tube anemones

mmm33732

Member
i've read mixed reviews about them. i love how they look but am concerned about them killing my fish. i've had a few condi's (pink tip) for a while with absolutely no problems, however i hear the tube anemones have a nasty sting in comparison. anyone have any experience with any tube anemones?
 

perfectdark

Active Member
I too have heard this.. I have one, a purple tube anenome. The plus side to having one is that they cannot move. The downside is yes they are more preditory than even a condy..IMO. Mine is a varacious eater and is quick to snatch up food when it floats by. All my fish are quite larger than it though so for the anenome to make a meal out of it IMO would be difficult. And the other bonus to them is... they are very low light anenomes. Well let me refrence that.. that is what I read, and so far it seems to be true. But I was cautioned about having one. One of my clowns floated a bit too close to it one time and it did not like being touched by one of its tenticles. Now everyone stays clear of it.
 

reefkprz

Active Member
Google search "tube anemone by ROBERT TOONEN, Ph.D." with out the quotes and read that article you'll be amazed.
 

perfectdark

Active Member
AWESOME ARTICLE.. a must read for anyone even remotley interested in aquiring one of these animals. In fact after reading this I am now considering getting another one as they are truley beautiful in color and movment. I stumbled upon mine about 2 weeks ago and think its one of the best additions to my tank. Thanks REEFKPRZ very informative article.
The mere fact that these things might even be considered as deterius eaters makes me want 10 of them LOL.
 

reefkprz

Active Member
your welcome, I was going to type out most of that info and decided it was far easier to let you read it and just point you in the right direction to find it.
glad I could help out.
 

debbie

Active Member
I had one and they are very pretty in color no question. However are they okay for all fish?????
I had 2 percs at the time and the tube anemone was in one corner and the percs were always in the other corner and would never swim to that side of the tube anemone. I am sure it stung them and that is why they would not go near it. When I removed it the same percs were very hesitant and it took them over a week to go to that side for fear of being stung. So I would never have one again in my tank but like I said it may not affect all fish and they should be in a nice big tank too as during the night the extend even more.
The most beautiful color is the dark purple one with the lime green center..
 

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by Debbie
I had one and they are very pretty in color no question. However are they okay for all fish?????
I had 2 percs at the time and the tube anemone was in one corner and the percs were always in the other corner and would never swim to that side of the tube anemone. I am sure it stung them and that is why they would not go near it. When I removed it the same percs were very hesitant and it took them over a week to go to that side for fear of being stung. So I would never have one again in my tank but like I said it may not affect all fish and they should be in a nice big tank too as during the night the extend even more.
The most beautiful color is the dark purple one with the lime green center..


REEFKPRZ posted that link and its a very very good read... but to shed a bit of light on your concern.. all anenomes should be considered fish eaters no matter what the species. Having said that the "tube anenome" aka cerianthids isnt really an anenome at all they have 3 very distinct differences and scientific tests have shown that the poision from their stings are the least toxic of all other species of anenomes. They are complelty non photosynthetic and are mainly nocturnal feeders. The article goes on for a bit but it is by far not boring and extremly interesting. The fact that your fish never approached it might just be that its not something they are used to seeing. It could be that simple. But the reputation they have aquired as fish eaters is based on no factual information as the article explains. However, the carpet anenome is more commonly known for eating fish than any other anenome out there and its a natural host for alot of fish.
 

anonome

Active Member
I love my purple with green center tube anenome. Deffinately a delight in watching it consume mysis. It completely inhales the shrimp.
As far as eating fish.....when I placed mine in the tank my fish and shrimp did exactly what they do for everything new....test it out. The fish did the blah, blah routine as if eating something nasty, have not touched it since. The fire and scarlets tested the tenticles and quickly backed up.
It has been in the tank for awhile now, and no fish, or shrimp are missing.
Beautiful specimen, and worth having. This pic is not the best, but still worth posting.
 

shrimpi

Active Member
heres mine.
Hes very cool, I give him little pieces of food when I spot feed other corals and he goes nuts.
A great addition with good sucess.
 

groupergenius

Active Member
Judging from shrimpi's pic, they must be fairly reef safe as well. My wife has seen these in the LFS And wanting one very badly.
 
W

weatherby

Guest
Not sure how much detail was covered in-thread (rather than the article referenced) but I own two tube anemones myself.
Here are some considerations:
1) Size: This one's kinda important as one of the ones I have is rather large with tentacles extending over 12" at times. The other one I have is smaller, maybe 6" or so at most, (tentacle length). I have found sources that claim these animals routinely reach gigantic sizes in the wild.
2) Sand bed: A pretty deep one is a must! I had both of mine in my 55g with only a half inch bed and they weren't anywhere near as happy as they are now with a good 3"+ to bury themselves in. They love to burro and if your bed and or location is sufficient they will hide completely out of sight at times.
3) Clownfish: While I had a pink skunk clown in the 55g with two of these, I have read numerous sources which suggested caution should be used as a clown might mistake a tube anemone for a host anemone or a coral to host in.
4) Don't touch: This one should be obvious but I've run into enough people, (some of which worked at chain pet stores), who didn't know enough to NOT TOUCH an anemone with their bare hands let alone a tube anemone which have FAR stronger venom. Also, to take this point another way: You're not going to likely want to touch it much anyway, these have GOT to be the most creepy creatures I've ever had the misfortune of picking up. While a feather duster is relatively small and its tube is parchment-like and rigid, the tube anemone is a rather large worm and its tube is just a 'thin' skin over the worm itself... When you touch it it WILL move and as with my larger one, you're talking about a worm that's a good two inches around... that's just .. *EWWWW!*
5) Aggressive?: Many sources I checked claimed that these animals are VERY aggressive etc... Well, take this as you will. They don't move very much from my experience, so anything that they'd attack would have to get very close and contact one of the tentacles, so, I guess they're no more aggressive than any other anemone. However, if you feed them regularly, with mysis or krill you shouldn't have any issues with them going after anything. One thing to note though is that if a fish DOES stray too close they WILL get stung, and I've seen two of my fish wind up sea star food because of them. One Look down swam right into it and my box fish, after getting sick, drifted into the other one. Neither one fish survived for long afterwards.

6) Prone to Cyano: If you get one and it keeps a portion of its tube above the sand bed, watch it for cyano growth. My large one looks like it's bleeding from time to time as cyano tends to start growing on the side of its tube. Just thought it worth mentioning.
Beyond these, I really can't think of anything you might need to know about them... They are VERY beautiful animals especially ones with the fluorescent colors. My large one is a rather bland light caramel color the other, though, is very pink. If I get our camera to work I'll see if I can get photos up of them! Hope this helps!
 

perfectdark

Active Member
Im not here to flame your post but my suggestion would be to read the article that reefkprZ posted. It debunks alot of myths about the tube anenome.
1st being that their sting is more potent than most other anenome.. this is not true and scientifically proven that their stings are one of the mildest in the "anenome" class..
2nd they are not anenomes they are Ceriantharia's and there are major physical attributes that distinguish them from anenomes. the article goes into great detail.
3rd and prob most important is all stinging tenticled animals anenomes or Ceriantharia should be considered potential "fish killers" A bubble tips probablility to capture and kill a fish is the same as a tube anenome. In fact the Stichodactyla or Cryptodendrum, are two of the most voracious and powerful anemones available in the hobby, being placed into a populated reef aquarium, they are natural hosts for a list of clown fish.
Jim Fatherree had an article entitled "Killer Carpet" at one point in which he chronicled roughly $300 worth of tankmates that his Stichodactyla haddoni consumed over the previous year.(and we buy these for our clownfish to host) There are no reports of a tube anenome doing that much damage at anytime.
 
W

weatherby

Guest
*EDIT* Sorry, just re-read my post and felt it a bit more inflammatory than I had intended it to be so felt it worth a re-write */EDIT*
Dark,
I'm well aware that tube anemones are not true anemones but ceranthids (sp?) which are a form of tube worm. I did not mean to imply or suggest that they were anything else in my post I was just trying to keep to easily identifiable names by refering to them as tube anemones and true anemones as 'other' anemones when in fact, you're correct in asserting that I should have differentiated ceranthids from true anemones...
On the part of the sting being quite mild... I suspect it's the same as with all things in this hobby: millage may vary. Where as the person you quote lost $100s to carpet and none to tube anemones, I've lost quite a bit in livestock to my tube anemones and none to my true anemones. My two ceranthids have killed a Japanese Swallowtail Angelfish, an atlantic box fish, and a look-down in one 'hit' of their tentacles, while my LTA has stung a puffer, and flame cardinal numerous times and they just dart away. So, I still hold that their sting is nasty and should be avoided, but then the same goes for ALL anemones it's just good practice and common sense.
 

perfectdark

Active Member
I agree...
My intial opionion of these guys, I deemed them as aggressive and IMO still believe they are as with any anenome. I was relieved to read that their stinging cells were not as strong as most other anenomes. But IMO that doesnt mean they wont make a meal of out an opportuntity.
 

mmm33732

Member
shrimpi- where did you get that guy? its absolutely stunning.
anyone with them ever notice and biolumin abilities? (lighting up or glowing)
 
Top