Haddoni in sandless tank?

[MoparMike97]

Hey guys,

I have a red/pink haddoni that's been recovering for almost a year after getting shredded in a Nero. It's finally looking healthy again and want to move it back into my 125 display... However, I recently removed my sand bed and replaced it with marco rocks rubble (which is like 1-3" chunks). I've kept many haddoni over the years but always in a tank with a sandbed, so this is sorta new for me.

I was thinking about just putting it in and seeing how it reacts to the rubble, or adding a container of sand and "planting" it but figured I'd see if anyone else has any experience with a situation like this.

Thanks guys!

 

[MnFish1]

They do not need sand - IME.

 

[OrionN]

They do need sand IME. Short term they will live but they will not settle and not move without sand

 

[CrayHawk]

I would be worried about the rubble damaging its foot.

 

[OrionN]

I would be worried about the rubble damaging its foot.

the coral rubble would not cause injury to the leg, but they do want to hide their foot under the sand and will move around until it find a sand area with good light and current to settle in.

 

[garygb]

Personally, I would take something like a glass or tupperware container, put sand in maybe halfway up. Put the anemone in that, let it dig in and attach, then put the anemone/container where you want to place it and put some live rock in front of the bowl to conceal it from view. That way the haddoni will be happy and you won't have an unsightly bowl in plain view. My understanding is that haddoni prefer ~6 inches of sand around their column (for a large anemone) to feel secure and remain stationary long-term.

Pretty anemone, btw, good for you being able to rehab it after such a severe injury.

 

[MoparMike97]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I wasn't able to find any containers that would work, so I ended up just building a small 'retaining wall' with the rubble rock and put about 3.5" of sand behind it. I would have liked to made it deeper but I didn't want to have a massive pile of rocks right in the middle of my aquascape. Just added it to the tank about 5 mins ago. It's certainly back to full health and stickier than fly paper!

Guess I'll leave the pumps off for an hour or two and see what happens! Wish me luck haha

 

[D-Nak]

Looks pretty natural--nice work. I'm sure it'll dig in soon.

 

[MoparMike97]

Just got back from dinner, and it looks like the nem is attached and the clowns have already made themselves at home

And just for fun, here's what the nem looked like about 6 months ago after getting minced. It's definitely come a long way!

 

[garygb]

It looks great settled in the sand.

 

[D-Nak]

Those before and after shots are great -- it shows such a nice recovery!

 

[Shark Wu]

One of mine just doesn't want to stay in flower pots as the others and keep moving in the tank.I took a glass bottle to mix with sands and coral skeleton,finally works for it.
I have 5 and only 2 require sands including this one.
The other is wired,it stays so deeply in the sands like 8~12 cm when I purchased it from someone already kept it over a year.

 

[Rtaylor]

One of mine just doesn't want to stay in flower pots as the others and keep moving in the tank.I took a glass bottle to mix with sands and coral skeleton,finally works for it.
I have 5 and only 2 require sands including this one.
The other is wired,it stays so deeply in the sands like 8~12 cm when I purchased it from someone already kept it over a year.

Nice nems, looks like they could be gorgeous with some better lighting. That light pink one should be a bright deep pink (or even possibly red). Just a suggestion.

 

[Shark Wu]

Nice nems, looks like they could be gorgeous with some better lighting. That light pink one should be a bright deep pink (or even possibly red). Just a suggestion.

That's actually a great suggestion and I am trying to figure out how to improve the light source for them.Thank you very much for sharing your comments.

 

[MoparMike97]

Just about a week in, the haddoni has stayed put and looks great! For those of you who want a haddoni but not a full DSB or unsightly container in your tank, just adding a small wall of rock and then filling it with sand seems to work great. I'm really happy with the end result!

 

[OrionN]

That is one nice Haddoni