tube anenome
- Thread starter dicemanj
- Start date
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thomas712
Guest
Sure here is part of a Rob Toonan article:
First, they are called tube anemones for a reason - they should have a well-developed tube when you purchase them (essentially it looks like fiberglass because it is woven of the threads of special stinging cells as explained above). They can rebuild their tube, but it is stressful and energetically costly, and you can be assured that they will be stressed enough when being moved to a new tank and forced to develop a new burrow, so it is always advisable to aim for one with a good tube to start with. Animals that lack a tube when you buy them have lost it for a reason. As I explained above, these animals cannot retract into a protective ball like true anemones can, and therefore the tube is the only source of protection that they have. Given that, they do not leave their tubes willingly, and an animal without a tube is a good indication that is has been seriously mistreated somewhere during collection and/or transport.
Second, these animals live with their tubes buried deeply in fine sands and muds. If you have a bare-bottom tank, or one with either a thin bed or coarse (rice-grain size or greater) gravel, these animals will not be able to find a spot that suits them and will most likely perish in short order in your aquarium. In the wild, the burrows of large animals can extend a couple of meters, so a sandbed that is only a couple of inches deep is just not going to cut it for these animals. In cases where I am worried about the depth of the sandbed for a tube anemone, I make an artificial burrow for them. Simply cut a section of PVC pipe into which you can stick the animal's tube and fill the pipe around the tube with sand. If your tank is anything like mine, the PVC is completely covered in coralline algae in no time, and won't be an eye-sore within a month or so. If you're really worried about the look of the PVC pipe in your tank, you can pre-coat it by sticking a section of PVC into the back of your tank until it is covered before adding the animal to your aquarium. Regardless of how you choose to do it, the animal will be much happier in the pipe and will probably survive longer than if you try to lay it somewhere inappropriate in your tank. I usually use a tube that is at least as long as the tube anemone itself, preferably closer to 1.5 times as long and as wide as the animal. I then hot-glue a solid base to the bottom of the pipe (a plastic yogurt or coffee lid works pretty well); this will prevent the sand from pouring out around the animal if the tube is disturbed. The animal (still within its tube, of course) is then slid into the pipe until about 4/5 of the body length is within the PVC. Carefully pour sugar-fine or smaller sand (preferably from an established aquarium) around the animal to support the tube until the PVC pipe is filled to the top. At that point, the animal will be securely housed within a deep sand burrow, and you can place the PVC pipe into the exact spot that you want the tube anemone displayed. Another major consideration is that some species can expand to form a 30cm-or-so sphere of feeding tentacles from the end of the tube (obviously a large portion of a small tank could be covered by the reach of 1ft long tentacles!). Even if your animal is small now, it will hopefully grow, and you need to have the space available to allow it to expand safely (both for the tube anemone and its tank-mates), so you'll want to make sure it is at least a couple inches away from pump intakes and the like when fully expanded.
The third bit of information that you need is that the vast majority of these species are nocturnal - that means that you will likely only see the animal occasionally during the day. Fortunately some individuals do appear periodically during the day or lose their nocturnal habit in captivity, but you shouldn't expect to see a new tube anemone very often during the day. If they are happy and healthy, they should be primarily coming out to feed after the lights are out. That means that you have to put in an extra effort to check on them during the evenings and make sure that they are fed at this time as well. This can be rewarding in some cases because many of these animals are capable of bioluminescence and can light up if disturbed at night. Finally, because they are nocturnal, they are obviously not photosynthetic, so they do not care about the lighting in your tank. Given that, they will also prefer an area that is shaded from direct light and they do not tend to thrive in areas of intense flow.
Without any symbionts, these animals obviously need to be fed regularly to survive. As I mentioned above, all available evidence suggests that the tube anemones found in the hobby probably feed on small zooplankton and organic detritus. If you have a well-developed deep sandbed with lots of critters and/or a refugium design for your tank (especially if you develop a good culture of amphipods, copepods and mysids) they should do fine with this constant food source. Periodic additions (say twice a week or so) of krill, frozen or live brine shrimp or chopped fish or shrimp just to make sure that the animal is well fed will ensure your animal stays healthy. However, if you don't have a dense population of various 'pods in your tank to provide a nocturnal food source for your tube anemone, then you're going to need to feed it well if you expect it to survive. Given the way that these animals eat in the wild, frequent small feedings are definitely preferable to occasional large ones. If you lack a dense plankton population in your tank, or if the animal is first becoming established in the tank, krill soaked in Selcon should be offered nightly to keep the animal healthy. However, feeding turns out to be easier said than done for many animals because when their tentacles are touched by anything large, they immediately pull back into their tube. That makes it pretty hard to drop a piece of shrimp or fish on them, so make sure that the portions you offer are small and frequent. Although it may take a serious effort on your part to ensure that they are well-fed and healthy, by floating a few enriched brine shrimp or soaked krill into the tentacles each night, the animal should thrive.
In conclusion these animals can be a very attractive and interesting addition to a tank if their requirements are properly met. I see occasional discussions about these unusual animals, and often the information is inaccurate, so I wanted to give a little more detail about the group and try to explain why some of the widely-available information on tube anemones (even that in some of most popular and well-respected aquarium texts) is simply misguided...
First, they are called tube anemones for a reason - they should have a well-developed tube when you purchase them (essentially it looks like fiberglass because it is woven of the threads of special stinging cells as explained above). They can rebuild their tube, but it is stressful and energetically costly, and you can be assured that they will be stressed enough when being moved to a new tank and forced to develop a new burrow, so it is always advisable to aim for one with a good tube to start with. Animals that lack a tube when you buy them have lost it for a reason. As I explained above, these animals cannot retract into a protective ball like true anemones can, and therefore the tube is the only source of protection that they have. Given that, they do not leave their tubes willingly, and an animal without a tube is a good indication that is has been seriously mistreated somewhere during collection and/or transport.
Second, these animals live with their tubes buried deeply in fine sands and muds. If you have a bare-bottom tank, or one with either a thin bed or coarse (rice-grain size or greater) gravel, these animals will not be able to find a spot that suits them and will most likely perish in short order in your aquarium. In the wild, the burrows of large animals can extend a couple of meters, so a sandbed that is only a couple of inches deep is just not going to cut it for these animals. In cases where I am worried about the depth of the sandbed for a tube anemone, I make an artificial burrow for them. Simply cut a section of PVC pipe into which you can stick the animal's tube and fill the pipe around the tube with sand. If your tank is anything like mine, the PVC is completely covered in coralline algae in no time, and won't be an eye-sore within a month or so. If you're really worried about the look of the PVC pipe in your tank, you can pre-coat it by sticking a section of PVC into the back of your tank until it is covered before adding the animal to your aquarium. Regardless of how you choose to do it, the animal will be much happier in the pipe and will probably survive longer than if you try to lay it somewhere inappropriate in your tank. I usually use a tube that is at least as long as the tube anemone itself, preferably closer to 1.5 times as long and as wide as the animal. I then hot-glue a solid base to the bottom of the pipe (a plastic yogurt or coffee lid works pretty well); this will prevent the sand from pouring out around the animal if the tube is disturbed. The animal (still within its tube, of course) is then slid into the pipe until about 4/5 of the body length is within the PVC. Carefully pour sugar-fine or smaller sand (preferably from an established aquarium) around the animal to support the tube until the PVC pipe is filled to the top. At that point, the animal will be securely housed within a deep sand burrow, and you can place the PVC pipe into the exact spot that you want the tube anemone displayed. Another major consideration is that some species can expand to form a 30cm-or-so sphere of feeding tentacles from the end of the tube (obviously a large portion of a small tank could be covered by the reach of 1ft long tentacles!). Even if your animal is small now, it will hopefully grow, and you need to have the space available to allow it to expand safely (both for the tube anemone and its tank-mates), so you'll want to make sure it is at least a couple inches away from pump intakes and the like when fully expanded.
The third bit of information that you need is that the vast majority of these species are nocturnal - that means that you will likely only see the animal occasionally during the day. Fortunately some individuals do appear periodically during the day or lose their nocturnal habit in captivity, but you shouldn't expect to see a new tube anemone very often during the day. If they are happy and healthy, they should be primarily coming out to feed after the lights are out. That means that you have to put in an extra effort to check on them during the evenings and make sure that they are fed at this time as well. This can be rewarding in some cases because many of these animals are capable of bioluminescence and can light up if disturbed at night. Finally, because they are nocturnal, they are obviously not photosynthetic, so they do not care about the lighting in your tank. Given that, they will also prefer an area that is shaded from direct light and they do not tend to thrive in areas of intense flow.
Without any symbionts, these animals obviously need to be fed regularly to survive. As I mentioned above, all available evidence suggests that the tube anemones found in the hobby probably feed on small zooplankton and organic detritus. If you have a well-developed deep sandbed with lots of critters and/or a refugium design for your tank (especially if you develop a good culture of amphipods, copepods and mysids) they should do fine with this constant food source. Periodic additions (say twice a week or so) of krill, frozen or live brine shrimp or chopped fish or shrimp just to make sure that the animal is well fed will ensure your animal stays healthy. However, if you don't have a dense population of various 'pods in your tank to provide a nocturnal food source for your tube anemone, then you're going to need to feed it well if you expect it to survive. Given the way that these animals eat in the wild, frequent small feedings are definitely preferable to occasional large ones. If you lack a dense plankton population in your tank, or if the animal is first becoming established in the tank, krill soaked in Selcon should be offered nightly to keep the animal healthy. However, feeding turns out to be easier said than done for many animals because when their tentacles are touched by anything large, they immediately pull back into their tube. That makes it pretty hard to drop a piece of shrimp or fish on them, so make sure that the portions you offer are small and frequent. Although it may take a serious effort on your part to ensure that they are well-fed and healthy, by floating a few enriched brine shrimp or soaked krill into the tentacles each night, the animal should thrive.
In conclusion these animals can be a very attractive and interesting addition to a tank if their requirements are properly met. I see occasional discussions about these unusual animals, and often the information is inaccurate, so I wanted to give a little more detail about the group and try to explain why some of the widely-available information on tube anemones (even that in some of most popular and well-respected aquarium texts) is simply misguided...
stuckinfla
Active Member
Are they truly nocturnal? Mine is out all day, and away at night. I wish I had read the PCV part earlier, for mine has "glued" himself to the glass under the sand. I do feed him chopped squid, shrimp clams & scallops, he luvs it.