Indonesian Sea Apple

What makes them so difficult to care for? It can move, like an anemone or urchin would(all over the tank/up glass) and requires stable levels of salinity, as well as pH. Powerheads should be protected to prevent suction of the sea apple. Plenty of rock is important for the sea apple to sustain a favorable location, which, like the anemone, it will then generally settle in.

Is that it?

Also, how would you go about "protecting" it from powerheads?

Live Aquaria lists it as "Expert Only"...Saltwater Invertebrates for Marine Reef Aquariums: Sea Apple

 

Well if they die your whole tank is practically screwed lol. very delicate too; stress it too much and the result isn't very good

 

Well, I guess that is the basic care for an anemone...it always seemed more difficult than that, to me. lol.

How would you protect it from powerheads? Is that even possible? Maybe vinyl screen door material wrapped around the PH?

 

Maybe i should have added more lol. You have to make sure NOTHING touches it; try not to let any fish or shrimp touch it at all. Make sure you see it's poop; may seem weird but that lets you know it's actually eating. As for protecting from powerheads im not sure about that. IMO the sea apple is a ticking time bomb... looks like one too XD

 

They are pretty cool. I've wanted one since I started this hobby, but never looked into the care for one. Just heard it was "difficult", like a 'nem. haha
It gets 8", but my tank is a 29g. :-/

 

They need lots of food and the right kind of food, besides the fact that it can nuke your tank. They are very reactive to irritants and do not hesitate to release their toxins.

 

there isn't a whole lot of actual experience with them on 3reef I've noticed over the years.

But, I do remember, some time back, PharmrJohn, he has/had one (I haven't heard from him in a while) but he had it at least for a good long while. He wrote up a nice article here on 3reef. It was invert of the month or something. I'd recommend digging that up.


Based on his experience, I'd say they aren't particularly difficult or sensitive so long as you have a stable tank and are not a noob They're just risky and that's what makes them expert, IMO. They are more prone to nuke your tank, so I've read, than an anemone...

But how many people on 3reef have an anemone? How many 1st hand stories have you read here of an anemone nuking a tank... It's overblown from what I can tell... but that's just my feeling from the forum. I've never had the apple.

 

I think in say,6 months or so, after I do my research on it I might go ahead and get one. I just think they are so interesting looking. Unique, for sure. I do recall PharmerJohn's tank thread where he talked about it a bit. I'll have to dig up IOFM thread. He was who I first heard of it from.

 

If you can keep a coco-worm, hawaiian feather duster, or a sponge alive long-term, you can keep a sea apple alive. To put it another way, try one of those first because if those don't do well in your tank, they don't exude Holothuria. This secondary metabolite (toxin) is strong enough that people who run fish farms use these toxins to rid their farms of unwanted pest species. However, one nice things about the various holothurians is that you know if they are eating or not. That's a little harder to determine with coco-worms and other similar filter-feeders. They do eat a lot so make sure your filtration is up to par. Also, always keep spare carbon and freshly made up aerated & heated saltwater (which is something I do whether or not I have any holothurians...it's just part of my contingency/emergency plans).

 

Thanks for the info, Kurt. Maybe a sponge or coco worm would be a better "beginner" invert/filter-feeder for me. I assume, by "long-term" you mean at least 8 moths?