Is my anemone unwell?

[C J Rodders]

My reef tank is a Berlin system, 85g, LR 15 soft corals, 8 small fish, all tests are reading good levels. The tank is now 3 months mature. At the weekend, I increased the lighting to 3 white and 2 blue tubes (from 2 and 2). The aim was to make the conditions near perfect to introduce a first anemone. I am aware the tank is relatively young but I hoped it could sustain the inclusion of a small anemone. The anemone has been in the tank now for three days and has moved around on one piece of LR. It has developed a button appearence where there are no tenticles in the centre (The width of the anemone is about 2 inches and the central pink coloured is one and half inches across). The green tenticles are waving a little but far from fully extended. The anemone looks limp and unwell. The central mouth(excuse terminology please)is like pursed lips ready to kiss. Should I expect this behaviour after only three days in the new environment? I am frightened of losing it. Are there any tricks of the trade that I should know? Should I feed the tank with any suppliments? I am aware that the calcium level (390) is a little low. I will really appreciate your support and advice with thanks,
C J

 

[whusband]

give 'em a little more time - it's too soon to tell. i'd say if he hasn't shown improvement in 6 or 7 days, you may wanna take him out. i've had a BTA wait for about week before he came out in full bloom

 

[Anemone]

Okay, first, a few questions - what type of anemone? What type of "tubes" are your lights, and what wattage (...I'm afraid the answer to this will be Normal Output Fluorescents, but one can hope they're VHO or PC)? How far from the lights is the anemone (and can it move closer - or is it already at the top of the rocks)? Have you tried feeding said anemone?

I'm afraid that you will have poor, to very poor lighting for your anemone. In this situation, it is even more important that the anemone be fed, and probably target fed (as versus just catching some of what you might feed the rest of the tank). Depending upon what type of anemone you have, you should probably try feeding small pieces of meaty food (krill, silversides, clam, squid, etc). Start out trying very small pieces, and find out what your anemone likes. Then you can feed slightly larger pieces every couple of days. If the anemone spits out clumps of uneaten food, it is either the wrong food, too large of a piece, or the anemone is simply not hungry.

Good luck,
Kevin

[ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: Anemone ]</p>

 

[C J Rodders]

Kevin, Huz,
Thanks for the responses.
So, anemone type? Not sure. I think it is called a 'plate anemone'. Is that correct? The tubes. They are 3 x 30 watt (6.7k)and two actinic. The make is 'Glowlight'. The tubes are 10 inches from the anemone. I have tried feeding it with small a piece of shrimp. I can't be sure if it accepted it. So, if my lighting is too weak then what do I do? I really can't move into MH just yet. Does this mean that I should avoid hard corals for ever more? What shall I do with the anemone now?

 

[danmhippo]

Does the anemone looked like this? But with different color variation?

[ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: danmhippo ]</p>

 

[Anemone]

IMO, you should probably try feeding other meaty foods, to see if you can find your anemone's preference (one anemone will devour shrimp, while another won't touch, but will eat fish meat, etc).

As to your lighting, it was what I was afraid of - very dim. I'd say you'll probably have to avoid stoneys until you can upgrade to PC or VHO at least (if not all the way to MH).

Now, you mention your anemone as a "plate anemone" and ask whether you have to forever avoid hard corals - does your "anemone" have a skeleton by any chance? If so, it's possibly a fungia or heliofungia species coral, and the lighting issue will become even more important.

Kevin

[ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: Anemone ]</p>