strange question about an anemone

Many years ago, I bought a condylactis anemone from a local pet shop... it was my first anemone... it looked perfectly healthy in the tank, but as soon as the guy pulled it out of the tank it turned a kind of deep purple color (this happened quickly... it was purple before he had the bag tied) he told me that this was a normal reaction to stress and that it would gradually change back to his normal color after some time in my tank... he never did... he lived only a couple of months and was very restless... kept climbing the tank to get closer to the lights... I increased the light gradually over time, and fed him shrimp every 3 days but he never seemed to get any better.

I've had a few more anemones (including another condylactis) who all did very well with the same care and feeding... they all lived as long as I had them, and some time after I gave them away.

any idea what happened to my first one? this has been perplexing me for many years

Ed

 

I haven't the slightest, but I'm guessing he was dyed :/

 

Could be that you just got an unhealthy anemone or that it never recovered from the stress. Anemones can take months to die so while it can look perfectly healthy one day, the next day, it could be melting.