Ritteri Recovery – Big tank you to OrionN

[OrionN]

Are your sure about the guilt of your Magnifica? I certainly have my bias, but it is more likely that your flame Angel jumped out and a pet cat got it on the carpet.
You don’t have any top on your tanks. Do you have any cat or other animal at home?
In the 30+ years of keeping Magnifica I never lost a fish to a Magnifica.

 

[FernBluffReef]

Are your sure about the guilt of your Magnifica? I certainly have my bias, but it is more likely that your flame Angel jumped out and a pet cat got it on the carpet.
You don’t have any top on your tanks. Do you have any cat or other animal at home?
In the 30+ years of keeping Magnifica I never lost a fish to a Magnifica.

Not absolute no.

The fish is gone and no evidence of it found after an exhaustive search. The anemones behavior at the time is very “indicative” of a significant feeding response and we have not been feeding the nem. It only gets to eat what it can catch of broadcast fed brine shrimp. Eg Tight balled around time the flame gone missing and over 24 hours before returning to norm / fully open and fully inflated which is unusual for this nems behavior as we’ve observed to date anyway. Usually if it catches brine just a portion of the nem moves to feed and it only does so for 15 minutes or so).

The nem continues to get surprisingly stronger and stronger, and after this response there is now another very noticeable, if not dramatic improvement and I thought it was already doing quite well. It’s becoming a really really really nice nem - I’ve not seen one like it. It’s really standing up now and its tentacles are much longer and very well inflated vs many of the photos I have seen. I need to start turning the lights up the last bit from 84%-100% and the whites back up some now that the algae is getting under control and decide once and for all if and what I’m doing for more light as it’s clearly reaching now that it’s healthy).

I’ve had a number of nems before and never had one as nice a this. I’ve never had a Ritteri but I have had other nems that are known to prey. I need to take a more current photo. If it continues to expand as it is, it will quickly outgrow our tank. I let the wife have it figuring it would be some time before getting big. It may not be as long as hoped before a bigger tank is required.

Either way I don’t really blame the nem, as we got home late, dealt with the new corals and felt bad for the fish not getting dinner after the lights had already gone off, fish heading to bed and the moon lights still rising. Aka I expect we may have spooked the fish or it chased food in the lower light into the nem.

But anyway I’ve had a number of nems in the past and the response here was very consistent with dinner being served but cannot say with absolute certainty.

Under the moon below. Sorry for reflections

 

[Hot2na]

mine ate a green chromis not long ago...

 

[FernBluffReef]

Daytime with cameo appearances from the supporting cast.

It will continue to stand a bit taller to the light as the day goes on. As said I need to focus on bumping the lights up next.

 

[ca1ore]

Agree with Minh ….. 25 years of keeping mags and have not hd a single healthy fish get eaten. Cannot make the same claim with my haddons. Flame probably died and got ‘reduced’ ….. happens remarkably quickly. Or cat/dog food. A nem balling up is not a reaction to a meal. Mine do it all the time. It’s more a sign of a happy animal.

Once you get a mag acclimated and happy they are remarkably hardy. I’ve kept close to a dozen over the years. Probably 75% needed treatment. Only one needed a second treatment, and ended up not surviving. I did lose one to a power head (it released and floated into the pump). Of course, it was the nicest looking one I ever had. All the rest ended up getting re-homed because they got too big.

 

[FernBluffReef]

All that matters in the end is I have a very nice and healthy nem thanks.

 

[FernBluffReef]

RE: All the rest ended up getting re-homed because they got too big.

I figured size might eventually be an issue as I understand these can get to 3’ in the wild and told closer to 2’ in tank. I figured I’d have a few years to worry about that.

I ask as have a RS525 so five foot tank. The rock bridge in the picture above is about 18”. Fully open the nem is covering around 14” which is far more than double / nearly triple in size from when first in tank just 3 months ago. If it continues to grow at this rate I will be either rehoming in less than 6 months or getting a bigger tank to hold it yet the wall the tank is on max is 6’ so I can’t get much bigger. I’m already considering if I need to get some more epoxy to strengthen the rock bridge connection points as it’s relatively light duty.

Nem is loving it the more I turn the lights up. I’m thinking the 300-350 PAR it’s getting or probably 400+ given its reach now is enough as I can’t afford for it to get much bigger much faster. LoL I just bought this tank and it’s not even fully cycled yet and I’m talking going bigger or rehoming already.

 

[OrionN]

Just don’t feed him. If you have really clean water without a lot of nutrients in the water he will really grow slow if any. I was able to keep a Magnifica ina 24 gal cube for many years under 250 W DE MH. I only have a pair of clowns with him in that tank.
On the other hand, with feeding I got a 6-8 inches to 18 inches in 12 months.