Help with my anemone
Anemone ID/Health     2/18/09
Dear Crew,
<Justin>
First and foremost what a wonderful site (thank you, thank you, thank you)!
There is tons of stuff here that has helped me in the past. Also thank you for taking the time to read this and help me with my problem.
<You're welcome.>
Let me start at the beginning, I have been wanting to put an anemone in one of my tanks for some time. I started with a 29g reef tank, and all the corals started to out grow it, so I needed an upgrade. Well fortune smiled upon me when I had found a 125g Marineland tank and stand for $500 brand new.
<Sounds good.>
I knew it wasn't drilled, but for the price tag I couldn't let it slip by.
Anyway, after many dollars and many months later it is starting to take shape. As always there is much more that I can do, but for now everything is happy and growing. Now to get to my problem.
This last Saturday my wife and I decided to go out for dinner for Valentine's Day. Well I happened to convinced her to head to a pet store near by, just to peruse the saltwater tanks to see if anything new and interesting had happened to pop in (living in Minnesota there are not to many places that one can acquire saltwater livestock, let alone have a vast selection). Well as I moved toward the end of the row, I happened to see this anemone (labeled Sebae...though I can not 100% say, because I am an anemone noob, and perhaps this particular one has suffered enough degradation that, for a novice like me, I couldn't attach a label to it with out help). It was all by itself in a tank with other inverts like snails and cleaner shrimp, only dimly lit by a full spectrum standard fluorescent light (yes I know, these people have no idea what they are doing, and I promptly gave them a crash course in proper anemone care...well as much as I have learned thus far: proper tank stability and water quality, lighting, water flow, etc. Though I feel it has fallen on deaf ears...because what do I know? I don't have my own fish store...some people's mentality). I know I should have probably avoided this particular sale, as I am new to the anemone trade, but in good conscience I could not leave it there to die in those miserable conditions. So I decided to take it home and try to make it as happy as I could in my 125g.
Before my decision to purchase, I did notice there was still purple pigment in the tips of the tentacles, so I figured there might be a chance for this lil guy, albeit slim. I was the one who actually removed it from the tank in the store, and I noticed right away it had a very strong grip to the bottom of the tank. This led to a rather lengthy extraction process, as I didn't want to tear any of the tissue and make things worse. I thought perhaps that there might be more hope in this case, as most animals (as I am not an expert by any means) become very weak if they are about to die or are in the process of dying. As an anemone tends to disintegrate, I figured a strong foot is a good thing to start with.
<A good sign, yes.>
After a long acclimation period (about 3 hrs) I let him float to the bottom and see what happened. Immediately he started to cruise around the rocks and substrate, looking, for what I imagine, would be a perfect perch. After he attached to a piece of live rock at the bottom of the tank, I tried to target feed him mysis shrimp (though I figured it would not be possible due to his previous conditions and just being introduced to a new system, stress and all that, but I though I would try) and of course he didn't take anything. I gave him a couple days to rest and make a new home before I tried to feed him, and see if he still had the amount of strength he had in the store. I was pleasantly surprised, he was quite fastened to the rock. I also noticed he was rather quick to react to my movements near him, snapping closed when I touched or got too close, much more so than in the store, which I also took as a good sign. Now he is readily eating when I target feed, so I am taking that as a good sign as well.
<Yes.>
I have also noticed at night under the lunar lights he will fully expand giving him a rough circumference of 5", and during the day, it's more like 3" (4x 39w T5 lighting). Could this be a response to feeding and that perhaps he was eating some of the inverts in the tank, and they tend to move more at night?
<Once they find a spot to their liking, they will usually stay put unless something changes in the system.>
If so I guess I will have to train him to feed during the day, much like my brain coral, so I can enjoy seeing him fully expanded when I am actually awake.
Any way, on to my most pressing questions:
1. Is this really a Sebae? The tentacles look a bit off from what I have seen in a Sebae bleached or not. From what I have seen, they are very similar to torch coral tentacles, though I am thinking perhaps it could be a Sebae, and he is just deflated due to his poor health at the moment.
Either way it would be nice to have a positive ID.
<Sure looks like a Sebae (Heteractis malu) to me.)
<<?! Is a Sebae, H. crispa... Badly bleached... RMF>>
2. Given the attached images* and what I have observed so far (in the 4 days I have had him) do you think he has a chance of survival, or should I cut my losses now (which I would hate to do, but who am I to question the gurus)?
<Your lighting is not intense enough for keeping a Sebae.>
3. Is there anything else I can do I am missing? I plan on picking up some Selcon as I am going to start giving more vitamin enriched food to my live stock anyway, since I will soon be making my own food using Robert Fenner's formula from his book: The Conscientious Marine Aquarist.
For the time being I am just going to leave him to his own vices, and continue to target feed every other day, unless you think it might be overkill, or unhealthy.
<Justin, these anemones are difficult to keep for any length of time, even under ideal conditions. This animal will die in your tank and will cause problems if gone unnoticed. Do read here and related articles/FAQ's.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemones.htm>
Sorry for this being long winded, I just wanted to give you as many details as I can in the hopes it would help. I didn't want to make this a "What is wrong with my anemone? Pic included" mail where there no details, just a question.
Thanks all!
<You're welcome. James (Salty Dog)>
Justin
*Anemone 1.jpg is the full anemone, trying to capture the look of the tentacles. Anemone 2.jpg you can see how translucent he really is, since you can almost see the rock behind him.

Re: Help With My Anemone, ID f', now sys.  2/19/09
James,
Thanks for the information, and the reply.
<You're welcome, and I wish you would have replied with the original thread. We answer several queries daily and it can be difficult to remember who's who and who's what.>
I had one really quick question - no need to post on the site...unless of course that is the protocol you follow =).
<Usually.>
So even with individually reflected T5 lighting, using an Icecap 660 ballast, and the Sebae situated right about 7" or so from the surface (he moved), am I still under powered with lighting?
<They do require a high lighting level, and by high, I'm talking halides in the 250-400 watt range.>
I guess I should have went into more detail on my lighting, sorry about that, I had just gotten home from a 12hr
shift, and forgot to add those details.
<You should have did that before you bought the anemone. Your anemone is badly bleached and very likely won't be around for long.>
As I don't have a PAR meter, I can't give out any numbers, but I was only thinking that in this situation, I may not need MH/HQI. If I am still under I apologize, I guess I will admit my wrong doing, and make sure to not over estimate my hardware again.
<Mmm, is always better to put the horse in front of the cart.>
Thank you =)
On a side note, is it normal for them to avoid flow? He seems to be positioning himself in a more stagnant part of the tank, which I found odd, from what I have been reading.
<They prefer moderate water flow.>
Thanks again!!
<You're welcome. James (Salty Dog)>
Justin

Daily Questions, Anem./Scler. ID  – 02/14/09
Dear Crew,
I was reading the daily questions today and wanted to offer my thoughts on one of the ID requests. In "Anemone identification 2/14/09", Bob suggested that the creature in the picture was a glass anemone. I don't think so--I
think it's a non-photosynthetic stony coral that comes on a lot of live rock, like the one featured at the top of this page:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/stonycoridfaq.htm
Andy
<Thank you for your input Andy. Will accrue. BobF>