Long tentacle doesn't want to attach

[sikemd]

I have a new long tentacle nem that doesn't want to attach. I have maroon clowns that tortured my last one to death, so this time around I put a cut up soda bottle around the nem, and it buried itself pretty good but after about 5 or 6 days the clowns realized they could get in and started messing with it and it ended up back on top of the sand. So then I drilled some holes in the soda bottle for flow and covered the soda bottle with mesh and just let it lay on top of the sand and it didn't bother to try to burrow again. After a few days of it just sitting on top of the sand I decided to make a new protected surrounding for it out of mesh, figuring maybe the soda bottle wasn't allowing enough flow and I also dug down to the glass so only a very thin layer of sand was left and it would stretch out and place its foot towards the glass but the bottom of the stalk was never flush with the glass and still wouldn't attach. So today, after a few more days of that, I decided to try to bury it again inside of the mesh protector. And burying those slimey things isn't easy especially when they squish back up when they feel too much pressure. But anyhow I got it burried enough that it isn't popping back out of the sand. The sand around it is approx 3-4" deep.

Through all of this it has maintained color and stayed open almost all of the time and it stretches for light when the lights are off. The foot doesn't appear to damaged at all and I've noticed the foot can hold and release sand. So now the foot is probably an inch or so above the glass bottom, I'm assuming these guys can dig? So it will be able to get itself down that extra inch to attach eventually? I'm also hoping that once it gets attached it will stay attached and the clowns wont be able to or make it release and surface again.

Any suggestions?

 

[sikemd]

Also I didn't try feeding it anything large until yesterday but it appeared to be grabbing and eating fish pellets for the first week or so when they dropped on it. I dropped some krill to it yesterday that landed right on its mouth and it didn't immediately stick the krill but eventually the krill disappeared so I'm assuming it ate it, since nothing else can get in there easily.

 

[burden216]

how old is tank and lights up to standard?

 

[sikemd]

Tank is 10 months. What do you mean lights up to standard? Tank lighting is 4-T5 HO on for 8 hours a day.

 

[burden216]

ok i leave mine on for 10 1/2 hours last hour i turn on my blues i have read up on them they say you can dig a hole i cut a 3 inch of 3inch round pvc pipe and set him in it and they pretty much go were ever they want no matter how much you try they still move to were they want to be if you get in sand again try putting a couple pieces of rock around him he might grip to it but if he starts to stick you can turn ur flow off for a little bit so he can fully anchor

 

[sikemd]

I'm just wondering if it even can anchor to the glass below the sand? My clowns will just keep digging it up if it doesn't attach to something solid. I bought another LT around the same time and it latched right on to live rock. I wanted this one on the tank bottom though and read they are sand dwellers. My other LT is very different in appearance, it's white/transparent and has shorter tentacles, but it has the same red stalk. The one I'm talking of, that is in the first pictures, is green. The other one awhile back that I had that the clowns tortured was the same as the one I'm trying to get in the sand bed. I guess I'm going to wait a few days and let it see if it can make its way to the glass and attach, then remove the cover and let the clowns at it (they dig up around it and get kind of rough when they're holding up inside, mostly the fem). If it rises back out of the sand or the clowns kick it back out I'll try getting it to stick to rock I guess.

 

[burden216]

thats only thing i can think of other than pvc it sux cause they like deep sand and i didnt have deep sand so i had made a couple piles were it would feel safe but it just kept moving i got him to stick for a couple weeks.with the pvc but i traded it back and got a bta i enjoy it allot more it just up and moved from its spot it was in for 5 months i think he is gonna split and then i will have 2 for price of 1 is what i was thinkn idk i dont know if lta can split i think some were i read that any anemone can split but havnt herd much other than btas splitting

 

[Car]

I tried for a couple months to get my long tentacle to attach in the front of the tank. I gave up and just decided to let it go where it wanted. So of course it settled in the back of the tank. I was worried it wasn't getting enough light and tried to move it. It pushed itself further under an over hang. I let it go. Noticed that it had pushed itself farther under rock so I moved it to the front again. 1/2 hr later it was back in the back. So I left it alone for about another month. Came home from work yesterday and it moved to the exact spot I had been trying to attach in the beginning . So we will see what it decides to do.

 

[sikemd]

Mine came back up out of the sand again, my clowns have been digging up around my mesh protector and maybe loosened him up but I guess it just doesn't want to stay there. I have a lot of soft corals pretty much everywhere in the tank. I'm wondering if I let it drift around if it will kill them? I guess I could put them up off the bottom and out of its way for now. My clowns will probably get a hold of it and push it back into their cave behind my rocks though, probably not a good thing? I am scared like you said that it won't get enough light but I guess your experience proves against that?

 

[Car]

Never know. As you can see from my pic, my watchman goby likes to put sand on everything. Anemone doesn't seem bothered by it but elegance coral next to it not happy.

 

[stevieduk]

Also I didn't try feeding it anything large until yesterday but it appeared to be grabbing and eating fish pellets for the first week or so when they dropped on it. I dropped some krill to it yesterday that landed right on its mouth and it didn't immediately stick the krill but eventually the krill disappeared so I'm assuming it ate it, since nothing else can get in there easily.

put a small square of glass or perspex on top of the sand under your cover and put the nem on it, it should attach to that and then you can gradually bury it. Some nems , when they dig down to the tank glass can never get rid of every bit of grit under the foot and it annoys them so they dont stick

 

[sikemd]

Ah I can believe that. I had a feeling it wouldn't be able to get deep enough to get to a solid surface and get all that stuff off. Great suggestion I think that will work. I have some plexiglass that I will try with.

 

[sikemd]

put a small square of glass or perspex on top of the sand under your cover and put the nem on it, it should attach to that and then you can gradually bury it. Some nems , when they dig down to the tank glass can never get rid of every bit of grit under the foot and it annoys them so they dont stick

Man thanks so much for that idea. I can't be certain what will happen yet, but I've got it attached to the plexiglass and buried it down a little bit and all seems good so far, the clowns are going crazy but hopefully now that its strongly attached it will stay attached and they won't be able to roll it around anymore.

I leaned the plexi on an angle so sand wouldn't build up on it and put the mesh clown protection around it. It stayed sideways and all last night but this morning it was attached.