Anemone?

[kwsm]

Found this today on our new LR. There's another somewhat close by on the same rock but too far around to try to snap a photo of. Looks like longish white semi-transparent tentacles with round more opaque balls on the ends. It's a bit smaller than the size of a dime. Some sort of anemone? Coral?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/AtariatriX/IMG_1033resized.jpg


If it is an anemone, my tank is quite young so what can I do to help this guy survive? Unless it's a pest of course...


Thanks!

 

[VAreef]

It definitly looks like an anemone but as to the kind I got no idea. It doesn't look like the aiptasia at least.

 

[yote]

That is a ball anemone.
They stay small and normally don't live long in our tanks.
They are non-photosynthetic,so to try to keep it alive,try feeding it something small like mysis or rotifers.

 

[Smitty]

+1 Yote...I have two of them in some live rock I bought 3 months ago.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yep, ball anemone. It's a good hitch hiker. I have one that I've been able to keep alive and fatten up since September.

 

[wontonflip]

Are they the same thing as strawberry anemones? I have a bunch in my tank. I started out with just 2 or 3 on a rock in my 10g....they multiplied pretty quickly. I used to push mysis into their tentacles just to watch them grab it. It's fun to watch, especially if you have no anemones. And now, in my 125g, they've spread even more on these 2 rocks. And that's with me not paying extra attention to them. They're definitely getting bigger. I have around a dozen of them. They're more filter feeders than photosynthetic feeders, right?

 

[dcantucson]

I think they are closely related to Aiptasia and probably should be removed. I have some cute little green anemones with pink tips which I thought were a positive addition. Now they are everywhere. Not as bad as Aiptasia but still invasive. KILL THEM!

 

[Bifferwine]

Those green nems with pink tips sound like majano.

 

[dcantucson]

Those green nems with pink tips sound like majano.

No! No! But they are sooooo cute. :grumble:

 

[Bifferwine]

No! No! But they are sooooo cute. :grumble:

Aha. Sure they are. Until they start killing everything they touch. Real cute.

 

[wontonflip]

I think they are closely related to Aiptasia and probably should be removed. I have some cute little green anemones with pink tips which I thought were a positive addition. Now they are everywhere. Not as bad as Aiptasia but still invasive. KILL THEM!

So seriously? I should remove them? They're so pretty though! And in my fowlr tank, it's fun to look at something that's not fish LOL

I couldn't get a straight answer about ball nems and the strawberry nems....google came up with different answers....they look like strawberries......and if so, no one seems to think they're harmful like aiptaisia. :dunno:

 

[kwsm]

i had the same issue. google came up empty. but i figure if they were terrible pests there would be more search results.

 

[yote]

Ball anemones and strawberries anemones are 2 different animals.The same family but just a little different.
I personally dont consider either of those to be a pest.

 

[wontonflip]

Why exactly are aiptaisia pests? Is it because of the speed that they spread? Or also because their sting actually hurts the fish?

 

[yote]

Why exactly are aiptaisia pests? Is it because of the speed that they spread? Or also because their sting actually hurts the fish?

Both actually.
When an aiptasia stresses and dies,it releases thousands of spores that grow into new aiptasias.Thats why they spread so quick.Plus their sting is a lot worse then something like a BTA or Condy.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yep, I didn't have aiptasia, but I had majanos, which are very similar pest anemones. They stung and killed all the corals they touched up against. And they spread so quickly, before long they had killed everything in my tank except for the hardiest corals -- mushrooms, xenia and kenya weed were the only things that survived their stings.

 

[wontonflip]

Gotcha....thanks mods :) I knew they were bad and unwanted pests. Just wasn't sure exactly why.

So these ball nems (I think mine are ball nems, not strawberries) should be ok? Even though they will spread? The rock that they're on are set far apart from the rest of the rocks.

 

[Bifferwine]

The ball anemones are fine. They most likely won't spread, and they won't sting.

 

[yote]

And if you really want to see something cool.Check those ball anemones out with a black light,after the tanks lights are off for the night.

 

[Gigaah]

Cool I was just checking for an ID myself on these buggers. They are either strawberry or ball. or possibly I have both. some look slightly different. I have 3 on rocks on got a few months ago. One i'm pretty sure is a strawberry the other two could be either. They are all about the size of a pea currently. I just happened to notice one and moved the small piece of rock it was on..then noticed another rock of similar size with two of them on it. Bonus for probably not getting a bad hitch hiker annemone?