AquaSD Nems?

[BroccoliFarmer]

Not sure if this green one is considered to be an "acid washed" one but you might ask them, they are pretty responsive on their online chat. I got a response in a couple of minutes.

Doesnt matter if it is or isnt now. As I already bought it, the point is generally an FYI to me at this point. had I known last week, it would have affected my decision making process.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

I'd love to see one grown out. 3-4" if anyone has one.

Currently they have a 5" one in stock (pictured below) but if it was selected from the wild at that size I would assume it is destined to a similar fate. If it was grown to that size in their hands, then they should definitely keep it to culture it. I would also be interested to see if anyone on R2R has a success story of growing out one of these smaller ones in their tank.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Doesnt matter if it is or isnt now. As I already bought it, the point is generally an FYI to me at this point. had I known last week, it would have affected my decision making process.

Yeah not much you can do now, although for documenting your success it would be interesting to know! Also would make me feel better knowing that if it died, it is more likely due to its origins and not something with my tank or skills.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Yeah not much you can do now, although for documenting your success it would be interesting to know! Also would make me feel better knowing that if it died, it is more likely due to its origins and not something with my tank or skills.

I will be putting this up in my build thread once i get them in a couple of weeks. (July 7th...so if it is fresh out of ocean, it should have at least 3 weeks to see if it is gonna make it before it is my problem)

 

[Tamberav]

They generally list the nems as "tank grown".

Otherwise just assume it is a fresh wild BTA.

 

[JaimeAdams]

What makes you say that? Just because of color variation and the fact that they do not advertise as aquacultured? I do prefer aquacultured over wild for many reasons but I'm willing to take a small risk for a potentially awesome color variation. I'm definitely not an expert but have successfully treated and revived 1 nem that I bought from another vendor and was only slightly larger than a half dollar.

I really wish there was a vendor who specialized in anemones and sold all aquacultured nems, but I have yet to find anyone that is farming them like that.

I say that based on the facts that I work in the industry. I'm familiar with the vendor. I aquaculture anemones. I Imports fish/coral/anemones. Among other things.

There is nothing wrong with wild anemones. They all came from the ocean at some point. It's simply some have adapted and have shown much more resilience to captive conditions over a longer period of time and others have melted. Then if we really want to get into it we can look into Dr. Ben Titus's research show at least 5 unique genetic species that us hobbyist all label E. quadricolor.

There are plenty of vendors that aquaculture anemones. It's just usually higher end ones. I currently aquaculture 8 different bubbletips types. The issue is things like the Supernovas, Colorado Sunbursts, Chicago Sunburst, etc cannot be house in the same system. Most types of Rainbows can, but even then some will start to cause issues. If I'm growing anemones for profit as a vendor it just comes down to what stains will make me the most profit and that is generally a more expensive anemone.

 

[DJF]

AquaSD is legit and part of most of us locals’ regular LFS route. My Claremont loop… Aquatic warehouse-> ASD-> Societe/O’Brien’s/kilowatt. Their eBay auctions are a rite of passage. I’ve purchased rf nems from them aplenty. They likely get [r/g]btas from locals as well as wild.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

here is nothing wrong with wild anemones. They all came from the ocean at some point. It's simply some have adapted and have shown much more resilience to captive conditions over a longer period of time and others have melted.

Yeah I guess this was my point. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with anemones out in the wild but aquacultured ones are inherently going to do better in captivity because they were selected for this. I feel better about my personal risk of purchasing and taking on a nem adapted to tank life than I am one that was recently imported from the wild.

There are plenty of vendors that aquaculture anemones. It's just usually higher end ones. I currently aquaculture 8 different bubbletips types. The issue is things like the Supernovas, Colorado Sunbursts, Chicago Sunburst, etc cannot be house in the same system. Most types of Rainbows can, but even then some will start to cause issues. If I'm growing anemones for profit as a vendor it just comes down to what stains will make me the most profit and that is generally a more expensive anemone.

This is interesting! I figured there was some economical/business reason for the decision to import vs. aquaculture. If these nems were easy to aquaculture, would propagating them in captivity still be more expensive than just importing them?

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Yeah I guess this was my point. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with anemones out in the wild but aquacultured ones are inherently going to do better in captivity because they were selected for this. I feel better about my personal risk of purchasing and taking on a nem adapted to tank life than I am one that was recently imported from the wild.

Depends on your tank tbh. If you have good controls and a good ecosystem, I would expect that most wild nems would be fine in captivity. The ones that may not fare well are most likely the ones that are brought into unstable ecosystems (temp, levels, lighting, bacteria, etc).

Not that I want to muddy this discussion with an advertisement, AquaSD has quite a few nems in their clearance section. For this price, I was happy to give it a shot. Just picked one up.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Depends on your tank tbh. If you have good controls and a good ecosystem, I would expect that most wild nems would be fine in captivity. The ones that may not fare well are most likely the ones that are brought into unstable ecosystems (temp, levels, lighting, bacteria, etc).

Not that I want to muddy this discussion with an advertisement, AquaSD has quite a few nems in their clearance section. For this price, I was happy to give it a shot. Just picked one up.

Thanks for the heads up! I just did too! Does anyone do anything different with wild caught nems vs. aquaculture’s. The 2 that I have now were both aquacultured and I just did a normal acclimation and put them in my DT. I’ll probably acclimmate these 2 into my QT just in case they need some cipro. Anyone have any recommendations for a cheap light for a 10g QT that’s sufficient for an anemone? Last time I used my DTs AI prime but I have too many corals now to leave them without a light.

 

[Wtyson254]

The carpet I got from them is looking great,
Never got one of their bubbles.

 

[Losirk]

I'm in the same boat as @JoJosReef , I also got a bta just like your pictures. Mine was super duper tiny. Dime sized. It was the color though as I saw it in the pictures. It settled the first 7 days then it moved to the back of a rock never to be seen again.

I also have gotten a few rfa from them and they all have survived.

same here. got an acid wash BTA, was super tiny, disappeared within a week. maybe they are splitting them via cutting?

 

[Mhamilton0911]

same here. got an acid wash BTA, was super tiny, disappeared within a week. maybe they are splitting them via cutting?

When btas choose to split by themselves aren't they bigger? Maybe they are cutting? Either way I found they are just not for me.

I've been super happy with all other corals from them though, one of my favorite retailers. Love the auctions, I've scored great stuff. And the have great customer service so still my go to for coral.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I have three BTAs coming on Thursday. Ill let you know how they fare.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

I have three BTAs coming on Thursday. Ill let you know how they fare.

Just updated my build thread with the 3 I purchased. They are kind of small but they did well traveling from the east coast to the west coast. Mine have been in QT since Weds last week (about 5 days) going to move them to the DT soon after I move some corals around and do some other needed tank maintenance. Hope you have the same experience with yours!

Build Thread - Beginner Tank to the Reef Life!

1 Month Progress! CaribSea LifeRock Arches makes a huge difference! Current residents include: -1 peppermint shrimp -2 emerald crabs -2 turbo snails -2 tongan nassarius snails -1 trochus snail -2 clownfish -1 yellow watchman goby -1 Tiger Pistol Shrimp -1 Lawnmower Blenny -1 Montipora Frag -1...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Dang...now Im nervous about what I just bought. beautiful nem (the green one) but now I am wondering if I just flushed some green. I hope not..this is a beauty!!

ok..i cant lie to you..this Nem is absolutely gorgeous IRL. It in my tank and getting itself comfy. I got four nems from AquaSD and they are all great and doing fantastic on day 1. I agree that the 'cheap' ones were small..about the size of a half dollar. But the ones that we not $40 nems were good size and what I would expect from trading with a local hobbiest. As of now, I am very happy that I got these from AquaSD

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

ok..i cant lie to you..this Nem is absolutely gorgeous IRL. It in my tank and getting itself comfy. I got four nems from AquaSD and they are all great and doing fantastic on day 1. I agree that the 'cheap' ones were small..about the size of a half dollar. But the ones that we not $40 nems were good size and what I would expect from trading with a local hobbiest. As of now, I am very happy that I got these from AquaSD

I agree, I think AquaSD is doing a great job and I was happy with my shipment. I'll hold out on my opinion on how much I like these compared to tank-raised nems until they have started growing, but so far so good! We will both have to update how they are doing down the line, maybe we can get some @AquaSD deals on future nems, from our praises and promotion of their work