Bleached Sebae Anemone – 3/10/07
<Brenda here to help.>
Reading all the info you have provided.  Thanks.
<You’re welcome.>
I see that "regular feedings" of a "meaty" substance is crucial for an unhealthy, bleached Sebae.  How often is regular?
<Regular feedings are always crucial for this anemone.  Since yours in bleached I would feed every two days to start with.  If the anemone recovers you can feed twice a week.>
And how much of what do you recommend?
<Try feeding silversides soaked in Selcon.  Portions should be smaller than its mouth.  Gently drop the food near its mouth.  If it is regurgitating the food, try an even smaller piece.>
We have a completely bleached Sebae that is not looking too good.
<I can imagine.  Was it bleached when you purchased it?  If not, you need to figure out what caused it to bleach.  It could possibly be caused from lack of lighting or poor water quality.>
We are very new to this hobby and unfortunately were told this was a "fairly easy" anemone to have.
<This anemone is considered difficult to keep.  You have been misinformed. Your tank needs to be well established to keep this anemone, six months minimum, a year preferable.>
We have had it for several weeks, feeding it Cyclop-eeze 1-2x/wk.  
<Cyclop-eeze alone is not adequate.  I personally do not use it for anemones.  I would stick to the silversides for now.  Then you can move on to other meaty foods such as krill, Mysis shrimp, or raw shrimp, keeping silversides as the primary food.>  
It hasn't attached to anything yet.  It seems to be trying to attach to the front glass (which is really not where we want it.
<Anemones will go where they are most comfortable.  I recommend leaving it alone at this point.>
We have a 65 gal. tank by the way.  It changes size almost daily, getting smaller for the most part.
<That doesn’t sound good.  Keep your water parameters perfect.>
It shrivels a lot and at one point completely closed up with no tentacles showing but reopened later in the day.  Please just give as best you can some specific care instructions to try and save our first attempt at anemones.
<What type of lighting do you have?  Metal halide lighting is best.>
A little more info - we also have a blenny, goby, percula clown (that has no interest in the anemone), and a bright red shrimp.  Along with a star polyp and daisy polyp.  Some small snails and 1 large snail.  We keep temp. around 79 degrees and water quality is good.  We add purple up daily and a calcium supplement, flakes for the fish.  
<I would stop using the purple up.  Many have experienced problems using it.  Make sure your salinity is at 1.026, and target a pH of 8.2.  Also make sure you are testing calcium and alkalinity before dosing.  Please be sure you research all of your livestock before purchase.>
Signed, drowning in tank info.
<Good luck with your anemone!  Brenda>

Sebae Anemone Follow-up
Thank you for the quick response to my email,
<No Problem>
but I still don't understand the reaction of the anemone when I give it the couple drops of target food. 
<Well It changes color or its reactions when it is stimulated by something on its tentacles.> 
I will not feed the phytoplankton anymore and resume the silversides. Do I still give the drops of Invertebrate Target Food?
<I would not unless you notice a difference without it. that target food is probably too small to really feed the anemone. I'd just stick to the silversides and lots of light.>
Thanks
Mike
<Justin (Jager)> 

Sebae Anemone won't eat 1/30/05
Morning, I've read here that when fed finely diced ocean meats anemone will sting and gather it into his mouth. My sebae won't. It will wrap around it but let's it go.
<no worries... just experiment with different sized meats (finer or more coarse) and different varieties. Also try some Cyclop-eeze. Cnidarians like your anemone are often very picky about exact prey and particle sizes and textures/types>
We also made the ignorant mistake of getting a yellow one (I know now).
<this is common my friend. I understand>
It has regained some brown.
<ooh, very good to read!>
This morning it was upside down after staying in one place for a week. It is the only anemone in the tank with some polyps and a coral beauty.70 lbs live rock and sand with lots of copepods.
<the latter will help this anemones indeed>
Nitrates are coming down as I slowly remove bio balls, other parameters are OK.
<all good... and no worries about a small amount of nitrates - this will feed the anemone a little bit>
It now is about 12 inches from the light which is 335 watts PC.  Is there anyway to help add beneficial zooxanthellae algae?
<persistence here mostly. And feeding at the same time every day is quite helpful for getting the creature into a feeding rhythm>
Any other care tips?
<adding a bit (a teaspoon) of thawed frozen pack juice (or tuna juice) to the water 15-30 minutes before feeding meats may help stimulate a better feeding response>
Thank you , this is a great help esp. to us rookies.
<it is our purpose for being here my friend. Kudos to you for your efforts to save this anemone. Best of luck! Anthony>