Thinking about an anemone...

hotimportknight

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I was in at the LFS the other day and he had some cool looking anemones for sale and I kinda feel like I want one now... Just wanna get some opinion on it first at least. He has a really nice looking sebae that is pure white with bright purple tips on it, or a long tentacle or something looked like it was a wider plate type with tentacles all over it. I mainly just want something and hope my clowns host it. What do you guys think? Im leaning towards the sebae because of the cool colors and I think it looks like a cooler creature. I shouldnt have problems with my 216w t5's should I? My clam and SPS's are doing great for a long time now. My tank is only like 17" high or something like that, so they penetrate pretty good to the bottom. I know I've heard a lot of horror stories about anemones and them crashing systems... I havent lost anything yet and the tanks been doing good for quite some time now.
 
How old is it? Make sure it's mature, it sounds like you should be good on lighting, what kind of lighting is it and what bulbs? If it's pure white don't buy it, that means it's bleached, it should be a tanish color. I love those anenomes though, I know someone who had one and they showed me how to get a clowfish to host it and it didn't close up it was so cool On the other hand they can be hard to keep, keep a close eye on it and make sure you feed it every 3 days or so. I had one in my 12 g nano and it crashed that, it was because it wasn't stable enough though, not old enough either. I would make sure you have a ATO so the salinity doesn't flucuate either
 
Ive got the nova extreme fixture 2 10k 2 420nm, have an ATO, use RO water, tanks around 7 months old now I think? The anemone was half under a rock and the lighting he has it under is really inadequate, he said the clowns he has in that tank feed all the anemones so much that they change colors depending on how much light or how much they get fed. I saw some on just google imaging for them and some where bright white with the really bright tips like this one, is that necessarily bad for them to be like that?
 
I have heard repeatedly that there is no such thing as a white anenome, it's bleached, it is probably still going downhill even though it's being fed if the light isn't good. I think I would look around more for a better one. Not sure about the night either If you had individual reflectors yea, but I'm not sure. Don't think I would personally try it.
 
I was just reading some info online and it seems that some people dye anemones to make them more appealing looking... Could this be the case? All the anemones the LFS gets in are pure white with bright neon colored tips, and then after a while they fade out and start turning more natural browns and lose the bright neon colors... (on the condy's mainly he gets in)
 
Sebaes are usually white with purple tips. But like UWW said, this is usually an indicator of poor health in anemones. Sebaes are one of the hardest types to keep alive and they have abysmal survival rates in captivity. I would definitely skip the sebae.

Long tentacled anemones are one of the hardier species to keep and usually do very well in tanks that are old enough and stable enough. If you wanted an anemone, a long tentacle or bubble tip would be a good choice.

And yes, your lights are fine for one.
 
Thanks for the info, liveaquaria did rate them as expert only, and the long tentacle was only moderate, but the long tentacle they have at the LFS is tiny and brown. I dont know if he has any bubble tips, I could swing down there and see what hes got.
 
I got a sebae a couple weeks ago, my tank is only 6 mths old and he lasted two days. I had no fatalities, but my tank was not happy for several days afterwards. I want another, but in a few months and probably a rose bubble tip
 
I really don't think your tank is mature enough. I would wait until tanks been up and running stable for a year.
 
What went wrong with your anemone after only 2 days? I went down there, he had a few long tentacles and 1 bubble tip, but the bubble was attached to a huge rock, and the long tentacles were very small. I was wrong about it being pure white, its not pure white, its a cream colored with cool purple tips. After I get home I read all the replies after biffs... oh boy. I talked to him for a while, all were the same price so he wouldn't have gained from selling me this one over another, but he has had it for about a month now with clowns hosting in it and it seems to be really healthy... god damn now im scared its acclimating right now... I told my self it would be my project to feed and take care of as close to recommendation as I could and make it my project to make something live thats supposed to be hard to keep alive... Now I see the next 5 replies saying dont do it!!! I figured I'd acclimate it for a few hours, get him placed on the substrate in direct light and start feeding him silversides tomorrow and starting an every 2-3 day feeding regiment.
Now that im scared even more what are imminent signs of death in a sebae? If something is predicting imminent doom I'll pull it and get it out or back to the LFS...
Alright after all the flaming is over after I post this, has anyone keepen one alive? Any tips for success? The guy at the LFS has one thats 2 1/2 years old and its huge and cool looking in his 180. Hes only got some huge flourescent bulbs over it that dont seem to provide a whole lot of light.
 
You would have been better off with a bubble tip.But since you already got the Seba,One of the first signs of it going down hill is a big hole where the mouth is supposed to be.Or it looking like a mass of jelly.
You'll have to keep your water quality perfect.No nitrates,stable PH,alkalinity,salinity,temp and such.It has got to be spot on.
Dont expect it to stay in one place either.Its going to move around untill it finds where IT wants to be.Make sure that you have something over your powerheads so the anemone wont get sucked into them.Powerheads are the #1 cause of death to anemones.
Good luck it,and wheres the pics?
 
It's still in the bag acclimating yet, its been about an hour or so now, I might get it in the tank in a about half hour or so. He showed me at the pet shop things to look for in a healthy sebae, he showed me the mouth, showed me the foot and stuff. I think my water should be pretty much "perfect" by all tests everything has been ideal for quite a while now, havent registered a nitrate since I got my sump and I do weekly water changes anyway. The only thing is low is calcium, I've gotta get some better calcium suppliment when I get to fosters and smith, but I'm assuming that wont effect an anemone since there are so hard parts at all...
 
Alright, took half hour to post that crap, had to copy/paste to a new window. Ill finish acclimating in a few minutes and try him in a spot i cleared out on the substrate where the ones at the LFS seemed to like. In the substrate with its base wedged under a rock. God i hope my clowns love this thing... that way they dont have to float vertically in the corner all night and wiggle in place. Ill get some pics in a bit when I get every thing situated.
 
Alight here are some pics, its not settled in yet, only partically attached and half floating around, but hopefully it settles in there. Here is its first photo shoot.
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It comes off in the pics as a more white color than it actually is. Its more of light a bright yellowish or green tint. It glows under the actinics.
 
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