My Ritteri Anemone Thread

Lewbo

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Ok, so.... a Ritteri anemone has been on my list for a long time. I am an experienced reefer who enjoys experimenting and trialling different reef methods and responses.

I set up back in January a off shoot tank from my main aquarium to this 55 gallon. The point of this tank is to mainly host a pair of clown and the Ritteri Anemone (H. Magnifica or Heteractis Magnifica). The intention is for it to be a self sustaining reef (mixed LPS and SPS - grow out of frags from my main tank) with a Ritteri at the front and centre. The bigger the better. So here's my journey so far:

Ordered a Ritteri online from a really good seller who had some very healthy looking nems. He regularly sells Ritteri's and often has them for long periods. From conversations with him, he had some interesting concepts. Here's what worked for me so far (not saying that these have worked long term, or that they are the right choice for everyone).

Day 1
Nem arrives. The water was murky and it looks like a bag of jelly, its mouth is gapping, detached foot and floating in bag. I tested the water, extremely high in ammonia and nitrates. It looked dead.

Acclimatisation Method: A quick temperature acclimation (15 mins) and then chucked the nem in a jug. Jug goes into a bucket and then I started adding water for another 10 minutes at a quick pace slowly flushing the toxic water out. I continuous flushed the nem with tank water until the water was clear and testing 0 for Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia (as per my tank). This took several flushes (about 10) before the new was fully clean and sitting stably in fresh water. I left it 10 minutes before checking the water each time so the nem had time to purge.

Hypothesis: The principal here is that the nem although mainly deflate contains stagnated water from transport. Each time you flush the nem, it exchanges bad water for good and keeps doing so until all bad water is expelled including toxicants. The water movement from the flow of water flushing replicates strong water movement and encourages the nem to switch out water. A sign that the nem was healthy and responding well was its tenticles began to curl and mouth closed partially.

Here it is at various stages:

6E4BBFD2-5E81-4D3D-9DF6-0F57524D3516.jpeg EAB08419-7D82-4809-B7CB-05382B3D0794.jpeg

I then took the jug and placed it into the water (at no point did I expose him to the air). I turned my powerbeads off and placed him in a position of very strong flow and very close to the water surface for light. I gave it 5 minutes and checked back. He was attached mostly but remained deflated. I turned on the covered powerheads. The lights were reduced to 10% (LED AI SOLs). Almost immediately I saw the nem begin the inflation process. He was a bit tangled up and his foot was puffy and inflated. He slowly turned his foot to the rock and attached fully. 1 hour later he was fully inflated. mouth is large and puffy but closed.

(I did not treat with antibiotics but had a hospital tank and treatment to hand)

C297576C-D194-4371-B48A-68616C361E5D.jpeg 9843AFD9-84BD-4467-B4A3-B80781224B3A.jpeg

627BAE5A-D548-42BE-BEB3-386CDA79E50A.jpeg 20C8E95D-5B2F-40AA-BF1C-13AA5220771C.jpeg C44C7563-ED3D-47D9-A008-FA4BCDBAB0EC.jpeg
And this was him on the first night:

31ADBAB2-D1CA-4456-A7FB-2276A6918662.jpeg

Day 2
The next morning after introduction the nem was fully inflated, mouth tightly pursed and about 1 inch puckered up like a kiss. He had moved very slightly up the rock. Tenticles were not sticky. Remained inflated for the whole day.

03B48964-A79C-4490-ABF4-D6E984E40460.jpeg 30D48BDF-28C4-4A41-9C32-3FE90A53118C.jpeg

Day 3
Now, here starts the journey of panic and concern. I stress to anyone getting a Ritteri standby and don't react until there is a clear sign of issue. These nems go through stress cycles when first introduced and moving them unnecessary will cause more issue than standing firm.
So I wake up on day 3 and the nem is inflated but its mouth is massive! It is puffy and extended by an inch but a good 3 inches across. Very different from the puckered look before! Was worried and didn't know what to do. Had some minor deflation of partial tenticles. ie 10% of its tenticles would deflate, and then inflate continuously and quickly (particularly on one side) but this was only a very small section and probably only every few hours. Research of this was that this was usual for partial tenticle deflation for newly added Ritteri but full deflation was a sign of stress.

This is the mouth starting to reduce in size after 3 inches and puffy.

781C13EA-E4C5-4CEE-92A7-A376EA6CE847.jpeg

Day 4
Mouth back to usual. Lights were on reduced setting at 25%. Ramped lights up to usual setting of 50/60%. Nem fully deflated within 5 minutes of ramp. Reduced lights back down after an hour. Did not reinflate all day or night.

9673EF2F-032F-464B-BCEF-BCB9C0F5005E.jpeg AB924C01-531A-4373-8D03-53EE315F7E34.jpeg

Day 5
Put lights back to 25% (sellers were also at 25%). Begin slow ramp up of lighting (1% per day). Anemone reinflate and remains healthy looking.

FF6921C2-0D58-43AC-8EB2-89F57E7C10AC.jpeg

Day 6-9
Fully inflated, has grown in size, remains cycling through small number of sectioned tentacle deflation every now and then - particularly on one side. Clowns host nem (Clarki's) for short periods. See picture of sectioned deflation.

2F569D35-D4BB-4DE0-9088-18A41FC26C7D.jpeg 95FCF3A6-0DFC-45B0-A814-94B7418DFEBC.jpeg 3447EE31-8C33-47E5-A728-9FF70FAB7537.jpeg 287C7F35-EC80-4CCF-9502-7A8CA5229BAA.jpeg

Day 10
Get impatient with the light ramping so up 2% per day. Nem deflates 5 minutes after increasing. This time looks like death. Complete deflation, expelling of zoos, mouth gapping and flat as a pancake. Terrifying. Clowns are brutally rubbing the nem which is flat. Concern they will rip it due to it deflated and on rock. Separate the clowns from it but they persistently try to get to it. Clowns get to it over night despite efforts.

3676756B-FB75-47B8-AC98-6EFBF917C92E.jpeg 36BC07AF-D9F4-42FE-AF00-0A19E4F9F362.jpeg

Day 11 - 20
Fully reinflated. No further deflation (including any tentacle section deflation) and clowns won't leave the nem. Lights continue to ramp up 1% every 2 days. Now up to 40%.

94D00029-7B10-4221-924F-FAF8FB0230BD.jpeg

Behaviours
Since settling in day 11-20 I have noticed a stabilisation of the change of appearance. During intro, the anemone took many shapes from a mushroom style coral (with purple base exposed), to folded or twisted. It now remains like a carpet anemone with a wave like curve throughout, expanded heavily in size reaching 12 inches from 8 prior to stabilisation. In the evenings it reduces in size by about 10-20%. In the morning it reached for the light as they ramp up, settling in a flat position with no base exposure during peak light hours.

Tenticles were not sticky but quickly became so and he now feeds by catching the fishes food. Colour has remained the same at this time.

The mouth changes from time to time but mainly remains 1 inch off of the oral disk in a puckered position. When feeding he puffs his mouth up and out but remains closed.

The clowns perform maintenance often by removing debris and waste and feeding the anemone, often by pushing their body and rubbing food into its mouth. At this time they are not very protective of it and allow the angel (only other fish in the tank) to pick the rocks nearby.

The foot has remained attached at all times, and it has moved only 2 inches up the rock to get in more flow. 777DE386-3076-496A-BB36-1144638F3BE7.jpeg
 
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Lewbo

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Thanks @Nemguy123 - your nems are beautiful - seen a few posts by you.

Thought I’d show the sulk as well from my water change earlier, main sulk was that I turned off the powerheads which made him ball up with the lack of flow
As soon as flow resumed he went back to normal. It’s amazing how much they love that flow!

In chronological order:

A4FDE989-6D78-4ABC-81D8-12C3B650C7E7.jpeg 6083FD81-B5BE-4447-9C68-C48D40EA06D0.jpeg C090AF07-0B84-4F55-A0F7-E23F3FF50093.jpeg
 
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sprungson

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I honestly would have treated the nem as the deflate/inflate cycle ime indicates an infection. My experienced with the larger mag it takes a longer time to die.

But, I guess I'm conflicted, because @Nemguy123 is a pro, literally. Be good to hear what @D-Nak thinks as well.

Your latest pic does look good though.
 

Nemguy123

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I’ve had mag deflate like that and be fine I would just watch for gaping mouth with the stringy intestines. That usually means infection, I’ve had mags with gaping mouths too not be infected just hungry. It’s those weird brown or white mini spaghetti looking stuff you don’t want to see
 
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Lewbo

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I honestly would have treated the nem as the deflate/inflate cycle ime indicates an infection. My experienced with the larger mag it takes a longer time to die.

But, I guess I'm conflicted, because @Nemguy123 is a pro, literally. Be good to hear what @D-Nak thinks as well.

Your latest pic does look good though.
Hey Sprungson, thanks for the response. I appreciate this is common practice now, and a new one compared to when I was properly in the hobby a few years back. I enjoy researching behaviours with tank inhabitants in order to better care for my aquarium and have accepted the challenge of the Ritteri in the bid to research and help others make this once impossible anemone to keep, easy.

The reason I decided not to treat immediately mainly comes down to my skepticism in cause of illness and treatment.

From research I don’t overly agree with the concept a deflated Ritteri = infection. Common Anemones such a bubble tips deflate often when first introduced and we do not treat them or see this as an issue. Evidence and research available conclude that deflation is a stress response or a cleansing action in all anemones. Of course this can be from infection.

I have found little evidence to support the theory that deflation is inflection apart from “antibiotics worked”. Unfortunately the question of was it the antibiotics or other factors at play is an almost impossible question. Marine fish keeping has come a very long way in the last 5 years and so the ease of marine keeping has expanded tremendously in many fields as has the treatment of animals during collection.

Treatment of antibiotics is known to cause stress to anemones and has been known to bleach Ritteri’s and even kill them. I also note that there is no medical research that I could find to date into this method or detailed research into quantity of drug vs water volume vs size of the anemone, and so overdose risk is high, and this could be a longer term cause of death. A relatable example would be overdose of a drug in humans causing slow shut down of organs but does not always cause immediate death. Whilst this may not be the case for anemones there is very little research and evidence into this method based on metabolic studies.

What I found interesting in examination of user cases is:
1. Ritteri’s not attaching was high (suggestive of foot damage) - to note Ritteri’s have a very strong foot hold compared to others and so collection or LFS may cause damage more often.
2. Ritteri’s wander and gradually go downhill over the course of 1 month to a year (suggestive of inadequate conditions)
3. Ritteri’s “melt” within the tank shortly after introduction.

The third here beings most interesting as the cause is unknown.

I have also witnessed from treatment vs no treatment similar behaviours of the first week showing signs of stress, inflation and deflation (to differing extents) regardless of treatment and then after a week full inflation which suggests to me that antibiotics have no different of a response to one put into a tank. To date (my fingers crossed, my experience has confirmed this and been some deflation in first week, none past that). I am very conscious I might be wrong and so have a hospital tank and treatment on hand - and fully appreciative that I am far from out of the wood work or a successful Ritteri keeper.

Lastly from user cases I observed many panics based on behaviour - particularly deflation, which led to constant change to environment - moving power heads, changing light, manually moving the anemone, removing for a first or second treatment which seems to always result in fatality. IMO (and only that) a lot of deaths are caused by stressing the anemone further.

I appreciate this is a controversial opinion and against the experience of many on the forums who have had tremendous success and to be clear, I am not saying they are wrong - I am taking an open mind and testing some theories. I will not hesitate to attempt treatment if it becomes necessary but will not do so if I can manage to keep this creature alive without this treatment.
 
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Lewbo

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PS this has been the hardest anemone to care for and not alter tank conditions because 1) awareness of their difficultly means every little change makes you panic 2) when they deflate they truly look like death - I have had to practice immense restraint to not mess around.

I’d also note (Although previously mentioned) that in my experience - change of light parameters has caused significant deflation so if you are seeing this response, consider lowering your light and seeing how it responds. Although these anemones love light, I question how much they get post collection until they hit our tanks. Imagine being in a dark cupboard with no light for weeks and then someone shoves you into full sun. Interestingly we see a similar but different response often with BTA’s and hiding.

Also as this has been a boringly long response, here’s a photo of the beast this morning :) the clowns are very annoying with it now and keep photo bombing

5802EA5D-A8B1-4BE3-9751-E11CA7593983.jpeg
 
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Nemguy123

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PS this has been the hardest anemone to care for and not alter tank conditions because 1) awareness of their difficultly means every little change makes you panic 2) when they deflate they truly look like death - I have had to practice immense restraint to not mess around.

I’d also note (Although previously mentioned) that in my experience - change of light parameters has caused significant deflation so if you are seeing this response, consider lowering your light and seeing how it responds. Although these anemones love light, I question how much they get post collection until they hit our tanks. Imagine being in a dark cupboard with no light for weeks and then someone shoves you into full sun. Interestingly we see a similar but different response often with BTA’s and hiding.

Also as this has been a boringly long response, here’s a photo of the beast this morning :) the clowns are very annoying with it now and keep photo bombing

5802EA5D-A8B1-4BE3-9751-E11CA7593983.jpeg
Very nice write up! I actually a few year back I took a bunch of magnificas that were going through deflation cycles to my old professor at Suffolk county community collage. He’s a micro biologist. We were able to identify the bacteria infecting the magnifica anemone through sampling and culturing. The next step we were going to do was find a safe dose of a few common antibiotics used to treat anemones. I will have to find our write up wasn’t on here or any forum. But it was a common saltwater bacteria. My guess is this bacteria is always present in the water column and moving an anemone that’s more at risk to this infection.(ritteri/ gig) the compromised immune system can’t fight off this bacteria it’s normally used to living with. So the bacteria overgrows. Overpowering the anemone. Sometimes the anemone can pull through with no treatment but as far as we know there’s 100% something bacterial that goes on we just still have a long way to go to understanding it. It’s not always a bacterial infection too it’s just the most common. I see the same thing in the monkey frogs I Breed. I also import rare frogs from South America and all come in needing some sort of treatment due to the pathogens/bacteria on them and the stress of shipping opening them up to all these illnesses they normally would be fine living with:(
 

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Very nice write up! I actually a few year back I took a bunch of magnificas that were going through deflation cycles to my old professor at Suffolk county community collage. He’s a micro biologist. We were able to identify the bacteria infecting the magnifica anemone through sampling and culturing. The next step we were going to do was find a safe dose of a few common antibiotics used to treat anemones. I will have to find our write up wasn’t on here or any forum. But it was a common saltwater bacteria. My guess is this bacteria is always present in the water column and moving an anemone that’s more at risk to this infection.(ritteri/ gig) the compromised immune system can’t fight off this bacteria it’s normally used to living with. So the bacteria overgrows. Overpowering the anemone. Sometimes the anemone can pull through with no treatment but as far as we know there’s 100% something bacterial that goes on we just still have a long way to go to understanding it. It’s not always a bacterial infection too it’s just the most common. I see the same thing in the monkey frogs I Breed. I also import rare frogs from South America and all come in needing some sort of treatment due to the pathogens/bacteria on them and the stress of shipping opening them up to all these illnesses they normally would be fine living with:(
Wow, you need to start writing articles. Thats amazing work, truly great for the hobby. Glad I messaged you with my questions now, I picked the right guy!
 
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Lewbo

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Very nice write up! I actually a few year back I took a bunch of magnificas that were going through deflation cycles to my old professor at Suffolk county community collage. He’s a micro biologist. We were able to identify the bacteria infecting the magnifica anemone through sampling and culturing. The next step we were going to do was find a safe dose of a few common antibiotics used to treat anemones. I will have to find our write up wasn’t on here or any forum. But it was a common saltwater bacteria. My guess is this bacteria is always present in the water column and moving an anemone that’s more at risk to this infection.(ritteri/ gig) the compromised immune system can’t fight off this bacteria it’s normally used to living with. So the bacteria overgrows. Overpowering the anemone. Sometimes the anemone can pull through with no treatment but as far as we know there’s 100% something bacterial that goes on we just still have a long way to go to understanding it. It’s not always a bacterial infection too it’s just the most common. I see the same thing in the monkey frogs I Breed. I also import rare frogs from South America and all come in needing some sort of treatment due to the pathogens/bacteria on them and the stress of shipping opening them up to all these illnesses they normally would be fine living with:(
That would so interesting to read if you have it!! :) particularly the identification of the exact bacteria as that will be very beneficial in identifying best treatment and possibly testing capability for infection. This could be something that could be eradicated from the water column before shipping with the right identification.
There is some really interesting research into cnidarians and their body function in combating disease!
 

sprungson

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Very nice write up! I actually a few year back I took a bunch of magnificas that were going through deflation cycles to my old professor at Suffolk county community collage. He’s a micro biologist. We were able to identify the bacteria infecting the magnifica anemone through sampling and culturing. The next step we were going to do was find a safe dose of a few common antibiotics used to treat anemones. I will have to find our write up wasn’t on here or any forum. But it was a common saltwater bacteria. My guess is this bacteria is always present in the water column and moving an anemone that’s more at risk to this infection.(ritteri/ gig) the compromised immune system can’t fight off this bacteria it’s normally used to living with. So the bacteria overgrows. Overpowering the anemone. Sometimes the anemone can pull through with no treatment but as far as we know there’s 100% something bacterial that goes on we just still have a long way to go to understanding it. It’s not always a bacterial infection too it’s just the most common. I see the same thing in the monkey frogs I Breed. I also import rare frogs from South America and all come in needing some sort of treatment due to the pathogens/bacteria on them and the stress of shipping opening them up to all these illnesses they normally would be fine living with:(
Very cool. I speculate my blue gig died from common bacteria. The reason why I said this is he was doing well for two months, and then I added a large dose of waste away macro bacteria to fight cyanobacteria and the gig went from nice and beautiful to dead and smelly in 48 hours! Lessons learned to never use waste away in my nem tank again.
 

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Wow, you need to start writing articles. Thats amazing work, truly great for the hobby. Glad I messaged you with my questions now, I picked the right guy!
I plan on it as soon as I have time I am going to organize my work and post it for everyone to read :) I will hopefully be starting to aqua culture magnificas soon and will be typing up a nice article on that soon Too :)
 

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That would so interesting to read if you have it!! :) particularly the identification of the exact bacteria as that will be very beneficial in identifying best treatment and possibly testing capability for infection. This could be something that could be eradicated from the water column before shipping with the right identification.
There is some really interesting research into cnidarians and their body function in combating disease!
I will definitely find it for you I typed it up quite a bit ago :’) and I agree I’m on the same wagon as you I hate treating animals I tend to avoid it at all costs so actually being able to identify what’s there and actually causing the issuing rather then just blindly treating with whatever you can get your hands on at whatever dose your best bet is :/ it’s also import because working with antibiotics is very, Very, Dangerous. the threat of creating super bugs that are immune to all our common antibiotics is very real there are already a few:/ so making sure you use the medicine the right way is always super important to me :)
 

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Very cool. I speculate my blue gig died from common bacteria. The reason why I said this is he was doing well for two months, and then I added a large dose of waste away macro bacteria to fight cyanobacteria and the gig went from nice and beautiful to dead and smelly in 48 hours! Lessons learned to never use waste away in my nem tank again.
I’ve had that happen before very intriguing it also happened to you I never thought anything of it other then a mysterious death untill you’ve said that. Must me some sort of correlation? I’m definitely going to research this further
 

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Nice recovery, I lost the one I tried after about 2 months, big nutrient spike due to a faulty test kit (not mine) at my lfs.
Why did it arrive in such a poor state?
 
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Lewbo

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Very cool. I speculate my blue gig died from common bacteria. The reason why I said this is he was doing well for two months, and then I added a large dose of waste away macro bacteria to fight cyanobacteria and the gig went from nice and beautiful to dead and smelly in 48 hours! Lessons learned to never use waste away in my nem tank again.
+@nemguy Ah so, I’ll find the research paper I mentioned above which talks about cnidarians using pro bacteria to combat bad bacteria within the body (like a micro ecosystem in the anemone itself) but this may explain why use of a product that removes bacteria could cause damage
 

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What I found interesting in examination of user cases is:
1. Ritteri’s not attaching was high (suggestive of foot damage) - to note Ritteri’s have a very strong foot hold compared to others and so collection or LFS may cause damage more often.
2. Ritteri’s wander and gradually go downhill over the course of 1 month to a year (suggestive of inadequate conditions)
3. Ritteri’s “melt” within the tank shortly after introduction.

The third here beings most interesting as the cause is unknown.

Thank you for sharing your views/experiences. Your observation #2 really piqued my interest: the observation that Ritteri's can decline within a few months to a year.

That has been happening to me! It's been extremely frustrating, because I have kept several ritteri's before, but they start declining in a few months to a year.

Case #1: ritteri is in a 135 gallon mixed reef with 1 gigantea, 1 haddoni, 2 BTA's, many Acro's, LPS. I can't remember if I ever treated it. I rarely/never fed it. From time to time it would move around but return to its perch. It wouldn't do this that often. Then, about 3 months ago, I noticed that the tentacles were shortening. I tried feeding it, but it had no feeding response. It walked more and more often. I decided to try treating it with cipro. Much to my shock, it went from looking semi-healthy, to DEAD during treatment! Had I known, I would've simply tried to move it to another system!

No, I did not add any livestock to that tank in a year. SPS, including acros, were thriving. So were my other nems. WHAT HAPPENED!!

Case #2: this ritteri is a clone from an established line of ritteri's. I have never treated with cipro (nor do intend to now, after what happened to the 1st one). This ritteri lives in an IM nuvo 40 + soft corals. I received this guy back in April, healthy. After about 4 months, happy on its perch, and never moving, I started to notice that it was balding. Seemed it was consuming its own tentacles. (I never fed it). It's not bleached. Right now, I moved it to its own 20 gallon tank and feed it every 2 days with shrimp. It barely has a feeding response. Never deflates though.

URGHHH. SOOOO Frustrating!

What are your thoughts on this? (And I apologize for high jacking your thread, just that one of your statements caught my eye!) Thank you for reading.

Jamie
 
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Lewbo

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Thank you for sharing your views/experiences. Your observation #2 really piqued my interest: the observation that Ritteri's can decline within a few months to a year.

That has been happening to me! It's been extremely frustrating, because I have kept several ritteri's before, but they start declining in a few months to a year.

Case #1: ritteri is in a 135 gallon mixed reef with 1 gigantea, 1 haddoni, 2 BTA's, many Acro's, LPS. I can't remember if I ever treated it. I rarely/never fed it. From time to time it would move around but return to its perch. It wouldn't do this that often. Then, about 3 months ago, I noticed that the tentacles were shortening. I tried feeding it, but it had no feeding response. It walked more and more often. I decided to try treating it with cipro. Much to my shock, it went from looking semi-healthy, to DEAD during treatment! Had I known, I would've simply tried to move it to another system!

No, I did not add any livestock to that tank in a year. SPS, including acros, were thriving. So were my other nems. WHAT HAPPENED!!

Case #2: this ritteri is a clone from an established line of ritteri's. I have never treated with cipro (nor do intend to now, after what happened to the 1st one). This ritteri lives in an IM nuvo 40 + soft corals. I received this guy back in April, healthy. After about 4 months, happy on its perch, and never moving, I started to notice that it was balding. Seemed it was consuming its own tentacles. (I never fed it). It's not bleached. Right now, I moved it to its own 20 gallon tank and feed it every 2 days with shrimp. It barely has a feeding response. Never deflates though.

URGHHH. SOOOO Frustrating!

What are your thoughts on this? (And I apologize for high jacking your thread, just that one of your statements caught my eye!) Thank you for reading.

Jamie
Hi Jamie,
Regarding observation 2, I’d almost certainly go with flow and light (if tank parameters are stable) - although I have read that they can tolerate long periods of very low nitrates (under 20)- although this is theoretical as only a few reports of this. This is an area I plan to test for after the year mark.

I’d almost certainly go with a lack of one of these though.

Perhaps someone with long term experience of Ritteri keepers can jump in re their setups @Nemguy123 etc as their success can be really beneficial - or pop along to their threads. My theory and understanding (this has worked for me so far, albeit a short space of time so far) is very high flow - I have heard many successful keeps say the Ritteri love flow with some literally sat next to the power head and never moved but would stress not direct flow as I have seen often people pointing their power head at the Ritteri and constantly readjusting them. if the Ritteri is wandering I’d say leave it. After a month if it has not stopped or it periodically then consider change but when you change, leave it again for a month.

Personally, I have two power heads pumping directly at the back wall where their flow meet and combine right where the Ritteri is sat. This then pushes a strong flow across the top of the anemone. I was worried it was too strong but mine has moved up to get in it more but never stepped into the direct flow. These are gyre’s that are meant for bigger tanks so generate good water movement. I’m still not sure mine will stay put as it’s early days but he has so far. I did set this tank up to meet the optimal conditions for it based on this research and based my coral choice around a very high flow.

Some common mistakes which I’ve never seen success from, are: power heads pointed at it, only one directional flow ie one pump blowing constantly from one side to the other and weak power heads.

Strong lights are a must and I actually hypothesise that this is why Ritteri success happens more now than it did several years ago. I think that possibly LED has the capability to replicate more natural light, more so than halides meaning the anemones are more likely to survive - again just a theory. I decided that the equipment is important and I bought AI because they are so powerful and just for this nem. An expensive investment just for one anemone I know!

What is your lighting and flow set up?
 
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And a picture as the thread gets boring otherwise. Biggest width so far today reaching my newly placed flags either side now - was a bit premature with their placing evidently!

I also fed today for the first time, a small uncooked prawn. Great feeding response, tentacles grabbed it pulled it in and placed it in its mouth, including fighting off the clowns who are forever hungry.

Oh and a picture of tentacle and oral disk, I find it amazing how the tentacles are in a perfect line from the central oral disk and that you can you see the sections almost in stripes

34C330BD-3523-40F3-BB34-9FAC63B4B65E.jpeg BA1B22F3-982D-42DA-99AB-BDE1D4DD166F.jpeg
 
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