floating anemone

[cubbyman60]

Long time lurker...Did a search and couldn't find anything.

I have two RBTAs that I have had for years. One of the two recently split, so there are now three.

One of the offspring has been floating at the surface since splitting. Now, the anemone that did NOT split is floating at the surface. Has anyone seen this behavior? Thank you.

 

[Brew12]

@cromag08 Can you help with this question?
Or #reefsquad

Oh, and Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[120reefkeeper]

Can't say I've seen that before . Are they being blown around?? What would happen if you shut the flow down for a few minutes? Would they continue to float??

 

[melypr1985]

Welcome to R2R! I have had nems float around after splitting, however in my case I only had them for a few weeks before they spit. They were never the same after that. I did find one in the sump a few months after I lost sight of them. I put him back in the tank, where he started to color up some only to let go of his rock and float around until he ended up in the sump again. Not sure what the deal was except that he just wasn't happy in my tank. Never did figure it out. I'll follow along and see if I can learn something new!

 

[dbl]

I'll follow along as well as the splits that I've had have always attached right away. Although they end up where they want, it does seem weird to simply be floating.

One thought is if you have an acclimation box and a smallish piece of rock, put both in the box and see if it attaches to the small rock. If so, try to move in to display. May just get lucky.

 

[jsker]

I'll follow along as well as the spills that I've had have always attached right away. Although they end up where they want, it does seem weird to simply be floating.

One thought is if you have an acclimation box and a smallish piece of rock, put both in the box and see if it attaches to the small rock. If so, try to move in to display. May just get lucky.

Great idea, I was going to suggest putting the nems in a plastic tray/basket like one finds at the dollar store or oriental market at the top of the tank and let them acclamate to the flow
How much flow is in the tank?

 

[cubbyman60]

Thanks for the replies. The two anemones are now attached near the surface. It seems that they have moved up and down at least once during the day. The flow has not changed. They were all underneath an MP40, where they have been for the entire time I've had them (many years). I'll see what happens.

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R! I've had RBTA's float around my tank until they found a place they liked. It usually is where I don't want them to be due to coral placement.

 

[Trex]

Some tank info might help --- to get an idea if this was a stress split or not...

What size tank?
How long has it been up?
What lights do you have?
Current water parameters -- with numbers please.
RO/DI water? If so, what is the TDS.
Any other changes?

 

[cubbyman60]

It's a 125. About 5 years old. I have three Kessil 360s which I've had for about 5 months. I don't have current parameters. I only measure about once/month to be honest, but I might go to the LFS to test. Everything else looks healthy. I use RO/DI water, but don't know the TDS. Sorry, that isn't a lot of information. Still monitoring.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

I'm guessing it was water current that made it appear as if the anemone was floating at the surface. anemones are dense and full of water, tissue and organs. I don't believe they are buoyant enough to free float on their own.

 

[cubbyman60]

I'm guessing it was water current that made it appear as if the anemone was floating at the surface. anemones are dense and full of water, tissue and organs. I don't believe they are buoyant enough to free float on their own.

Yes. I think I may have chosen the wrong word initially. But, the issue is that they seem to have moved to the top to make residence. Here are some pictures. Excuse the quality.

One is a full tank shot while I was doing maintenance. It shows the anemones on the left in their initial position. Only two of the lights are installed at the time.