What a horrible statement!

[flsalty]

Thats a nice nem, not that I know what it is. Nems do poorly in captivity despite the success some people manage. No one here breeds weeds lol what are they thinking. People kill aiptasia on sight.

There are desirable weeds and less than desirable weeds.

 

[Wiz]

Were you ever able to identify your mystery nem?

Not exactly. It looks the most like an octopus anemone. But a few of the characteristics and the color do not match anything I can find.the Octo nem is fairly rare to the hobby so it's possible I just have a weird specimen. But if you search octopus anemone or red octopus anemone, all the pictures of that anemone are exactly the same. None of them are red. They are ALL dark brown or blackand the specs of color are only on the top of the nem and carry through the center to the mouth. Mine is red and the specs are on every inch of the tentacles including the bottom but stop at the central disk. That is a dark brown color. It may be this type. I just can't find one that looks even close. And all the pics I can find look very much alike. So that bugs me.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

It kind of looks like a Beadlet Anemone to me. Minus the curls and the tentacles

 

[Wiz]

These are octos

 

[Shadowbass]

maybe she referred to harder species like magnifica, ritteri type anemones. that or maybe she had a bad experience that makes her feel a certain way about them.

 

[Jguido1987]

Have you looked at a Beadlet Anemone? I read it’s a colder water species but some people have been successful keeping them in warmer tanks.

 

[atoll]

That was true until fairly recently. Technology and knowledge has come a long way in the last 10 to 15 years especially. By weeds I'm assuming she is referring to aiptasia and majano anemones.

Not in my 36 years experience, it isn't. I kept magnifica nem back in the 80s for years before breaking the tank down and knew of others keeping nems successfully. Maybe we in the UK were ahead of US aquarists back then in keeping marines.
I have found talking to some "experts" that they are ignorant in what hobbyists are able to do and keep. A friend of mine who is a hobbyist did a degree at Uni in marine biology. His professors stated certain animals he was keeping successfully could not be kept for more than a few weeks in captivity needlessly to say he was and continued to do so and even invited one or two to visit his home and see for themselves. That was many years ago and things have changed of course but there is still a certain amount of ignorance by certain professionals about just what we are achieving in the hobby.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

There are desirable weeds and less than desirable weeds.

The only desirable weeds are the nice looking ones like alot of zoas for example. I would describe orange bam bams as a weed

 

[atoll]

Definition of a weed. A weed is just a plant you don't want

 

[Tahoe61]

I would not be the least bit offended.

Some of the more hardcore stick heads think Red Planet is a weed, personally I love it, it always boils down to personal preference.

One or two BTA in a tank is attractive to me, a tank covered in BTA no so much, that is just me.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I hope that was her meaning because I completely disagreed with it when she said it. But you would think even being retired she would be up on anemones if it is her specialty.

There are many more anemone species than those that live in tropical waters. We have a few at the National Aquarium in Baltimore that live in 50* water. If she specialized in deep or cold water anemones, it doesn't sound too crazy that she may not be able to identify a tropical specie. Additionally, keep in mind that identifying the taxonomy of marine organism can be very difficult. Some stony corals can't be identified from a picture or by sight alone, which is pretty incredible if you think about it. Some stony coral species can't be correctly identified without performing a necropsy on the tissue or a dissection of the skeleton, which is even more incredible. My supervising aquarist at the Aquarium has decades of practical experience in marine biology and a graduate degree from an outstanding institution, yet even he doesn't know everything. He knows a lot about the animals in our exhibits, but he's certainly not an expert on taxonomy.

Additionally, to her comments about tropical anemones not doing well, realize that some anemones in the wild are believed to be hundreds of years old. Even if an anemone survives for years and years in captivity, that's only a fraction of how long the animal may live in the wild. In this context, it's not inaccurate to say that anemones don't do well in captivity, relatively speaking. There are countless fatal hazards in captivity (power outages, equipment failure, poor water quality, etc) that anemones in the wild simply don't face.

 

[atoll]

There are countless fatal hazards in captivity (power outages, equipment failure, poor water quality, etc) that anemones in the wild simply don't face.

Global warming...Or is that climate change.

 

[Dancingmad]

<3 my BTAs and they thrive(like weeds :p) . Got another horse trade planned this weekend w/ my lfs - dropping off 10-15 nems in exchange for things! What a beauty my weeds have some value.

Without an ID temp is what would drive me bonkers(to start..then other things would make me lose my mind..more..). Best of luck on this one bud - Please drop us a followup pic/video from time to time! That is a sweeeet lookin' nem. If you get some success don't forget to share with the professor for smiles in grins :).

 

[Chalice Kingdom]

All weeds are bad?? Depends on the weed. If you love that weed, who cares what other people think.

 

[Gweeds1980]

Lol... how is Daphne? I can assure you she meant no offence. She has been on a lifelong mission to dissuade hobbyists from keeping nems. The vast majority sadly do die and it's safe to say that ALL nems eventually perish in captivity, compared to in the wild (the disclaimer is that they can live for hundreds of years in the wild, as no-one has had a tank running for more than about 60 years, it's safe to say not a single captive nem has died of old age).

 

[Gweeds1980]

All weeds are bad?? Depends on the weed. If you love that weed, who cares what other people think.

Just to be pedantic, surely a weed is just something that is growing somewhere where you don't want it to be? So by definition all weeds are bad... if it isn't bad to you, then it ain't a weed.

 

[lawise]

Just to be pedantic, surely a weed is just something that is growing somewhere where you don't want it to be? So by definition all weeds are bad... if it isn't bad to you, then it ain't a weed.

Check it out some of the Earthly so-called weeds that grow outdoors are some of the prettiest flowers and plants on Earth! [emoji16]

 

[djreef]

I will say that it is not true on every case but in some instances there is definitely a noticeable split between aquarist-hobbyist and aquarist-hobbyist/biologist.

For example, one of my wife's cousins runs a respected aquarium here in FL. But the second we start talking aquariums with her she shuts down or changes the topic. Turns out that she believes the specimens should either be in the ocean, or in a research facility, not in a private hobby aquarium.

And I have run into a few others who have similar stories.

Silly response given that many coral species only exist in our homes now, and any hopes of repatriation of said species lies with those willing to donate frags to those willing to make the effort to re-seed the oceans (ie marine scientists). Throw on top the tremendous amount that we (reefers) have learned in the last 30 years that would have never been uncovered by the scientific community and you have a very strange irony there.

I just don’t understand why there isn’t a hand in glove relationship between our two communities given both sides have so much to gain.

DJ

 

[atoll]

I just don’t understand why there isn’t a hand in glove relationship between our two communities given both sides have so much to gain.

DJ

Hear hear. Maybe a bit of professional snobbery, I have witnessed such in the past. :(

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Global warming...Or is that climate change.

Warming oceans could be a potential hazard to wild tropical anemones, as could ocean acidification. I don't know the specifics on that, however. Another risk in the wild is predation. Some turtles have have been known to eat anemones. But my original point was that the conditions that occur in a tank during a power outage will almost never happen all at the same time on a wild reef. However, those failures occur all to commonly in captive aquaria.