HeLP!! Anemone anarchy!

[jferrier]

Ok. Yesterday I witnessed the aftermath of the most bizarre event yet in my little saltwater world. I have (had?) a buble tip
for almost a year now that has always done really well. I recently moved him to my 58 gallon and he found a suitable spot right away and had been there for almost 2 weeks. Well Wednesday before I left town for thanksgiving I bought a xenia and an unknown anemone. It was light fluourescent green/white w/ a light orange base. I was told it was a bubble tip w/ just a different color variety. It tentacles were too short and thin to be a condy. Well Friday when I went home the new anemone had moved a few inches down from where I had placed him and I could not find my original bubble. I finally found him clear on the other side of the tank next to the new one. The new one looked fine but my original looked awful. He was attached but hanging limp and semiclosed w / 4 tentacles sticking out. After looking more closely I began to find little pieces of him all over the tank. (Shriveled tentacles and fleshy pieces)
Anyhow I'm totally stumped at what could have happened. Nothing other than the xenia and anemone could have possibly been accidentally introduced. Anyone else seen this? Any ideas?

 

[rsd]

Anenomies can actually "go to war". They fill up sacs of nematocists and kind of sway back and forth trading blows. The dominate one always wins. He with the most violent nematocists win. I'd seperate them some how or invite over friends and start a betting pool. I'v seen 2 anenomies "fight" on tv but never in person and honestly I'd actually love to see it actually play out. I'm not sure if the loser dies or just relocates himself to another part of the tank. You might want to double check the ID's on these things.... could be an alqueda anenomie sent to cause terror in your tank.

 

[entice59]

a secert spy maybe? thats so cool! i never knew that they can be so aggressive to something they cant even see. can you take any pics?

 

[jferrier]

Well theres not much to take pics of. Both are shriveled up and about 1/4 their original size. I don't know why they would fight. I see tanks full of anemones in the store all the time and they never do damage like this to each other. I just wonder if the new guy had anemone hiv or some funky disease?
My poor clown doesn't know where the hell to go! The damn lfs store person tried to tell me it could have been salinity (if I poured the bag in which I didn't) or phosphates! I think Al qaeda
anemone was a better guess.

 

[jjboods]

The second sounds like a carpet. All anemone should be at least a foot apart...18 inches would be better.

 

[jferrier]

Well after talking to a knowledgeable person at the lfs I think maybe war was the answer. Thanks folks. I had them more than 3' ft apart but I guess the first guy didn't want another contender for his clown. The second was a long tentacle and I'm going to trade him back for a bubble and see how that works out. The lfs lady told me that as long as the base was ok that even w/ losing all those tentacles there was a 99% chance it would make a comeback. Lets hope so.