New riterri anemone

lost66 · Aug 9, 2021

I am about to get riteri anemone to my tank. I have already plenty of RBTA (was only 1 few months ago) but none of my 10 ocellaris like them so I read riteri is perfect choice. One of my LFS has it for $75. They claim they have it for 2 weeks and it is still alive at this point.
I wonder if there is any risk getting that anemone? I read they are picky in terms of transportation and they often die. But If my LFS has it for 2 weeks, is it enough time to say it survived transportation and my 30min drive from them to my tank won't be a problem?

Also, that LFS has some bad reputation about their fish carry ick. And I witnessed that, luckily it was freshwater so easy to treat. I wonder if there is a dip or some sort of procedure that I can be sure I won't introduce ick in my tank from that anemone? QT is not an option.

Amoo · Aug 9, 2021

Bringing home a harder to care for anemone without the ability to QT is honestly as recipe for disaster waiting to happen. I'd personally advise against it.

Anthony Scholfield · Aug 10, 2021

i Would also recommend having a 10g quarentine tank with supplies and cipro before bringing this anemone home. Check @OrionN cipro treatment thread for details on how to do this.

Its true that H. Magnifica anemones (Ritteri) sometimes do not ship well and are prone to bacterial infections. Even though its been at the LFS for 2wks doesnt necessarily imply that it is free from infection.

Best practice in my opinion and experience is to treat the anemone before it enters the display. Especially when adding to a system that already has anemones.

Ich should not be a problem as Ich does not affect anemones. The only way it could be a problem is if when the anemone is bagged, free swimming Ich gets into the bag water and then you put the bag water into your display. This is another good reason to set up a quarentine tank. The cipro wont really do much for Ich but without a fish to feed on the free swimmers will die.

I dont know how much research you did on these animals but their care is different from BTA's. They can definitely be kept together, Im currently doing it but its obvious they like different things. I guess be prepared for that if youre already not.

Rtaylor · Aug 10, 2021

I just had a mag die. It arrived looking super healthy and continued to look healthy for about 2 weeks before starting to take a turn for the worse. I waited too long to pull and treat it and it never improved over 7 days of cipro treatment. I received another one shortly after the first that is coming to the end of its cipro treatment (decided to treat just in case after the first one went so poorly). I agree you should treat it before placing in the tank if possible. At a minimum be prepared to pull it for treatment at the first sign of distress. You can even use a 5 gallon bucket as long as you set it up just like described in the cipro sticky above). With that small of a water volume you may want to be prepared for 100% water changes every 12 hours.
Btw….I’ll admit, I almost never quarantine anything…. but given the poor survival rate of mags and experiencing it first hand, I’m convinced it’s needed if you want to keep them.