Question: Rock Anenome

Lisa Cain · Feb 19, 2018

Today I purchased a wine/pink Rock aneome from Petco. I had watched it for a month and it was sitting in a tank on the sand bed really spread out but looking unhappy. I purchased it and put in in the tank today. Should I wait a day before I feed it a small piece of shrimp? Also my skunk shrim is constantly cleaning it. Would it have that much debri on it?
Tank 32 gallon biocube

YHSublime · Feb 19, 2018

Wow, the pattern on that anemone is fantastic, I haven't quite seen anything like that!

I'm of the mindset that you don't need to feed your anemones. This has worked well for me for the better part of half a decade. That being said, I'm trying to get my rock anemones to spawn, so I do feed them every now and then with the flow turned off. Odds are your shrimp will steal any food you give it. Point being, you can give it some time without food.

andrewkw · Feb 19, 2018

That is a mini carpet anemone (Stichodactyla tapetum) not a rock anemone. It looks healthy so you could in theory feed it any time. They don't get huge but they do appreciate feedings from time to time.

Lisa Cain · Feb 19, 2018

andrewkw said:
That is a mini carpet anemone (Stichodactyla tapetum) not a rock anemone. It looks healthy so you could in theory feed it any time. They don't get huge but they do appreciate feedings from time to time.

Thank you will the skunk shrimp hurt it. It is still cleaning it?

Lisa Cain · Feb 19, 2018

YHSublime said:
Wow, the pattern on that anemone is fantastic, I haven't quite seen anything like that!

I'm of the mindset that you don't need to feed your anemones. This has worked well for me for the better part of half a decade. That being said, I'm trying to get my rock anemones to spawn, so I do feed them every now and then with the flow turned off. Odds are your shrimp will steal any food you give it. Point being, you can give it some time without food.

Thank you! I get that one from Petco . I am posting a picture of another one that I purchased a few days ago from a local coral breeder. It is a little unhappy because the shrimp just walked by it.
Will the skunk shrimp hurt my new anenome. He is still cleaning it.

tankstudy · Feb 19, 2018

Lisa Cain said:
Thank you! I get that one from Petco . I am posting a picture of another one that I purchased a few days ago from a local coral breeder. It is a little unhappy because the shrimp just walked by it.
Will the skunk shrimp hurt my new anenome. He is still cleaning it.

It will not hurt your rock flower anemone. From my experience, the cleaner shrimp is more likely to be killed by the rock flower anemone if it makes a mistake. Based off your picture, your rock flower anemone is very healthy.

YHSublime said:
That being said, I'm trying to get my rock anemones to spawn, so I do feed them every now and then with the flow turned off.

I've been told that spawning occurs around the solstices. Mine recently spawned around the winter solstice and one of my females released a batch of babies yesterday evening. Feeding doesn't trigger spawning from what I have seen. Keep in mind that you'll also need male and female rock flower anemones.

I have about 48 adult specimens and roughly 10-20 juveniles at the current time.

YHSublime · Feb 19, 2018

tankstudy said:
I've been told that spawning occurs around the solstices. Mine recently spawned around the winter solstice and one of my females released a batch of babies yesterday evening. Feeding doesn't trigger spawning from what I have seen. Keep in mind that you'll also need male and female rock flower anemones.
I have about 48 adult specimens and roughly 10-20 juveniles at the current time.

Yeah, I've read that as well. Also there is a local club member here who has spawned them consistently, and chalked it up to feedings. I've also read that you can't manually frag them, but have talked to many vendors and hobbyists who have. As for actually triggering a spawning, I have 7 of them in my nano (22 gallons) and I've gotta figure that there has to be a M/F mix.

As to not deter from the OP, the shrimp shouldn't hurt your nem, it's a scavenger, so it's probably just taking the morsels those little tips are catching, it may never stop.

Lisa Cain · Feb 19, 2018

andrewkw said:
That is a mini carpet anemone (Stichodactyla tapetum) not a rock anemone. It looks healthy so you could in theory feed it any time. They don't get huge but they do appreciate feedings from time to time.

I was reading a few minutes ago that it will eat fish. Do you think this could harm my fish?