Exactly where do bubble tip anemone like to perch?

[lmforbis]

I had a Stichodactyla haddoni in my tank years ago. Its mouth was kind of pinkish and big. It was beautiful, especially under actinic lighting, and grew very fast even though I only had 2 36" VHO bulbs over my tank. I did feed it frequently as did my clarkii clown. Within a year it grew from maybe 4 inches to close to a foot across and ate most of the other things in my tank except my clarkii. I ended up removing it. If I had a bigger tank it probably would have been fine. I think it just took up so much space it was hard for the other inhabitants to move around without coming in contact with it.

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

This one is already about 7" or so across. The closest mushrooms are about 6" away on both sides, higher up on my live rock. I should be good for at least a few months ya think?

 

[bang guy]

The mouth should not be wide open. It's called gaping and is a sign of severe stress. Hopefully it's just from being moved.

If it will eat then feed it but if it's not sticky don't try to force feed it. It will be really sticky if it's hungry.

These anemone are very dangerous to fish. Is it in a species tank or a community tank?

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

It's in a community tank, as my LFS knew. They led me to this. Once again they're screwing with me. Here's the video. It's right in the middle of the tank. Should I remove it?

 

[bang guy]

They are stunningly beautiful and can do very very well in a tank like yours. I know quite a few people that have had great success with this animal but all of them report their Carpet having the occasional expensive meal.

I've never had the fortitude to try one so all I have are third person comments.

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

Yikes, sounds like I've got a decision to make. Thanks for the input. btw, I'm uploading another shorter video and will post the link here. This one is clearer. The reason I'm posting it is at the 1:30 mark is up close video of my blue face. I overly sharpened a bit so you can see the detail. In your opinion do you think he'll heal completely? He eats like a pig and is in otherwise good health. I've had Angels with that white cauliflower stuff on them before and it went away and I know the fins should heal good as new. Or does he look like he might need some medication or a fresh water dip? I'm only asking your opinion, I won't be contacting my lawyer if your advice proves fatal

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

Here's the shorter video:

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

Well, my bubble tip disappeared again. Two days hiding inside a cave. I can understand them wanting to be where the ideal light and water flow is, but inside a cave? With not much of either?

 

[geridoc]

They are definitely carnivores. This is a photo of my RBTA consuming some extra meat in the form of a peppermint shrimp who got too close.

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

Talk about coincidence. I literally just came upstairs to my computer to come to this thread and ask another anemone question. How weird!

Well, my bubble tip has permanently placed himself at the back of the tank between the upflow and a rock. If that isn't hard enough to access, my green carpet is on the other side of the upflow, behind my rock work, and under an overhang. Impossible to reach. And I'd just concocted something to lower chunks of food down to them. Very aggravating. Every time I see him he's further and further out of reach. So, two questions.

Will he eventually make himself more accessible once he realizes he's not getting any food where he is?

Can a bubble tip and green carpet survive just from the scraps of mysis shrimp that floats their way?

 

[bang guy]

They will probably do fine with just scraps. You can tell over time as they are one of the animals that actually start to shrink in size if they don't get enough food.

I didn't want to mention it before because I didn't want you to further stress your Anemone. If you feel like they are in good health and you want them to move try pointing a powerhead in their direction.

Caution though, they tend to destroy animals that are in their way. I'm not sure what you have in terms of corals at the moment. If the two Anemone come in contact I'm not sure what will happen. I have a suspicion that the Carpet may eat the Bubble Tip.

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

Thanks for the info! Yeah, I heard about the powerhead trick but I also heard it sometimes doesn't work at all (thank you very much, Mr. Saltwatertank!) As for corals I only have mushrooms. Remember I have Angels so no "real" corals for me. It's hard to tell if the carpet is shrinking because he's all smooshed up and surrounded himself with rocks.

I was able to lower a chunk of shrimp the other day before he further receded, he took it off my feedin' stick, and I thought he was set, but about 20 minutes later I see my blue face chomping on the shrimp. I figure if the carpet hadn't devoured it in 15 minutes then he must not be hungry. I just hope he doesn't die because my tank is finally running smoothly. It won't eat my bubble tip, there's no way for either one to get at each other.

 

[pegasus]

I don't put much stock in the powerhead theory, either. My anemone is literally inches away from a 1200 GPH Sicce Voyager, and it blows the crap out of it. Not constantly, as it's on a wavemaker, but it tends to fold it in half quite a bit... and it loves it!

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

Mine did the opposite. I have two powerheads that were positioned to create sort of a pleasant vortex effect, a circular flow around the tank. When I changed the position of one so that they crashed into each other in the front middle of the tank, then flowed back towards the anemone, that's when it moved and tucked itself as far away from water flow as it can get.

 

[pegasus]

Mine did the opposite. I have two powerheads that were positioned to create sort of a pleasant vortex effect, a circular flow around the tank. When I changed the position of one so that they crashed into each other in the front middle of the tank, then flowed back towards the anemone, that's when it moved and tucked itself as far away from water flow as it can get.

Hmm... if that's the case, I'd definitely try aiming them towards the nem to get it to move. I guess I have a mentally challenged nem...

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

Both of mine are starting to scare me. They look like they WANT to die. They make no effort to get to the food. The bubble tip is in full deflation mode right now, but then he'll be fully inflated an hour from now. I know that's standard operating procedure, but if there's such a thing as shy anemone's, these two take the cake.

Aside from that, my tank is finally in the zone. I don't want to upset the fish (they're VERY easily upset) just to move two anemones that will probably end up back in the same spots in a day or two.

Maybe when I get really bored I'll give it a shot. Hey, peg, you mentioned that you do infrequent water changes, and only then to replace trace elements. Do you not have faith in bottled trace elements? If not, why not?

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

OK I don't know if I'm going to get a quick answer here, but my bubble tip appears dead. If it's at least attached to something is it still alive? I've poked at it and it doesn't react in any way.

 

[Kristin1234]

My bubble tip hasn't moved since day one. I guess I got lucky, cause he's right smack dap in the middle of the tank.

He catches mysis when I feed the tank but I also give him one small krill every week.

He seems happy so I'm happy!

 

[Kristin1234]

I think when they die they look like give gooey buggers. They start sliming. Is he sliming?

 

[bang guy]

OK I don't know if I'm going to get a quick answer here, but my bubble tip appears dead. If it's at least attached to something is it still alive? I've poked at it and it doesn't react in any way.

As they die their mouth gets slack (gaping) and they begin to dissolve fairly fast.