Rehab a ritteri?

[SkimHeavy]

Hey guys I was wondering if someone might have some advice for me.

I purchased a ritteri anemone from Petco back in 2013. It was about 6-7” across when it was fully expanded.

As soon as it stopped wondering the tank and picked a semi permanent location I began to target feed, almost daily. It went from the 6-7” to about 24” across in approximately 4 months.

One day in 2015 it began to wonder around my tank and made its way over to my MP40. It absolutely shredded the thing. All that was left was a partial foot and the tentacles were completely gone on one side. The other side was shredded terribly however the mouth was not damaged.

Ultimately it healed however it was approximately 3” in size and the tentacles were short nubs. I attempted to feed it but my clowns would constantly rob the food from its mouth before it could eat. The clowns stopped hosting it after the power head incident but still take the food away. In the end I allowed my frustration to get the better of me and I gave up.

Now here we are two years later and my interest has sparked in getting this guy back in shape. It still is approximately 3” in size and has not been target fed in at least two years.

Tonight I mixed up some reef chili with tank water into a paste and used a joes juice syringe to inject the paste directly into its mouth. It wasn’t happy about it, but it appears to have eaten it. I might try doing this either nightly or every other night to see if I can plump him up.

Is there anything else I could try or do? I think it’s pretty amazing that this species is so delicate and yet this nem has been through so much. Over the years I’ve seen people try and try to keep them without a lot of success. I had also always been told damage to the foot of a ritteri is certain death so I was shocked to see it recover without antibiotics or quarantine.

I’ll try to dig up a pic of it in its glory days and I’ll snap a pic tomorrow of what it looks like now.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SkimHeavy]

Here it is before the powerhead ate it. I’ll post a pic of what it currently looks like tomorrow.

 

[SkimHeavy]

Here is that it looks like today. My thumb for size comparison.

 

[Orcus Varuna]

Here is that it looks like today. My thumb for size comparison.

Start very small, feeding it a few mysis shrimp (not cubes individual shrimp) at a time, 2-3 times a week. Just put it in its tentacles and it should grab hold. Continue and every few weeks up the portions and decrease the frequency as it gains strength and grows. Once it's about 8" you can really stop feeding it. Also I am a huge fan of soaking the mysis in some selcon. Usually they grab on like crazy, even sick nems. As to it surviving, I am not surprised they are actually very hardy if infection free. Problem is they are very susceptible to bacterial infections when stressed.

 

[SkimHeavy]

Thanks Orcus. The only problem with doing that seems to be that it doesn’t respond quickly enough and the shrimp slowly fall away.

After injecting the paste into its mouth yesterday it seemed to look more full today with longer tentacles than it’s had in two years. I may try that a couple more times and once it’s a little big larger and more responsive try the shrimp again.

I REALLY force fed it yesterday. I was careful not to break the tissue or puncture with the needle tip. I did however stick the tip of the needle inside it’s mouth to inject the paste like I was blasting aptasia with joes juice.

 

[SkimHeavy]

I tried the feeding method with a RBTA night as well and man it did not go well. A perfectly happy and healthy RBTA almost swallowed itself. The mouth, and tentacles retracted so much that it became a round ball from the base. No tentacles or oral disc visible. Within about 3-4 minutes it’s foot released and it floated across the tank in a ball. When I went to bed last night it was laying in the sand bed all balled up. This morning it had opened back up and it’s foot was firmly planted. Maybe it taste so good he lost his mind and his footing lol.

 

[Orcus Varuna]

I never reccomend injecting food directly into the oral disc. It is a quick way to stress an anemone to death. If clowns are beating up the anemones I would isolate them while you rehab the anemones. Once they are strong enough clowns beating it up won't matter. Also, cut the pumps for 15 minutes, a good quality mysis such as PE Mysis or other frozen food like LRS Reef Frenzy will sink. Just place it above the nem and let it slowly fall onto the tentacles and disc. If done this way the food won't float away. If you cut the pumps you should be able to play some defense if necessary from other aggressive feeders.