I've had a Haddoni Carpet and 3 Magnificas. I have to say, my favorite nem is the Mag. My Haddoni ate every dang clownfish that tried to pair with him. And he ate anything that touched him, like a bottomless pit. Great nem, easy to care for. I got lucky with him, from a Petco too.
My Mags are a different story. First one was lost due to some fluke of a disease or problem that took out all of my BTA's and a few fish too. Ruled it all down to either crap coming out of using Live Sand (I never use live sand anymore by-the-way) or the Teflon tape used in some of the plumbing for the tank. Needless to say, Teflon is not on my Bill of Materials anymore. My other two Mags are doing well, one having recovered from too much Royal Blue lighting (its possible with LED's), and the other nem was just in a fight with my Gyre pump not two days ago. He's recovering, though lost a lot of tentacles.
So yes, nems move. You have to protect them by covering those dang powerheads, and do use a holding tank and be ready for treatment if the nem shows signs of sickness after you just acquired him, before putting him into your display tank. Water quality and stability is paramount to longevity. Along with great, not good, great lighting. I highly recommend Metal Halides where feasible, but bulbs are getting harder to find. LED's are great, I recommend Ecotechs or AI's, but really it's about good PAR and Spectrum. I think, and I'm open to discussion on this, if you can keep Maxima Clams or LPS corals, or follow the suggestions for those, then you can apply the same rule to Mags or Carpets. Keep in mind, Mags grow really big, stretch their tentacles everywhere and are most likely to move about more so than Carpets. I've seen carpets move too, but they seem to stay put more once they've got their foot buried in something. Mags just want that perfect light/flow/open area and don't like to be crowded.
My Mags are a different story. First one was lost due to some fluke of a disease or problem that took out all of my BTA's and a few fish too. Ruled it all down to either crap coming out of using Live Sand (I never use live sand anymore by-the-way) or the Teflon tape used in some of the plumbing for the tank. Needless to say, Teflon is not on my Bill of Materials anymore. My other two Mags are doing well, one having recovered from too much Royal Blue lighting (its possible with LED's), and the other nem was just in a fight with my Gyre pump not two days ago. He's recovering, though lost a lot of tentacles.
So yes, nems move. You have to protect them by covering those dang powerheads, and do use a holding tank and be ready for treatment if the nem shows signs of sickness after you just acquired him, before putting him into your display tank. Water quality and stability is paramount to longevity. Along with great, not good, great lighting. I highly recommend Metal Halides where feasible, but bulbs are getting harder to find. LED's are great, I recommend Ecotechs or AI's, but really it's about good PAR and Spectrum. I think, and I'm open to discussion on this, if you can keep Maxima Clams or LPS corals, or follow the suggestions for those, then you can apply the same rule to Mags or Carpets. Keep in mind, Mags grow really big, stretch their tentacles everywhere and are most likely to move about more so than Carpets. I've seen carpets move too, but they seem to stay put more once they've got their foot buried in something. Mags just want that perfect light/flow/open area and don't like to be crowded.
