Id of an anemone please!

[dangerousdave]

My friend got himself a new anemone but the dealer said "its a sandanemone". Of course my friend got it because its beatiful and bought it straight away.. hehe.. Like thats never happened before

Heres a pic, thanks in advance!

Dave

[Poseidon]

How about an unhealthy purple tip sebae anemone? It looks "bleached" meaning it has not been provided the light it needs to be healthy. I would try and feed it Krill, silversides, squid, etc... Hopefully it can make a good recovery.

[kevinpo]

Hello,
It appears to be a Heteractis crispa (Sebae) anemone. They are typically sand/reef rubble dwelling. They are not white in nature but bleach out when stressed and soon die if they don't regain their zooxanthellae (the algae that lives in its tissue). A healthy one is brownish green with purple tips. Their favorite food is raw shrimp. Silversides are another good food. If fed 2-3 times a week they grow quickly to 12-18" across. In the home aquarium many species of clownfish will host in them that don't in nature. A more reliable identification feature for the H. crispa is the underside will have bumps that look like warts and a uniform cream or brown foot.

HTH,
Kevin

[BoBBo]

I'm the one who bought this anemone and I was afraid that this was the case. The problem is that when placed in the tank, the anemone has nested in a spot where the light can't reach it and the current is not strong eather which surprises me. When I have tried to relocate it, it finds another sheltered spot without light and currents.....
What can I do to try and save this poor creature?

[zhenya]

Hi BoBBo,



I think at this point all you can do is to make sure to offer food to your anemone( providing that it does accept it, it should if there is no physical damage to the animal). If you provide it with nutrition it should recover within few month to a year. I had my H.crispa for about 4 years, including the recovery period of about a year. I fed mine mostly silversides but if yours doesn't accept it, try raw shrimp like Kevinpo said, even krill may be accepted so I would recommend experimenting with various frozen/fresh meaty seafoods if silversides and raw shrimp are rejected.
Most importantly, don;t loose your head; make sure your tank is able to support this animal, water parameters, lighting, etc.
Good luck!

[BoBBo]

Thanks for the advise, I'll do my best and see if I can get him back in shape....
A bit pissed at the guy who sold it to me, told me it was a prime specimen and I did'nt need too feed it at all.... Wanker.... I'll have word with him and my 120 kg in a dark alley some night....
Anyway, tnx a lot for your help guys...

[Poseidon]

Good luck! Anemone's are much more difficult then most LFS's will tell you. Even if you get a healthy one, the secondary troubles are real as well. Feeding, having the anemone move around and kill other tankmates, eating your fish, and other potential problems, are why I choose not to keep any.

And then there is always the possibility that THIS will happen:

PHOTO BY Zhenya:

[kevinpo]

I've had my H. crispa 10 years on 3/1/06. It has stayed in pretty much the same spot the last 5.5 years just moving a few inches per year. Its foot is set on the tank bottom through about 4" of substrate. They do not like strong current and will move away from it. A well placed powerhead will make it move out from behind the rockwork. The most preferred location for this anemone is where the rock meets the substrate in the shade. They will anchor at the base of the rock and stretch their tentacles out into the light. Usually if they are under to weak light they (A healthy one) will stand up reaching towards the light. They can stretch in excess of 12".

Regards,
Kevin

[Reefland]

Hi BoBBo,

[dangerousdave]

Im actually having some problems myself with my magnifica, bought at the same time Bobbo bought his. It was beatiful in the store, nice tentacles and stayed that way for two days, it hasent moved and its base is still purple. My clowns took to it right away but yesterday it went all small and flat, got better but the same thing today. My tank was setup in february and i got 78 Degrees F. no nitrites or nitrates. Phosphate is zero and Ca 420. do weekly waterchanges of about 20 liters. Gave it some mysis tonight and it gulped it down. Any ideas what is going on? if its not happy with the placement it should move right? Heres some pictures of before and after. Thanks guys! and thanks for helping Bobbo!

Dave

[dangerousdave]

He got better, but is smaller and did this deflated routine again last night. . . . Got 150 watts 13000 K lamp, its about 3 inch under the surface, nearly spot on under the lamp. Got two pumps moving water. . . It eats like theres no tomorrow. I have fed it just acouple of mysis twice a day for two days. So should I move it further up towards the surface? It was keep under a 400watts lamp in the store so can it be that it´s getting used to the settings in my tank and that it will take a few days?

Dave

[Minh Nguyen]

He is a small bleached H. magnifica. It seem like your's is on his way out. When they are sick, they often the deflated when the light is on. If he does this daily, it is unlikely that he will make it.

[kevinpo]

I recommend feeding it larger food (1/4" size), like raw shrimp, scallops, silversides etc. I would not try and move it. It will climb up or down depending on its needs.

Regards,
Kevin

[dangerousdave]

ok, dosent sound good, will try to nurse it back but I wont let it suffer to long... To bad, not good of me bying this poor animal. Lesson learned. Ok raw shrimp you say? I only got the cooked ones that come from the local store. Hm wonder if were I can get my hands on raw shrimp since they cook the shrimp on the boat that catches it, right there out at sea. Gonna see what silversides is in swedish and try that. Thank you sirs for your replies! I´ll keep you posted!

Dave

[kevinpo]

Hi Dave,
Any raw seafood will do. Just don't buy too much of a certain type in case the anemone doesn't like it Unless of course you are going to have some

Regards,
Kevin

[BoBBo]

Hi guys!
Mine is unfortunetly not eating at all. I have tried raw salmon, cod and shrimpmix all in different sizes. The only thing I haven't tried so far is clam, but I only have canned, is this ok?

It is still possitioned in the same spot and it doesn't really look any worse though. I have, however, not seen any improvement in its colour which is a bad sign. Right now I will leave him alone for a while and see what happends, if no signs of entering a worse state I hope I can regain strength by him self.

One thing that I have been wondering about is the light. I have 16000K MH over it and I have seen that the blue tips actually becomes purple in a lower colour temp. Can it be that also the brownish colour of the body will be more difficult to see? I know this is not an optimal colour temperature for an anemone, but that's what I have. I'm running the lights from 4pm until 10pm and during rest of the day there are a 40W Marine-Glo T8 over it.

[dangerousdave]

He is a small bleached H. magnifica. It seem like your's is on his way out. When they are sick, they often the deflated when the light is on. If he does this daily, it is unlikely that he will make it.

Hm checked my temp when the lamp´s been on for about an hour and its up to 82 degrees F, mabye that can have the effect it flatens out? I have now installed a fan that starts when the lamp lights up. I now mesure 78 F. Just wait and see if he shrinks up again today. Gave him a fairly big piece of shrimp an hour ago, he eagerly eats and that looks like a good sign.

Kevin: hm I allways seem to get some when I serve my girl white wine and shrimp for some reason, so its all good if the anemone dont eat it... : )

Dave

[BoBBo]

R.I.P. Seabe anemone.....

Today I found my beuty with its intestines hanging out from its mouth. I then realised it was beyond salvation. I took it out of my tank and sent it in the trashbin.... It's a pitty that the traders sell these anemones without letting them get into shape before. It is also a personal setback that I let my "want to" feeling get a head of my better knowledge which resulted in me loosing my first tank resident.

I do now hope that Dave will manage to save his poor creature....

Thank you to all of you who have given us advice on how to save our anemones. Even though I couldn't save the Saebe, at least you guys cured me from my ignorance...

/Bobbo

[dangerousdave]

Hm it hasnt deflated in a couple of days now and this photo was taken a couple of hours ago, any thoughts on its condition?? I have now been feeding it a small piece of raw shrimp for two days.

[Poseidon]

Well it certainly looks better then it did in the other picture. You are still in the recovery stage for sure though.

Keep feeding it, and as long as it keeps eating, it might recover.