Allelopathy amongst Gigantea carpets?

[Seancj]

You lucky guys that have multiple giganteas in the same tank ever noticed any signs of allelopathy? Some getting larger while others get smaller regardless of how stable water parameters and how perfect the conditions?
Just curious.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Oh this could be good to know info since I want to make a 75 gal nem tank!!!

 

[OrionN]

They always competing for light but not stinging or toxin release.

 

[krak256]

Yes, I had 4 in a 30g and one shrunk and eventually let go and withered away. Still have the remaining 3 but am feeding them to keep the smallest from shrinking. I think @D-Nak had a similar experience

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I know many folks keep multiple ones together, but when I added my blue gigantea, it grew very well for years, but the green one began a long slow decline at that point. Might have been coincidence, or a cause and effect.

 

[D-Nak]

The short answer is yes, I can only attribute it to allelopathy. It's why I have two tanks on different systems. I had a purple and blue in the same system and the purple started to slowly wither away. I moved it to another system and it bounced back. What's interesting is that each tank currently has two gigs in them, but one in each tank is noticeably smaller than the other. My purple is with a green (which is a lot smaller), and my blue is with a tan/multicolor (which is also a lot smaller). It could just be mixing and matching and luck has it that the mix is right, and they're fine together (albeit the size disparity) or it may be something else.

Something else to look for is that one gig outcompetes the other for space--it basically smothers it--meaning it continuously overlaps it and the one that doesn't get enough light slowly withers away. I've lost one due to me not paying enough attention.

 

[Seancj]

Thank you all for our input so far! Are any of you running carbon continuously?
As some of you know, my 360 gallon has several Mags, LTA's, sebae, and BTA's. I've been trying to add a Gigantea but have not had luck with 3 imports lately and will now only consider a long-term captive from another hobbyist, when that unicorn shows up one lucky day, fingers crossed!
I am beginning to see what I believe is allelopathy amongst my Magnifica. They still look outwardly healthy, fully inflated, have feeding responses, ect., but not growing and actively decreasing in size. I do only feed a small, thawed shrimp portion about 1/2" in size once every two weeks, so maybe that could have something to do with it.
Funny, that none of my LTA's, sebae, or BTA's (rainbow or CSB) are showing any negative signs). I plan on increasing carbon filtration this week and increasing feeding to twice a week to see if it has any effect.
Knowing that Gigantea and Magnifica are so closely related, I am now hesitant to add one if it will also succumb to the allelopathy like my Mags appear to be.

 

[krak256]

Thank you all for our input so far! Are any of you running carbon continuously?
As some of you know, my 360 gallon has several Mags, LTA's, sebae, and BTA's. I've been trying to add a Gigantea but have not had luck with 3 imports lately and will now only consider a long-term captive from another hobbyist, when that unicorn shows up one lucky day, fingers crossed!
I am beginning to see what I believe is allelopathy amongst my Magnifica. They still look outwardly healthy, fully inflated, have feeding responses, ect., but not growing and actively decreasing in size. I do only feed a small, thawed shrimp portion about 1/2" in size once every two weeks, so maybe that could have something to do with it.
Funny, that none of my LTA's, sebae, or BTA's (rainbow or CSB) are showing any negative signs). I plan on increasing carbon filtration this week and increasing feeding to twice a week to see if it has any effect.
Knowing that Gigantea and Magnifica are so closely related, I am now hesitant to add one if it will also succumb to the allelopathy like my Mags appear to be.

yes, I run carbon 24/7

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you all for our input so far! Are any of you running carbon continuously?

I did.

 

[jamie1210]

The short answer is yes, I can only attribute it to allelopathy. It's why I have two tanks on different systems. I had a purple and blue in the same system and the purple started to slowly wither away. I moved it to another system and it bounced back. What's interesting is that each tank currently has two gigs in them, but one in each tank is noticeably smaller than the other. My purple is with a green (which is a lot smaller), and my blue is with a tan/multicolor (which is also a lot smaller). It could just be mixing and matching and luck has it that the mix is right, and they're fine together (albeit the size disparity) or it may be something else.

Something else to look for is that one gig outcompetes the other for space--it basically smothers it--meaning it continuously overlaps it and the one that doesn't get enough light slowly withers away. I've lost one due to me not paying enough attention.

I second this, particularly the part about one gig smothering the other one. I've kept multiple gigs together and alone for the past decade, and I would always have 1 extremely large one and the other one shrink to about small/medium size. Sometimes they would be touching, other times they're not opposite sides of the tank. Yet, the small one would NEVER get to the size of the larger one no matter how much I fed it (and ignored feeding the large one!). The happiest gigs, long term, were always by themselves.

 

[Seancj]

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your experiences!

 

[Hot2na]

I see this in my 120 which has 8 gigs ...one is shrinking to the size of a golf ball ..others have stopped growing ...the biggest one keeps on getting bigger ..Now the size of a large cheese pizza 16" + ...so I guess this happens .

 

[Seancj]

This is really unfortunate. There goes the dream of a large Magnifica/gigantea colony reef with all specimens doing and looking their best. I'm hesitant to add any more to my collection if the likelihood is that they will slowly shrivel up. What am I going to do with this big tank now?

 

[D-Nak]

This is really unfortunate. There goes the dream of a large Magnifica/gigantea colony reef with all specimens doing and looking their best. I'm hesitant to add any more to my collection if the likelihood is that they will slowly shrivel up. What am I going to do with this big tank now?

I don't see this happening with my magnifica, only my gigs. I think your tank will still be great with lots of mags and a couple of gigs. Or you can keep a bunch of cube tanks next to each other (if I had the space, that's what I'd do)!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This is really unfortunate. There goes the dream of a large Magnifica/gigantea colony reef with all specimens doing and looking their best. I'm hesitant to add any more to my collection if the likelihood is that they will slowly shrivel up. What am I going to do with this big tank now?

Since it is not clear exactly how it happens, I’d suggest doubling down on organic compound removal. GAC, skimming, Purigen, ozone, Chemipure, etc.

 

[Seancj]

Since it is not clear exactly how it happens, I’d suggest doubling down on organic compound removal. GAC, skimming, Purigen, ozone, Chemipure, etc.

Thanks Randy! I am currently already running two large skimmers, carbon, and some chemipure (but in low amount compared to tank volume). I've considered Ozone, but a bit intimidated about setting it up.

 

[Seancj]

I don't see this happening with my magnifica, only my gigs. I think your tank will still be great with lots of mags and a couple of gigs. Or you can keep a bunch of cube tanks next to each other (if I had the space, that's what I'd do)!

I definitely see it happening with my Mags in this new 360 gallon. I have two that were once over 16" wide that are now barely 8" wide. They still look 100% healthy, great color, great feeding response, full inflation, tight mouths, etc., just getting smaller in diameter. They are not being overshadowed by the larger Mags. Each has its own perch directly under the lighting and in great flow.
I was running 3 smaller tanks prior to this 360 gallon. I really don't want to mess with several separate systems again. Thanks for the advice and encouragement!

 

[D-Nak]

I definitely see it happening with my Mags in this new 360 gallon. I have two that were once over 16" wide that are now barely 8" wide. They still look 100% healthy, great color, great feeding response, full inflation, tight mouths, etc., just getting smaller in diameter. They are not being overshadowed by the larger Mags. Each has its own perch directly under the lighting and in great flow.
I was running 3 smaller tanks prior to this 360 gallon. I really don't want to mess with several separate systems again. Thanks for the advice and encouragement!

That's unfortunate. I guess I should've been more specific. I have two mags in my tank and they're both about the same size and both doing fine, so I don't have much for comparison sake. That said, I also think some mags can play nice with each other since they're sometimes found in large colonies (at least with the clones, not different color morphs).

At one point I had seven gigs in one system and they definitely didn't do well together. I knew that if I wanted to keep multiple gigs I had to have separate systems. I run carbon, GFO, and have my skimmer on 24/7.

 

[argiBK]

Curious if anyone has kept any of the high-end BTAs with mags and gigs and suffered any suspected allelopathy.

I’ve had my mags and gigs together the last few years without any problems and swore off BTAs after I managed to remove (and rehome) 7 BTAs. However, I’ve been recently offered a decently sized (7”) CSB which is tempting.

 

[D-Nak]

My tank has gigs, mags, and CSBs and they're fine together (aside from the aforementioned issues). Allelopathy typically happens with the same species of anemone and rarely occurs with those that form colonies (like many BTAs).