Rock Anemone on the move. should i be concerned

PvD · Aug 10, 2015

Hi,

I've had an orange rock nem in my tank for a few months now. Up until a week ago, he sat peacefully on the bottom of the tank in the sand. I noticed a few days ago that he was gettign mobile. Normally this would not concern me too much, but this morning i noticed that he has moved half way up the glass towards the surface.

Should i be concerned? any thoughts on whats going on/wrong here?

Thanks,
PvD

mochaclownlover · Aug 10, 2015

Did you change/add any new lights power heads recently?

mochaclownlover · Aug 10, 2015

Guy on Melevsreef had the same thing going on with his mini-maxes

PvD · Aug 10, 2015

nothing has changed in the tank with lights. i did some chemistry this AM and found the following:

PH: 7.8
Phos: .03
Alk: 7.5
Calcium: 380

Midrats · Aug 10, 2015

Mine get a little restless under strong flow but stay in the same general area. I've never had one climb up the glass. They seem to prefer the back and forth flow of a standing wave over strong pulsing laminar flow.

PvD · Aug 10, 2015

This is the 2nd rock anemone I have had that decided to climb the wall. Lets just say it this way... I only have 1 rock nem in my tank now

so I'm motivated to try and help this guy.

Midrats · Aug 10, 2015

When I get new ones I like to corral them with a little rubble to get them to stay put. In my experience these anemones, as far as anemones go, usually stay parked.

Z06-Hec · Aug 10, 2015

Do you have a cat in the house? Does your cat stick its paws in the tank and bother the tank?
Could def be the cat !

PvD · Aug 10, 2015

yeah it must be the cats.... always a comedian in the house

Amoo · Aug 11, 2015

If this is your second doing this, I would think it would be something they might have in common. Were they in the same spot originally? These guys are not my specialty, but have you tried adjusting flow in the location you are trying to get it to stay to see if you can find something to keep it happy?

I think @Tahoe61 has some of these and might be of help.

Z06-Hec · Aug 11, 2015

I mentioned that to him on the last one...
Another issue, I believe these nems like small rocks/rubble?
He has 2 giant island rocks leaned against each other and the rest is just sand.
IMO try to break some into smaller rocks and put a pile in a corner and see if the nem likes that.
His carpet has been doing great for over a month in his tank already but they like to be in the sand... It has not moved much since he got that one.

I tell you its the cat !
LOL

zwulfke · Aug 11, 2015

Mine move time to time I have one that will move the whole length of the tank from one fan to the other. One has stayed in the same spot for months and one was in no light he is whitish now but, moved yesterday to the back of a rock wall in to the light. they move as needed as any animal does. they also spawn around this time so they may be moving for that reason too. I know the night of the blue moon I had mine spawning shut all the pumps off hope I get babies

PvD · Aug 11, 2015

zwulfke said:
Mine move time to time I have one that will move the whole length of the tank from one fan to the other. One has stayed in the same spot for months and one was in no light he is whitish now but, moved yesterday to the back of a rock wall in to the light. they move as needed as any animal does. they also spawn around this time so they may be moving for that reason too. I know the night of the blue moon I had mine spawning shut all the pumps off hope I get babies

you think i should turn pumps off for a bit?

PvD · Aug 11, 2015

rock on the left near the other foscam

Harold Green · Aug 11, 2015

Mine are up into the rock work. They tend to stay out in the light for a month or so then retreat down between the rocks for a week or two and then back into the light. They don't seem to like really intense light but the red ones like more light than the greens from my experience. They're more likely to stay in one place if you feed them daily.

PvD · Aug 11, 2015

i tried feeding him some chopped silverside, but I couldn't get him to eat... but I didn't really think rocks needed daily feeding -or any meaty foods for that matter.

What do you feed rock nem's

Harold Green · Aug 11, 2015

I feed mine small foods, mysis shrimp, cyclops, anything that's small and easy to digest. From what I've read rock nems do best with very little food or daily feedings. Not so good on weekly feedings. Don't know why but mine are a year old and I've had some for several years with no problems. I actually treat mine as though they were filter feeders making sure they get phyto mixed with cyclops, coral frenzy, etc. washing across them so they can pick up whatever sticks to them. I feed my zoa's and metallic anemonies the same way. I make little effort to individually feed any one animal but shut off the return pump and add my filter feeding mix to the tank allowing 30 minutes for everything to feed before I restart the pump. I let the wave maker continue to run to flow the food around the entire tank. Feeding the entire tank generally stimulates most of the corals to open and feed so it's a good time if you need to individually feed one or two specimens.

PvD · Aug 12, 2015

Thanks for all the responses.... last night i had to do a little maintenance in my tank and was able to gently coax the rock nem back to the floor in the sand. hopefully he will be happy there