My Magnificent Sea Anemone Journey....

[ca1ore]

I have not found target feeding a mag to materially affect its health one way or the other. With adequate light and incidental food that floats by, mags will grow just fine. Target feeding just accelerates growth and shortens the time to rehoming.

 

[Sdot]

I have not found target feeding a mag to materially affect its health one way or the other. With adequate light and incidental food that floats by, mags will grow just fine. Target feeding just accelerates growth and shortens the time to rehoming.

I think thats my goal.... sounds like it will help it settle quicker.

 

[OrionN]

I feed my anemone after arrive and one they are healthy enough. This is to help them heal following a very traumatic event in their life. Once they grow well and reach the size where I wan them, I stop feeding.
I always have my anemone either in large tank, or else have them in mind to transfer them to a large tank so size was not a real concern for me. My DT for the last 20 years have been either a 420 or a 320 gal tanks. However, I don't want a huge anemone that take up a lot of valuable space in my tank.

 

[Sdot]

I feed my anemone after arrive and one they are healthy enough. This is to help them heal following a very traumatic event in their life. Once they grow well and reach the size where I wan them, I stop feeding.
I always have my anemone either in large tank, or else have them in mind to transfer them to a large tank so size was not a real concern for me. My DT for the last 20 years have been either a 420 or a 320 gal tanks. However, I don't want a huge anemone that take up a lot of valuable space in my tank.

Thats my goal... i dont think its 100%, once it gets there i will back off.

 

[deeb]

Beautiful Mag nem!
With don’t feed the nem, I guess that’s because nem tend not to digest the food during acclimation, or when there’s any environmental changes.
My nem once shrunk for a day when I did a water change right after feeding thy. He recovered few moments after spitting out the food.

 

[adtravels]

Mine is massive now, it held at 12 inches when I did not feed it but since I moved it to my main display it catches frozen food twice a day and is taking over the tank

 

[Sdot]

Mine is massive now, it held at 12 inches when I did not feed it but since I moved it to my main display it catches frozen food twice a day and is taking over the tank

Its gorgeous!! Purple im assumming? Also what size is your tank? What type of lighting ? And par if you have it?

 

[Maxx]

I feed my anemone after arrive and one they are healthy enough. This is to help them heal following a very traumatic event in their life. Once they grow well and reach the size where I wan them, I stop feeding.
I always have my anemone either in large tank, or else have them in mind to transfer them to a large tank so size was not a real concern for me. My DT for the last 20 years have been either a 420 or a 320 gal tanks. However, I don't want a huge anemone that take up a lot of valuable space in my tank.

This is my approach as well. When sick, bleached or recovering from stress, I will feed small amounts regularly, (every day or two) until the anemone has recovered enough to get back on it's own.

Mine isnt currently looking so great, so I'm feeding it small bits of scallop. It looks it better after being fed.

 

[Maxx]

 

[Sdot]

What am I missing? Looks fine

 

[Maxx]

I'm taking and posting pictures of the anemone looking it's best at the moment.
Just tried taking pics of it when the tentacles are deflated and stringy looking. They didnt come out right and the stringy tentacles werent as visible as I'd like.
If you look closely at the above picture, you can kinda see how the tips of the tentacles are narrower and thinner, almost like when you take a glove off by pulling on the fingers.
The oral disc and tentacles are also a dull gray in color, when it should be more of a lighter lavender like this;

Keep in mind the picture with the clowns was taken under a Radion Gen 1 in 2015.
The current pictures of the anemone are taken under a Kessil A360X that is at about 50% intensity.

Most people wouldnt see a problem with the anemone. I know what it should look like and how it should behave.
It's not there yet, but it's getting better.

I'm waiting for Sustainable Aquatics to get some A.nigripes clowns up to selling size and then I'll buy 4 from the same clutch and add them to the tank. According to Sustainable, it's going to be a few months, so the anemone will have plenty of time to recover before adding the clowns.

 

[adtravels]

Its gorgeous!! Purple im assumming?
Purple with a section of bright green tentacles, Also what size is your tank? 120 gallon What type of lighting ? ATI hydbrid PM 4x39watt T5 and 2x75wattLED plus 2x blazexmini's at either end. And par if you have it? 6 inches under the water the Par is around 450-550

 

[Maxx]

adtravels is another name I recall from RC. How long have you had your H.magnifica adtavels? IIRC, it's been quite awhile as well.

 

[adtravels]

I have had this one over 2 years,and I remember you also from RC!

 

[Sdot]

Hey family, so i started feeding the anemone chop shrimp from the local grocery store daily since my Friday post. My observation is the Mag look better and appears to be better. The mouth is very tight now and its more inflated. Ill continue to post my experience, but so far so good.

 

[Sdot]

Hey family, here is the latest Friday/ Weekend update. As mentioned previously, id been feeding my mag pretty much daily until it looked like it was going to die. Thinking i ran into another setback...i started going through the forum and came across @ca1ore post, he had a similar instance and it was related to the mag having a very large meal. I've been feeding it chunks of shrimp each day, i think it was too much. When i stopped...after a day, the Mag returned to its normal self and have been good ever since.

Another observation is the color... i thought it was changing colors before, but for sure i can confirm that it is. The tips are starting to develop a yellowish/ florescent green hue to it. I had to change some setting on my camera...although not quite same as the naked eye, this is closest i could get with my phone camera. All in all my journey is still going and im learning a lot from this animal.

 

[sprungson]

Not an expert on mags or it's color but I want to say it looks beautiful. I'm happy you got such a beautiful specimen

 

[Maxx]

Tentacles are still short and stubby, but color is improving.
I would stop feeding directly and let it take whatever bycatch it gets from feeding the tank.
The clowns will bring food back to it. Not to feed it, but rather to be in a “safe place” where other fish wont try to steal their food. The anemone will eventually get strong enough that it will take food from the clowns and they wont be strong enough to tear it back.

Looking good though.

 

[Sdot]

Tentacles are still short and stubby, but color is improving.
I would stop feeding directly and let it take whatever bycatch it gets from feeding the tank.
The clowns will bring food back to it. Not to feed it, but rather to be in a “safe place” where other fish wont try to steal their food. The anemone will eventually get strong enough that it will take food from the clowns and they wont be strong enough to tear it back.

Looking good though.

I feel like if i dont feed it shrinks? Not sure what do do about that.

 

[chizerbunoi]

The column expands when you feed them because there is food inside. This then makes the anemone itself look puff up and much fuller. Is that what you are referring to? If your not comfortable stopping feedings then go to once every week or two. EDIT: I see now that your started with long tenacles when you first bought it and it slowly declined. I would continue to feed it small mouth sized shrimp frequently based on the last picture you posted.

The actual shape will also vary depending on the water flow. Give yours time and it will expand the tenacles as it gets healthier and acclimates to your tank conditions. How about giving the mag more daylight in the 6500K range?

I can't get a good shot of mine as it's on the side wall. But yours has similar colors to mine. I don't have a filter for my phone so it shows more blue.