Anemone ID/Question -Heteractis aurora 01/21/09
Hi, and thank you in advance for your help. I recently purchased a Flower Anemone from my LFS. It looks very different than any other one I have ever seen.
<Probably because it's not a flower anemone. It looks like an unhappy "Beaded Anemone" (Heteractis aurora).>
I attached a picture (It's the one closest to the front). I'm not sure if you can see that it has purple tips in the pic. Is this a different kind of anemone?
<Yes... with different care requirements. They need to be kept on a DSB, with a lot of space to spread out. Please read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/beadanemfaqs.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemones.htm>
Also, unrelated, but I also have a Bulb Tip Anemone that is badly bleached (almost pure white). It hasn't moved in months. It eats and looks very well, I feed it 1/4" pieces of krill a few times per week which it chows down, for the most part the tentacles still have the bulb tips most of the time. It moved under an overhang without sufficient light months ago and has just stayed there.
<It's obviously unhappy.>
Would it be beneficial if I moved the rock around so it isn't so shaded?
Will it eventually regain it's color if I do that, or will it be fine the way it is? Thanks again!!
<Maybe... I need more info re your tank/system.>
Brian
<Best,
Sara M.>

Anemone?    1/17/09
While glancing in my tank the other day, I noticed this specimen. We have just recovered from an aiptasia infestation. Please tell me this is not something bad as well.
<Mmm, not "bad" per se... at least not potentially as bad as Aiptasia>
If so, what do we do to get rid of it. We used peppermint shrimp for the previous problem.
Thanks for your insight,
Bellinda B.
<Appears to be an Anemonia cf. majano... Please read here re:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/anemoniafaqs.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Please help ID anemone 01/12/09
Hello!
Let me first start by saying that this is a great site and what you guys do is absolutely wonderful!
<Well, thank you.>
My husband and I have been keeping a saltwater reef for a few years - though we recently had to do a new setup. We left for vacation during last winter and apparently, the water heater failed, and before our tank-sitter showed up in a day, everyone
passed away.
<I'm sorry for your loss.>
So now we're back up and running for almost a year now and we recently added our first anemone. We've had experience with keeping Rose BTAs and LTAs. Our Rose BTAs would divide, relocate, grow and divide again. This made our two LTAs shrink, shrivel, and disappear into the filter system.?
Alas, that's all gone now. What we have now is a problem identifying our new anemone.? The LFS had it labeled as an LTA for $19. My husband was 100% sure that it wasn't an LTA (as this is his hobby) and bought it thinking it a steal.
<I do agree with your husband, that this is not a LTA.>
So I've Googled and researched and have come up with conflicting photos and captions.? We've narrowed it down to one of three possibilities in order of most likely: H. malu, H. aurora, H. magnifica ... at some point we even considered H. crispa.
<I'm going to put my vote in for Heteractis crispa (i.e. a "Sebae" anemone).>
We have a lone Maroon clownfish, less than 2" in length, who is minisculed next to this anemone - but refuses to go near it. We hope someday in the future, he may change his mind -- he's been in the main tank only 3 days now.
<If possible/easy... try putting the two in a bucket together for an hour or so (maybe with an airstone).>
I've attached three photos, if you could help us, that would be much appreciated!
<Thanks, again, I'm going to say it's a H. crispa.>
Thank you.
Sam
<De nada,
Sara M.>

Anemone cluster identification  1/1/09
Hi crew,
<Michael>
WWM is an awesome website. I've had a 120 gallon SW tank with ~175lbs live rock, peaceful fish, some invert cleaners, a few corals for almost 3 years now. The information on your website has helped me through many trials and tribulations. The scariest event was a plague of BGA that spread like wildfire in my tank, covered almost everything, starved my algae blenny...then rapidly lifted after I vacuumed a half inch of detritus that collected in my sump over a 1 year period! It was an amazing feeling to see it all disappear! If I tried vacuuming the BGA, it just reappeared within a day.
<Ahh!>
I finally write to you now for the first time with an attached picture (sorry if the pic is of poor quality). Can you help me identify this cluster of what looks like tiny anemones.
<Mmm, yes, I think so>
They are very small, somewhat brownish in color. All of my live rock were purchased through liveaquaria.com, except for this piece, which I bought at a local pet store
(maybe 1.5 years ago). One day, I noticed a few of this cute little guys, then they've slowly reproduced over the last year. I'm curious if they're considered a pest and could eventually cover the whole piece of rock. I could remove the rock and chisel them off. :)
<Do so carefully, outside the system... they're quite toxic... to you, your livestock>
As far as invert cleaners, I have assorted hermit crabs, snails, a pistol shrimp and serpent sea star. All of my emerald crabs and peppermint shrimps seem to have perished. I plan to get more. My setup has an outer orbit light fixture with 2-130W CF's and 2-150W MH's, moonlights. I have more live rock rubble in the sump.
Any ideas on the cluster? Thanks again for maintaining such a resourceful website!!!
Michael
<You're welcome. This appears to be a group of Zoanthids... Please see the chart here re discerning various Cnidarian groups:
http://wetwebmedia.com/zoanthid.htm
and the linked file re Zoanthid Compatibility above. Cheers, Bob Fenner>