About at my wit's end with this anemone!

[AdamW0611]

So I've had this sabae anemone, or so I was told that what it is for about 3 weeks. He won't attach anywhere for more than a few hours, then he releases and gets sucked up to powerheads or stuck upside down in a corner... I have gaurds that seem to keep him from getting hurt from the powerheads,. But he still gets stuck till I rescue him. Things I've tried so far are digging several holes in the sand, and covering him back up, putting him near rock crevices on the sandbed, putitng him on rocks. I'm starting to really stress over this thing, pretty sure he's still healthy, but if I can't get him to find a happy spot soon I don't know what to do, I can't keep babysitting him 24/7. Any other good ideas to try, I'm about to give him away on a local Facebook group.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Well sorry to hear that it’s not sticking for you. You will need to be very patient and dedicate daily time to nursing this one back to health as it is severely bleached and not attaching.

first off tour tank is not mature enough being four months old so it’s still going through the parameter swing. Your anemone is also going to have to take the next few mo than getting used to your new led lights that you just purchased.

what I would do is make a U shape rock crevice away from any powerhead/ return noozles. Then let the anemone sit inside the U where the entirely anemone is blocked off. The water flow should be low enough to not push it back out.

This is a Heteractis Crispa Sebae which likes to attach its foot onto rock and not into the sand. Let it settle by itself and don’t touch it anymore.
If it ends up in a powerhead again then you will need to put it in a specimen container and float it at the top of the tank until it is healthy and very sticky.

now daily feed it dry pellet food. Just soak 3-4 little pellets and turkey base the pellets onto the anemone when the water flow is completely off. Eventually the anemone will take the food. If you see it pull the pellet with it’s tentacles quickly to the mouth then switch to mysis shrimp. Just one little piece a day.

A healthy Sebae has dark brown/grey color in the tentacles and will stick its tentacles to the fingers/food. You have to pull hard to get it to detach.

 

[chizerbunoi]

This is my Sebae next to a bleach magnifica for color reference. Sorry but the glass is dirty.

 

[Terri Caton]

Another trick to try. Put a piece of rock on the sand bed. Place the nem on it. Put a milk crate or similar over it. Personally, I'd leave it alone for a couple of days. Don't even direct feed it. Then you can start to offer it a small amount of food daily until it begins eating.

Once the nem has recovered some you can try moving the rock it is attached to with the nem to another spot in your tank.

 

[AdamW0611]

Well sorry to hear that it’s not sticking for you. You will need to be very patient and dedicate daily time to nursing this one back to health as it is severely bleached and not attaching.

first off tour tank is not mature enough being four months old so it’s still going through the parameter swing. Your anemone is also going to have to take the next few mo than getting used to your new led lights that you just purchased.

what I would do is make a U shape rock crevice away from any powerhead/ return noozles. Then let the anemone sit inside the U where the entirely anemone is blocked off. The water flow should be low enough to not push it back out.

This is a Heteractis Crispa Sebae which likes to attach its foot onto rock and not into the sand. Let it settle by itself and don’t touch it anymore.
If it ends up in a powerhead again then you will need to put it in a specimen container and float it at the top of the tank until it is healthy and very sticky.

now daily feed it dry pellet food. Just soak 3-4 little pellets and turkey base the pellets onto the anemone when the water flow is completely off. Eventually the anemone will take the food. If you see it pull the pellet with it’s tentacles quickly to the mouth then switch to mysis shrimp. Just one little piece a day.

A healthy Sebae has dark brown/grey color in the tentacles and will stick its tentacles to the fingers/food. You have to pull hard to get it to detach.

Thanks for the info, I've been getting mixed info since I bought him. I've been feeding him the mysis shrimp that my other fish eat he pulls it right in. Surprised you said he would prefer rocks, the other info I got told me to put him in the sand.

As for the parameter swings everything seems fine, salinity never changes, with a skimmer, and refugium phosphates are .01, nitrates 4, temp 78. New sand and water about 2 months ago, when I upgraded, most of rocks and marine pure have been cycled for about 6 months. Not saying I didn't move too quickly, but that's the point of this post if I should give him away to a tank better suited or if there's still hope for him.

I thought he was supposed to be bright white, he was a bit of an impulse buy, I went to buy a bubble tip and this guy was suggested by the employee, I've been there several times and never steered wrong, he'll this guy was cheaper than the BTA I was gonna buy.

Should I leave him kinda sitting where he is or move him to a rock tonight, like I said I was told dig a hole and let him attach to the glass,. He didn't like that at all. Thanks for the help, really appreciate it.

 

[AdamW0611]

Another trick to try. Put a piece of rock on the sand bed. Place the nem on it. Put a milk crate or similar over it. Personally, I'd leave it alone for a couple of days. Don't even direct feed it. Then you can start to offer it a small amount of food daily until it begins eating.

Once the nem has recovered some you can try moving the rock it is attached to with the nem to another spot in your tank.

I was thinking of building a quick cube uot of extra eggcrate I have lying around from skimmer stand.

 

[chizerbunoi]

A tank takes a long time to mature which causes the stable parameters. Every time you add biology it has to catch up again. An anemone is like the bio load of two fishes.

just give it time and choose a course of action. I would move it as there is nothing that it can attach to. Unless it’s foot turns around to the corner of the glass. But then it can wonder again back into your powerhead.

Best of luck.

 

[AdamW0611]

A tank takes a long time to mature which causes the stable parameters. Every time you add biology it has to catch up again. An anemone is like the bio load of two fishes.

just give it time and choose a course of action. I would move it as there is nothing that it can attach to. Unless it’s foot turns around to the corner of the glass. But then it can wonder again back into your powerhead.

Best of luck.

Thanks again, I did move him back to the middle where he's been attaching, short term, but should be good overnight.

 

[Terri Caton]

This is my Sebae next to a bleach magnifica for color reference. Sorry but the glass is dirty.

A little off topic but...I have a 139 gallon 5 foot long tank with a BTA. I am wanting to add a H. Malu at the other end of the tank. You seem to have different species next to each other. Have you had any problems?

 

[AdamW0611]

Thanks again, I did move him back to the middle where he's been attaching, short term, but should be good overnight.

Oh sorry, 1 more question? What causes them to bleach, is it lighting, or can it be a host of things, water, nutrition, lighting? I'm getting new lights delivered tomorrow, 2 photon v2+, right now I'm using a pretty crap 4 ft reef edge led that I had on the old tank.

Been watching videos on acclimating anemones to lights over time, but wondering if you have any tips for this specific one since I only see videos on BTA.

As for now he seems attached to a rock, the very first spot I put him when I first brought him home. I left the return pump alone and dropped the powerheads to about 30% instead of 100% for overnight...

 

[chizerbunoi]

A little off topic but...I have a 139 gallon 5 foot long tank with a BTA. I am wanting to add a H. Malu at the other end of the tank. You seem to have different species next to each other. Have you had any problems?

I am that crazy guy who got bored with SPS and went with anemones only. I currently have 7/10 of the hosting species anemones in two 55 gallons. I have kept the other 3 before as well but not long term. Also have a pair from each of the main clownfish complexes. So I really anemones. Lol

The majority of the hosting anemones are compatible. They do sting each other but tolerate it and move. The Haddoni carpets are very strong I have found and don’t seem to get along as well without non carpets.

I run lots of carbon in my HOB filter and just do weekly water changes of 4 gallons. There is over 300 lbs of LR and I depend on the hair algae/macro for nutrient control.

I think more so the problem is that if you get stung by the anemones, the rash lasts for several weeks. Eventually your body has too much nemacyst and you might end up in the hospital. Take extra care and use gloves.

I think the biggest challenge in a mixed reef is that the anemones will eventually take over.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Oh sorry, 1 more question? What causes them to bleach, is it lighting, or can it be a host of things, water, nutrition, lighting? I'm getting new lights delivered tomorrow, 2 photon v2+, right now I'm using a pretty crap 4 ft reef edge led that I had on the old tank.

Most of the time they bleach from stress and lack of/too much lighting. give yours 4-6 months and it might color up again. I personally like to feed small amounts to nurse it back to health. If it started out healthy then you don’t need to feed them.

Start acclimating your lights slowly by ramping it up slowly over months. Maybe go 30-40% blue and then increase each week? I don’t know how strong your old lights were. But your corals will tell you how they respond if you need to bump up or not. You can expect your LR to get some algae with the increase in light intensity though.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Here is the ugly tanks as of right now

 

[Terri Caton]

I am that crazy guy who got bored with SPS and went with anemones only. I currently have 7/10 of the hosting species anemones in two 55 gallons. I have kept the other 3 before as well but not long term. Also have a pair from each of the main clownfish complexes. So I really anemones. Lol

The majority of the hosting anemones are compatible. They do sting each other but tolerate it and move. The Haddoni carpets are very strong I have found and don’t seem to get along as well without non carpets.

I run lots of carbon in my HOB filter and just do weekly water changes of 4 gallons. There is over 300 lbs of LR and I depend on the hair algae/macro for nutrient control.

I think more so the problem is that if you get stung by the anemones, the rash lasts for several weeks. Eventually your body has too much nemacyst and you might end up in the hospital. Take extra care and use gloves.

I think the biggest challenge in a mixed reef is that the anemones will eventually take over.

I'd be happy with anemones and fish too Corals are a pain in the butt. Pretty though.

 

[Terri Caton]

Here is the ugly tanks as of right now

Wow! Love that! Who needs corals with all that color?! Do you keep more than one pair of Clowns in a tank?

 

[chizerbunoi]

I do have the clarkii's and pink skunks living together. The clarkii's a breeding and tend to stay with the RBTA while the pink skunks took over the gigantea carpets.

What I noticed mostly about anemonefish is that they don't really leave their home. They don't swim out much except for food and to protect their home from predators.

 

[Terri Caton]

I do have the clarkii's and pink skunks living together. The clarkii's a breeding and tend to stay with the RBTA while the pink skunks took over the gigantea carpets.

What I noticed mostly about anemonefish is that they don't really leave their home. They don't swim out much except for food and to protect their home from predators.

I have 2 Ocellaris who have zero interest in a host anemone yet. They mainly stay in the upper part of the water column. I am getting a pair of deep rose color skunk clowns (at least they are available to me) and would like to put them with the H. Malu. I think they'd be more likely to be hosted since they are from the wild.

 

[Terri Caton]

Sorry OP. Didn't mean to take over your thread!