Long tentacle anemone won't settle...

[Lylelovett]

Hi all,

I am the new proud owner of a long tentacle anemone. Yay! I've had this one for a week.

I read lots of posts about these anemones floating around to find their own place (like a lot of anemones). I have tried "placing" it in the sand right at the edge of rock-work in a dozen different places and it won't stay. So i let it float around and it'll end up in a dead spot in the back corner, or under a mass of mushroom leathers, but doesn't grab on.

My tanks is 5x2x2, so the sand-bed PAR is only around 90 and the highest rock-work is around 300. Could it be that it needs more light than the bottom of the tank has? Will a long tentacle grab on to rock-work as opposed to sand?

Any other tips/thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Living Reef Orlando Verified Sponsor]

Congrats! Is all flow off when trying to place? I often recommend turning off ALL flow and leaving it off for about 30 minutes for the foot to grab.

 

[Uncle99]

If he don’t grab, that is a problem, may indicate damage to foot.
LTA usually (but not exclusively) will sit on the sand, with foot to the glass. If you turn off flow, dig a little hole, place him in the hole, if he don’t attach in an hour, there’s a problem.

 

[James M]

Try digging a hole to allow itself to touch the glass.

 

[Lylelovett]

Try digging a hole to allow itself to touch the glass.

I will try that. Do you think 2ft down to far away from the light?

 

[Uncle99]

That’s fine.
If he doesn’t attach within and hour, he has been damaged in some way.
If he can’t attach, sorry, he’s toast.

 

[James M]

I will try that. Do you think 2ft down to far away from the light?

Assuming you have good lighting, that shouldn’t be an issue. Try an area with medium flow

 

[Jekyl]

Pics of the anemone may help out. Unless it's deteriorating it's not a goner yet. When keeping nems it's best to have some cipro and a hospital tank available. I would order some just incase. While in low light or lights off, dig a hole all the way to the glass and set the nem in. Leave the powerheads off for an hour or 2. If this still doesn't work then hospitalization may be needed.
@Eagle_Steve @OrionN

 

[Lylelovett]

Pics of the anemone may help out. Unless it's deteriorating it's not a goner yet. When keeping nems it's best to have some cipro and a hospital tank available. I would order some just incase. While in low light or lights off, dig a hole all the way to the glass and set the nem in. Leave the powerheads off for an hour or 2. If this still doesn't work then hospitalization may be needed.
@Eagle_Steve @OrionN

I just turned off the powerheads (tiny flow from the returns still going), but not enough for it to move. It's sitting on the bottom now. Doesn't look like it's deteriorating that I can tell.

 

[Dbichler]

Looks like you need a deeper sand bed for it to settle into.

 

[Lylelovett]

I just turned off the powerheads (tiny flow from the returns still going), but not enough for it to move. It's sitting on the bottom now. Doesn't look like it's deteriorating that I can tell.

Deeper than 3-4 inches?

 

[Dbichler]

Pics are hard to tell from but 4 should be fine.

 

[Birdbrains?]

It looks like a sebae anemone. The macrodactylas will have dots on the outside.

I do not have experience with the behaviour of sebaes so I am not sure how well the nem is reacting to the gravel but LTAs will make use of clinging to rockwork when they want to stop floating around. It seems to be easier for them to prevent random drifting, than just waiting for the current to drop them onto an appropriate area of sand.

It does not look like it is deteriorating at this point, so hopefully with the slower flow it will decide to settle. But if you notice tissue looking like it is disintegrating, you should take it out right away before it nukes the rest of the tank. Good luck