I have been dealing with Mojano anemones for years. They never really bother my coral but they're horribly prolific and I hate them. I have gotten them to the point, several times, of not seeing a single one, but they always come back.
In the past I have injected boiling kalk paste into them with a hypodermic needle. This is about a 50% success rate, and the ones that don't die may split, so without doing it constantly I end up with just as many as I started with a few months later. Unfortunately there is always a crevice somewhere that I can't get to. I have also started over with totally new live rock and here I am, about three years later with about 100 in my tank. There must have been one on the base of a coral I transferred; who knows.
I have moved on to trying both a Klein's (aka sunburst or blacklip) butterfly as well as a Raccoon butterfly.
This thread is to document my success/failure in hopes that it helps someone else later.
I have a 300g SPS tank and an 80g mixed coral frag tank. Initially I wanted to keep both in the 80g, with no other fish, with a single rock with a few mojanos and some other assorted corals as an experiment to see who would eat what. I also wanted to use the 80g as a quarantine tank so that I didn't risk any of the fish in my 300. Things didn't go as planned though.
6/21/2019: I received one of each fish from LiveAquaria. Generally I try to buy fish locally but the online price and warranty was just too attractive in this instance. Unfortunately the Raccoon died immediately but was warrantied. So the Klein's (2.5") went into the 80g by himself. I put a grapefruit sized rock with about 4 mojanos in the tank with him, along with the existing live rock in the tank, a green sinularia leather, a eunicea gorgonian, a couple paly polyps, a monti digi, an Acro valida, and a small chalice frag. I figured this would give me enough diversity to see what he would or wouldn't eat.
7/11/2019: I got another Raccoon from LiveAquaria. Up to this point the Klein's has not touched anything. He does not eat the mojanos; he does not eat the coral. But he is eating spectra pellets and frozen; go figure. I acclimated the new Raccoon (3") and put him in the 80g with the Klein's. The Klein's hates the Raccoon. It chased him incessantly. It didn't actually nip the fins but it was clearly a problem.
7/13/2019: The Klein's wouldn't leave the Raccoon alone and despite my better judgement I went ahead and put the Raccoon in my 300g. Up to this point neither fish touched the Mojanos or the coral frags; both just pecked at the rocks all day. I figured I had a better chance at the Raccoon eating the mojanos in the 300 since the Klein's has had several weeks in the 80g and not touched the mojanos at all. I acclimated the Raccoon and then proceeded to watch my Lamarck's angel beat him around pretty bad. Obviously frustrated at this point; catching him would be an immense undertaking so they just had to work it out. Fortunately they did, and the Raccoon also started pecking at some mojanos later that day! Note: the Raccoon was in the 80g for two days and didn't touch the "test" mojanos, but was in the 300g for two hours and starting hitting them. I can't explain that.
7/16/2019: This morning I would say 3/4 of my mojanos in the 300 are closed or shrunken. They are not "dead" but look unhappy. The Raccoon hits them constantly. He isn't killing them, per se, but it clearly harms the anemone when he strikes. He has not touched any of the coral (mostly acros with a couple large chalices and a dozen zoa clusters). The Klein's is doing great in the 80g and still hasn't touched the mojanos or any of the assorted coral. My plan is to remove the chalices and zoas from the 300g in the near future, but I will let them stay until I actually see the Raccoon bite them.
Will update again later.....
In the past I have injected boiling kalk paste into them with a hypodermic needle. This is about a 50% success rate, and the ones that don't die may split, so without doing it constantly I end up with just as many as I started with a few months later. Unfortunately there is always a crevice somewhere that I can't get to. I have also started over with totally new live rock and here I am, about three years later with about 100 in my tank. There must have been one on the base of a coral I transferred; who knows.
I have moved on to trying both a Klein's (aka sunburst or blacklip) butterfly as well as a Raccoon butterfly.
This thread is to document my success/failure in hopes that it helps someone else later.
I have a 300g SPS tank and an 80g mixed coral frag tank. Initially I wanted to keep both in the 80g, with no other fish, with a single rock with a few mojanos and some other assorted corals as an experiment to see who would eat what. I also wanted to use the 80g as a quarantine tank so that I didn't risk any of the fish in my 300. Things didn't go as planned though.
6/21/2019: I received one of each fish from LiveAquaria. Generally I try to buy fish locally but the online price and warranty was just too attractive in this instance. Unfortunately the Raccoon died immediately but was warrantied. So the Klein's (2.5") went into the 80g by himself. I put a grapefruit sized rock with about 4 mojanos in the tank with him, along with the existing live rock in the tank, a green sinularia leather, a eunicea gorgonian, a couple paly polyps, a monti digi, an Acro valida, and a small chalice frag. I figured this would give me enough diversity to see what he would or wouldn't eat.
7/11/2019: I got another Raccoon from LiveAquaria. Up to this point the Klein's has not touched anything. He does not eat the mojanos; he does not eat the coral. But he is eating spectra pellets and frozen; go figure. I acclimated the new Raccoon (3") and put him in the 80g with the Klein's. The Klein's hates the Raccoon. It chased him incessantly. It didn't actually nip the fins but it was clearly a problem.
7/13/2019: The Klein's wouldn't leave the Raccoon alone and despite my better judgement I went ahead and put the Raccoon in my 300g. Up to this point neither fish touched the Mojanos or the coral frags; both just pecked at the rocks all day. I figured I had a better chance at the Raccoon eating the mojanos in the 300 since the Klein's has had several weeks in the 80g and not touched the mojanos at all. I acclimated the Raccoon and then proceeded to watch my Lamarck's angel beat him around pretty bad. Obviously frustrated at this point; catching him would be an immense undertaking so they just had to work it out. Fortunately they did, and the Raccoon also started pecking at some mojanos later that day! Note: the Raccoon was in the 80g for two days and didn't touch the "test" mojanos, but was in the 300g for two hours and starting hitting them. I can't explain that.
7/16/2019: This morning I would say 3/4 of my mojanos in the 300 are closed or shrunken. They are not "dead" but look unhappy. The Raccoon hits them constantly. He isn't killing them, per se, but it clearly harms the anemone when he strikes. He has not touched any of the coral (mostly acros with a couple large chalices and a dozen zoa clusters). The Klein's is doing great in the 80g and still hasn't touched the mojanos or any of the assorted coral. My plan is to remove the chalices and zoas from the 300g in the near future, but I will let them stay until I actually see the Raccoon bite them.
Will update again later.....
