contained abundant zooxanthellae when spawned, indicating vertical transmission of symbionts. Fertilization was external, and the resulting embryos displayed superficial cleavage. As development continued, individual blastomeres became readily distinguishable and a round-to-ovoid blastula was formed, which flattened with further divisions. The edges of the blastula thickened, creating a concave-convex dish-shaped gastrula. The outer margins of the gastrula appeared to roll inward, leading to the formation of an oral pore and a ciliated planula larva. Larval motility and directional movement were first observed 36 h after spawning. E. quadricolor larval survival remained high during the first 4 d after spawning, then decreased rapidly.

Also, it has been shown that S. gigantea is also capable of reproducing via fission (dividing). I even found one Indonesian study were they successfully fraged giganteas.

 

[ThRoewer]

The Gigantea looked good today and had its mouth closed so I returned it to the display.

 

[OrionN]

Thanks on the information in the Crispa breeding

 

[ThRoewer]

Thanks on the information in the Crispa breeding

Did you also see my thread about S. gigantea?
Several studies found that (at least in some regions) S. gigantea is capable of reproducing asexually by splitting itself in half.

One of those studies also found that the H. magnifica in the studied location did not or were not capable of reproducing that way.
This reflects observations on E. quadricolor of which some reproduce primarily via fission while others only reproduce sexually and do not divide at all.

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[Systemwizardinc]

How often do you feed them i give mine a silver side every week or too more if i want them to split

 

[ThRoewer]

How often do you feed them i give mine a silver side every week or too more if i want them to split

Recently, before it got sick, I fed them daily about a cube of mysis. Before that I usually fed them once or twice a week.
I don't feed them large chunks as that doesn't reflect what they eat in the wild (primarily plankton organisms and small mysis-like shrimp). Also, large chunks and especially whole fish that have not been gutted and cleaned may start rotting from the inside before the anemone can fully digest them. And anything that might rot inside the anemone's intestinal cavity can make it sick.

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[Systemwizardinc]

I have been feeding them like this for a few years during the rest of the time they just get the same stuff that the fish eat from there feeding and in the wild they do get fish now and then

 

[ThRoewer]

Back in the display for 2 days:

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[Planetmacro]

It has made a full recovery. Well done!

 

[ThRoewer]

It's on its way to becoming a monster...