2 and a half years into the hobby and i still get noobized by my LFS

hello all,

so in the thread ill be taking you on a small photographic tour of the anemones in my tank.

3 BTAs
2 Condys
and 1 (screwed over by the LFS) sabea anemone....

so i know that sabeas are one of the hardest to keep mainly due to the light and perfect water needs but i was told (i didnt know that it was a sabea anemone when i saw it at the shop...mea culpa) that this anemone is even hardier than the condys.

so far its not borderline death but its mouth is disturbingly open very often.

now for a little background information.... i have bleeched btas that i saved from another LFS one is very very very small and though the tips have small electric pink tone to them the anemone itself has not been doing alot of growing or color changing, at the same time i added this "baby" anemone i added another "teenish" one (this was bout 6-7 months ago) the teen seems to be doing better than her little sister and is slowly taking a greenish yellow tone to it. then i have an orange bta, that iv had for about year now and her orange is actually becoming lighter.

then i have the 2 condys that iv had for a week now but they seem to be doing great. note non of the anemones have moved from where iv placed them ( i took care to find them a space i would think they would have enjoyed from the start and it would seem this is the case for all of them except the sabea)

she is the one giving me the most concern please tell me what you people think of her health.

thank you
-jeff-

 

the new comer

 

bump....any sebae keepers out there??? when i first got my btas i use to flip (like most of us do) now i know them a little better but i fear sebaes are a whole different game all together

 

The gaping oral opening is not always a need for concern. As long as the Mesenterial Filaments are not present or internal structures are not protruding chronically.

I had a carpet that always had a slightly gaping oral opening for years. Actually the clown fish would swim inside anemone.

So these are all rescued anemones, I am concerned by their coloration.

The Sebae almost looks like a dyed one, which is not great.

Lastly they have always been hardier once established, it was the acclimation period that was difficult.

 

yea the bleached ones i bought like this, for about 20 dollars both, the bigger one you see was as white as the little one is. i feed them about once a week since they catch a decent amount of the fish mix i give the rest of my critters once a day. i appreciate your experience with the carpet, is the mouth opening relative to anemone species or size? my condys are about the same size as the sebae and their mouths are tightly shut like the smaller btas.

it has been only a couple days but the condys adapted a lot faster that apparently she is doing.

would you say the acclimation period would be about one week, one week and half?

oh and regarding the color the thought did not cross my mind that it might have been dyed (looked natural to me), yes LFS are out to make a buck and i have done some research on the shop i go to, never have a seen a dyed anemone there. would be interesting to see what others think as well.

 

Didn't realize they dyed nems; just thought maybe it was only partially bleached. Doesn't look quite normal, either way.

I'm not surprised that the condys adapted so quickly. They're one of the hardiest nems on the market. As for the sebae, it will depend on a lot of unknown variables- the nems health, the difference between your's and the LFS's tank water, lighting, etc., etc.

Just keep up the feeding regimen; bleached nems are no longer photosynthetic and depend on particulate food for nutrition. Hopefully they will survive and regain their color.

Good luck!

 

thx bill, you remember the fish mix i feed my fish? inevitably some food gets caught in the anemones should i target feed the bleached ones twice a week?.

from what i know you need to feed bleached anemones a little more since the symbiotic algae no longer residers within the anemones tentacles (hence the "bleaching") but im also aware of the common mistake out there of over feeding your nems

 

Once per week along with what they catch on their own should be plenty. It's all too easy to overfeed and have one expel partially digested food which can quickly foul the water, or even worse, contract an internal infection and die suddenly. Their digestive system is quite rudimentary and slow.

You edited while I was typing. lol. You're on the right track.

 

Typically if a Sebae is yellow in coloration or pink it has been dyed. While this is not common in the US anymore it's still prevalent in other areas.


I would for sure offer all your anemones some small pieces of raw seafood, scallops, fish. A quarter of an inch should be about right.

Place it towards the center of the anemone, and wait. If the anemone does not take it try again in a few days. Watch for pieces of expelled food. Do not over feed, once a week with small pieces should be fine.

Mr.Bill is right since they can not depend on zooxanthellea as much for their nutritional needs they need to be target feed.

What lighting do you have?

 

light: http://www.3reef.com/forums/sps-corals/couple-o-questions-need-tips-135718.html

i feed them cod once a week and rejoice in seeing them close up, if one or two reject the food i let my hermits or skunks have their go at it.