Anemone - not attaching in new tank

Hey,
I just bought a long tantacled anemone ( macrodactyla doreensis ). After spending about 2 hours in its new home, it still has not attached to anything. So I am wondering why?
When the anemone was at the store I checked to make sure of the following:
Was attached to something
Had a mouth that was tightly closed
Reacted in some way when touched
So based on the three test above I determined that the anemone was healthy.
Should I have the lights on or off while it attaches?
Does anyone know if this type of anemone likes fast current/slow current/ or no current?
Is there anything that I can do to help this little guy attach?
Thanks,
Tor
 

killafins

Active Member
each anenome needs it's time to adjust to the new settings, they are very hard creatures to keep. The best thing i can recommend is patience...
 
waterfaller1,
water temp 78 degrees
salinity 1.0235
ammonia 0.5 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm
ph 8.2
lighting 2 florescent tubes (i cant find the wattage on any of them)
tank size 55 gal
other aminals in tank - 2 clown fish and 1 blenny scooter (all seem to be doing fine)
acclimation consisted of: put sealed LSF bag into my tank and let it float around for 15 minutes, opened bag and added 25% volume of the bag with water from my tank, sealed bag back up and let the bag float around for 15 more minutes, then opened bag, drained all water out of bag and poured anemone into new tank.
lighting in the store - 1 florescent tube, 1 marine lighting tube
foot of anemone was attached to the gravel floor of the tank (i don't think the anemone was injured when it was removed from the gravel at the store, when i look at its foot there doesnt appear to be any injury).
I probably just need to be patient for the little fella to calm down, relax and attach. Aside from my own situation here, I was curious as to whether there are certain rules that one could go by to help the anemone become comfortable in the new tank. It sounds like you are alluding to the following: match the anemone's new environment to its old environment. From my above description the one difference in lighting is that the LFS had a marine bulb, while I don't. Do you think this could be causing the anemone some stress (I plan on getting a marine bulb but the LSF didnt have any in stock).
Now that it is 5 hours since it was introduced to its new tank, my anemone seems to be at least partially attaching its foot to the gravel. I had thought it would attach to something more stable (like one of the many rocks in the tank) but it seems to be choosing the gravel. Maybe its just used to attaching to gravel?
Thanks,
Tor
 

j-cal

Member
My LTA was under 130 watts PC on a 55 for a while before I upgraded the lighting and did (and still is knowck on wood) doign quite well. Without at least that minimal lighting tho it will slowly perish. What color is it? If it isnt colored then you will have a harder way to go.
 
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