My Experiences With Keeping The Magnificent Anemone Heteractis magnifica
Lately, there seems to be an upsurge in the keeping of anemone’s, along with bubble tip anemones the Magnificent anemone is becoming more popular and with good reason. These anemones live up to their name and are the most anemone desired by common and peculiar clownfish and derivatives thereof.
They come in a variety of colours more commonly with a purple/redish base with yellow tipped mauve tentacles. Another plus is that they are quite reasonably priced at around £40 to £45ish at my LFS here in the UK. The rather cheap price is probably down to the abundance of them found and the fact most are collected very close to the water’s surface making collection easier than some other anemones.
“Great” you may say and “I want one” Just hold on a minute because here are the downsides, Firstly and most important if you don’t provide for their substantial needs you are going to fail and have a dead anemone and a dead anemone can quickly pollute your tank so do be aware of what you are taking on. Magnifica anemones are considered as suitable for experienced keepers only due to their demanding requirements so be warned these anemones won’t be compromised.
Magnifica’s needs while quite demanding are not unsurmountable together with a little thought and understanding you can have a beautiful thriving anemone hosting a pair or more of wonderful clownfish. The clues to their requirements, good health and longevity as with most animals are found in their natural habitat on the reef with clean fresh water washing over them with most Magnificent anemones found close to the surface bathed in sunlight.
At this point I am going to go back in time when I first kept a Magnificent anemone, that was over 30 years ago. Back then the magnificent anemone was considered by many of the experts of the day as impossible to keep for more than a few weeks in the aquarium. I kept mine with a trio of common clowns for a number of years before my circumstances at the time forced me to strip the tank down and move the anemone etc on.
Back in the day, my Magnifica perched high up on a rock directly under a 250w HQI lamp. The HQI lamps back then were quite a lowly kelvin rated. My Osram lamp was rated at 5400k and by today's standard quite yellow although compared to what went before the light looked white to us. Not far from the anemone I had a Tunze 4002 air-cooled water pump connected to a pulse timer which provided a constant pulse of strong water over it. I won’t go into the filtration other to say I grew a lot of Caulerpa in the tank and also made my own sump with a substantial Tunze skimmer sitting in it so water quality was very good especially for the day.
I was so successful with this anemone that I had to be careful as it could grow very large and larger than I wanted it to grow even though it was housed in a 6’6” long 130gallon tank. I kept it around a foot across by feeding it once sometimes twice a week only. If I fed it anymore it would grow at quite a rate and after feeding the following day it was visibly much larger than the day before. I fed the anemone pieces of whitebait (small fish) mussel, shrimp and prawn which it relished particularly the shrimp and prawn.
Now to my current set up and Magnificent anemone and what I have learned and put into practice not without a few issues I may add. When I first got my new Magnificent anemone, I placed it on a flat rock directly under one of my Radion XR30 gen3 pros not far from an FX150 gyre and a Tunze Nanostream 6040 giving it what I thought was an ideal position and conditions but it had other ideas. If these anemones don’t like their perch then they will move or even detach and wander around the aquarium looking for a place to settle. If you are unlucky that could mean inside a powerhead where it can get mashed up or even up against a weir blocking water flow to the sump, neither are ideal places I am sure you will agree.
All seemed well for a couple of days but then the anemone decided to go walk about. Luckily enough it went high up on my weir which was situated close by. I removed it and replaced it in the same spot but it moved back on the weir with its tentacles flat on the water’s surface as if looking for even more light than my Radion was providing. Surely my Radion’s were providing enough light. Some head scratching followed and I dismissed the problem with water flow and deducted light was somehow the issue.
My mind went back to the Magnifica I kept all those years ago and the light I had it under then I had a lightbulb moment. Although my Radion’s were more than capable of providing enough light they are heavily balanced towards the blue spectrum with my whites only on 15% of their power What to do, I didn’t want to turn my whites up any further and all my SPS were fine under them and growing quite well. if only I could find a better solution so I started to do some searching and after some research, I found just what I needed.
Amazon had a 6500k daylight 16w LED quite cheap at £31-99p delivered (about $45) and complete with its own gooseneck called the Asta20. (they also do a full spectrum version costing a bit more) The lamp clamped onto the side glass and utilising the 60-degree optional lens it came with it totally illuminated my Magnifica which is now sitting on a clump of barnacle shells right under the Radion and the LED spotlight.
The Magnifica has now stayed put for the last few weeks and continues to grow at quite a rate even though I don’t feed it as often as many suggest, I need to control its size and stop it stinging my corals. My 2 clownfish that previously resided in a bubble tip anemone certainly love their new home and much prefer it to the bubble tip judging by their behaviour as they bath within its tentacles. Its almost as if the clowns are telling me this is what we wanted all along, thank you. The bubble tip was sold on to another reefer.
Hopefully, my Magnifica will stay in my preferred place on the far righthand side of my reef aquarium and continue to thrive there for some time to come with my clowns eventually spawning at the base. The H.Magnifica is a beautiful anemone but quite challenging but worth the effort providing for its requirements.
My H.magnifica. Since this photos were taken it has grown considerably.
and LED 6500K spotlight.
Lately, there seems to be an upsurge in the keeping of anemone’s, along with bubble tip anemones the Magnificent anemone is becoming more popular and with good reason. These anemones live up to their name and are the most anemone desired by common and peculiar clownfish and derivatives thereof.
They come in a variety of colours more commonly with a purple/redish base with yellow tipped mauve tentacles. Another plus is that they are quite reasonably priced at around £40 to £45ish at my LFS here in the UK. The rather cheap price is probably down to the abundance of them found and the fact most are collected very close to the water’s surface making collection easier than some other anemones.
“Great” you may say and “I want one” Just hold on a minute because here are the downsides, Firstly and most important if you don’t provide for their substantial needs you are going to fail and have a dead anemone and a dead anemone can quickly pollute your tank so do be aware of what you are taking on. Magnifica anemones are considered as suitable for experienced keepers only due to their demanding requirements so be warned these anemones won’t be compromised.
Magnifica’s needs while quite demanding are not unsurmountable together with a little thought and understanding you can have a beautiful thriving anemone hosting a pair or more of wonderful clownfish. The clues to their requirements, good health and longevity as with most animals are found in their natural habitat on the reef with clean fresh water washing over them with most Magnificent anemones found close to the surface bathed in sunlight.
At this point I am going to go back in time when I first kept a Magnificent anemone, that was over 30 years ago. Back then the magnificent anemone was considered by many of the experts of the day as impossible to keep for more than a few weeks in the aquarium. I kept mine with a trio of common clowns for a number of years before my circumstances at the time forced me to strip the tank down and move the anemone etc on.
Back in the day, my Magnifica perched high up on a rock directly under a 250w HQI lamp. The HQI lamps back then were quite a lowly kelvin rated. My Osram lamp was rated at 5400k and by today's standard quite yellow although compared to what went before the light looked white to us. Not far from the anemone I had a Tunze 4002 air-cooled water pump connected to a pulse timer which provided a constant pulse of strong water over it. I won’t go into the filtration other to say I grew a lot of Caulerpa in the tank and also made my own sump with a substantial Tunze skimmer sitting in it so water quality was very good especially for the day.
I was so successful with this anemone that I had to be careful as it could grow very large and larger than I wanted it to grow even though it was housed in a 6’6” long 130gallon tank. I kept it around a foot across by feeding it once sometimes twice a week only. If I fed it anymore it would grow at quite a rate and after feeding the following day it was visibly much larger than the day before. I fed the anemone pieces of whitebait (small fish) mussel, shrimp and prawn which it relished particularly the shrimp and prawn.
Now to my current set up and Magnificent anemone and what I have learned and put into practice not without a few issues I may add. When I first got my new Magnificent anemone, I placed it on a flat rock directly under one of my Radion XR30 gen3 pros not far from an FX150 gyre and a Tunze Nanostream 6040 giving it what I thought was an ideal position and conditions but it had other ideas. If these anemones don’t like their perch then they will move or even detach and wander around the aquarium looking for a place to settle. If you are unlucky that could mean inside a powerhead where it can get mashed up or even up against a weir blocking water flow to the sump, neither are ideal places I am sure you will agree.
All seemed well for a couple of days but then the anemone decided to go walk about. Luckily enough it went high up on my weir which was situated close by. I removed it and replaced it in the same spot but it moved back on the weir with its tentacles flat on the water’s surface as if looking for even more light than my Radion was providing. Surely my Radion’s were providing enough light. Some head scratching followed and I dismissed the problem with water flow and deducted light was somehow the issue.
My mind went back to the Magnifica I kept all those years ago and the light I had it under then I had a lightbulb moment. Although my Radion’s were more than capable of providing enough light they are heavily balanced towards the blue spectrum with my whites only on 15% of their power What to do, I didn’t want to turn my whites up any further and all my SPS were fine under them and growing quite well. if only I could find a better solution so I started to do some searching and after some research, I found just what I needed.
Amazon had a 6500k daylight 16w LED quite cheap at £31-99p delivered (about $45) and complete with its own gooseneck called the Asta20. (they also do a full spectrum version costing a bit more) The lamp clamped onto the side glass and utilising the 60-degree optional lens it came with it totally illuminated my Magnifica which is now sitting on a clump of barnacle shells right under the Radion and the LED spotlight.
The Magnifica has now stayed put for the last few weeks and continues to grow at quite a rate even though I don’t feed it as often as many suggest, I need to control its size and stop it stinging my corals. My 2 clownfish that previously resided in a bubble tip anemone certainly love their new home and much prefer it to the bubble tip judging by their behaviour as they bath within its tentacles. Its almost as if the clowns are telling me this is what we wanted all along, thank you. The bubble tip was sold on to another reefer.
Hopefully, my Magnifica will stay in my preferred place on the far righthand side of my reef aquarium and continue to thrive there for some time to come with my clowns eventually spawning at the base. The H.Magnifica is a beautiful anemone but quite challenging but worth the effort providing for its requirements.
My H.magnifica. Since this photos were taken it has grown considerably.
and LED 6500K spotlight.
