Help with an anemone.

[frewl]

I don't know what to do. I just tried feeding the guy and he's eating. I'm not sure if I should just keep feeding him. right now the clowns are poaching some of the food. should I just feed it little bit by little bit until it stops eating or just see what happens. This first picture is a few days old but he looked like this this morning but then I went to work and came back and it looked like this. I know this isn't normal. Is this guy a goner?

Please help any advice would be great.

Billy
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[platyplakia]

i'm not sure what's wrong with yours, but i can tell you from experience that these guys are tough. I had one get sucked into a powerhead. It was cut almost all the way to the mouth potion. That was about 6 months ago. Now he's got all his tenticles back and is doing fine. About the feeding... What size, kind of food are you feeding him? If you're feeding him big chuncks of stuff he may not have time to eat it before the clowns come in. I had luck with small peices of squid about the size of a pencil eraser and worked my way up. I'm no expert, but I say give the guy a fighting chance. I wouldn't take him out unless i knew he was gone for good. Just my two cents. Best of luck to ya! Oh yeah, how long have you had him? Mine shrinks up kinda like that about once or twice a week to expell waste. Just an added thought.

 

[frewl]

I've olny had him a week I guess that's why I'm freaking out about it. I was just trying to feed him mysis shrimp. I'm pretty new to this whole thing so I'm just worried that I've killed the thing. I know my lighting istn't the best for him so I'm worried that I'm not feeding the guy enough. but then I don't want to feed him too much. I don't want him getting too big or getting big and splitting. How much does feeding and frequency and amout of feeding affect growth or splitting?

Billy

 

[platyplakia]

If you've only had him a week or two i wouldn't worry. Whay kind of lighting and what size tank? I feed mine about twice a week if I can. I want mine to grow though. If you move up to Mh's you probably wont have to feed him at all. Anemones can produce food photosyntheticly via the symbiotic relationship between them and the micro algae within. This is what gives them their color. You've probably seen the ones at stores that are completely white, and it's because they've been kept in low light and they've used up their internal food supply (this may not be true a hundred percent of the time, there may be some naturally white ones out there). Again, best of luck.

 

[frewl]

Stupid anemone wanted to make me look bad. He's almost back to full size. I guess I just caught him at the wrong time. I just have compact florescent lights. I've thought about going MH but I want to try a DIY high power LED set up. I talked to Cameron and it looks promising and I want to try some different things I have and extra AP hood coming in so I can play around with. The anemone is fine. Just trying to make me look stupid. Hey but I rather look stupid and have a live anemone then just be too proud to ask for help and have everything dead. I appreciate your input and if you have any other advice just keep it coming. I did some reading but then you can really ever learn enough.

Billy

 

[frewl]

I've got another question. This guy is now doing the contracting thing a decent bit. in the pst 2 days I've seen hime contract like this 4 times. Is this any reason to be conserned?

Billy

 

[flipturn88]

Usually anemones will deflate (they are really just large bags of water) to expell waste and inflate again to uptake clean water. The fact that your anemone is doing this on a frequent basis means either (1) He's still acclimating to your tank, or (2) it's unhappy with the water quality of the system.

How long has your tank been established? Most anemones insist upon having very stable systems. Also, make sure you watch your intakes because anemones tend to gravitate towards filters and powerheads like they are black holes, as Jamie experienced, which is obviously not very good. Hope this helps!

 

[frewl]

I think today will make a week of him being in the tank. I've had the tank about a week but it was up and running since april of last year. I'll test the water again today. But it was good just a few days ago. I'm waiting on my Saphire Skimmer to come in. I'm running a Aqua C Nano Ramore on it but I needed something to put under the hood. I don't think its going to do any good because by the time it starts breaking in the saphire will get here and I'll have to start the breakin process with that skimmer. but I thought maybe I could run the Ramora a while in another changer in the back while the saphire is breaking in. Oh yeah I checked my nitrates on friday when I first saw him do this and they were very low. I won't say 0 but the test kit showed bright yellow which it said was 0.

Billy

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Frewl, Do not be too worried about him deflating. They do this all the time. If he starts mooving and never finds a spot to make home, then worry!

 

[frewl]

I was going to feed him today because he was inflated but then he deflated. should I wait until he is inflated or should I just see if he will take it as he is right now. I just worry that the clowns are bothering him too much maybe he isn't big enough. I'm really not sure so I'm new to all this. I did some reading obviously not enough reading because all the places that I read didn't really say anything about deflating.

Billy

 

[flipturn88]

Billy, it wouldn't hurt to try feeding it now. What are you planning to feed?

Deflation is a normal behavior for an anemone, unless it's on a frequent basis for a prolonged period of time. My guess is the anemone is still acclimating to your tank, and it's not a serious concern. It is wise to keep an eye on its condition, though.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I agree with Kayla... What are you feeding and how often? In my experience, anemones will not take food while they are deflated!

 

[frewl]

I got krill and mysis shrimp. I feed the anemone about every other day. I'm trying to get him to grow. is that too much. I dont' feed him much I try to feed as much as he will take in. I'm not sure how much he needs like I said I got power compacts so I'm trying to make sure he gets enough nutrition to grow. Right now he isn't big enough for both the clowns. Is there a better food or feeding schedual if I want him to get bigger?

Billy

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I feed about once every 4-5 days.. My BTA was about 5-6" before he split. I feed store shrimp cut into 1/8"-1/4".

 

[platyplakia]

I feed mine squid I cut into small pieces (no bigger than a dime). Just one piece twice a week for me. If you decide on shrimp, you may want to make sure to remove the outer shell. My condy couldn't digest the krill because of it. Just a thought. Good luck. I don't think you have too much to worry about.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Ya they do not like shells on shrimp. Strange to me because I wonder who peels their shrimp in the wild! He did eat my dead peppermint whole so go figure!

 

[frewl]

Well this is make more sense now. I'm thinking since I've been feeding him that shrimp he might be getting rid of the crap more often. I guess I'll have to go through and give him something else and see if the deflating slows down. I've been checking the water quality and everything is in the good. I appreciate all the help.

Billy

 

[frewl]

Well In the past few days he has started to move around to the back of the tank. I've been keeping an eye on him. I went out today to lowes to get some acrylic and made a in tank fuge and try to separate him from the clowns until he is bigger or at least contain him to a smaller viewing area so he doesn't go deeper into the rock. Its its inside dimensions are 11.75"x11.75"x6" so the volume is roughly over 3.5 gallons. I have a small pump which I drilled a hole in the side for. Its rated at 300GPH so I was going to cut some risers out of some scrap acrylic I have laying around here. trying to get the top of the fuge either just at the top of the water line or maybe even a bit above to have a little bit of an overflow and to try to keep the clowns out. Do you think this might help him? I don't' see how it could hurt but I'm still trying to learn this so any help would be great.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Billy, One thing about anemones is they like to go into rock. The like to attach their foot in between rocks so they feel secure. I would not disrupt this less you might stress the anemone further. We all like to have them in a better viewing area but they have a "mind" of their own. Mine has been on the back of my aquascape every since he split. It would be nice for him to come back to the front, but I am not going to make him. I would give him a few more days to get situated. If he is moving around, he is trying to find a spot her wants to call home. It could take him a bit of time to find that perfect home. Welcome to the world of anemones... This is why either people love them or hate them.

BTW: Trying to get him off the rock might hurt his foot which is death for sure. Please becareful if you try to move him yourself and do not damage him in any way.

 

[frewl]

He's been deflated a lot lately. I made the fuge large so I could fit almost any piece of live rock that he was attached to in it. I don't know if the clowns are stressing him. One of my main concerns with him in the back there is little to no flow back there and if the anemone dies then I wouldn't find out until the ammonia spike. It seems like he will settle for a while inflate and then deflate after the clowns find him. He did this two or three times in the past night. now I don't see him at all. I guess this is more experimental right now. He seems to be going away from what I've read that BTA like. Going to low or no flow and away from the light.