A couple of weeks ago the two anemones that I had cut, for some odd reason just shrunk down and eventually, atleast what I think happened, a bacterial/protozoan infection took them out. The other anemone that was in the tank did not suffer any damage so Im questioning if this was due to chemical warfare. The one anemone that was not cut is not the same clone as the other two. Due to being cut and not eating as well as before I believe all these issues came to a head and the anemones could not cope with them all and succumbed to infection.
Before I knew that these anemones died I went to the LFS, (Local Fish Store) to get some water. That same day a guy brought in some clones from his tank that he did not want anymore and so I bought 4 of them, all for $10 each!! And one of them was just about to split off another clone! They were very small but very much the same as the ones that had just died in my tank. I brought them home and put them in the tank in the garage. I have been feeding them about every two days and they have taken to my tank quite nicely.
I also have taken out the one anemone that has no clonal tie to any of my anemones and put it in a breeder basket zip tied up in my main show tank in the house. The color of this anemone has really taken off under my metal halides and I am glad I decided to buy this one anemone, it shows a lot of potential.
My blastomussa colony that has been in my tank for ages now has recently just sloughed off a ball of tissue with some skeleton attached and so I got a picture of that to show you guys. I have fragged up this colony once and I will in the future due to its very nice coloration.
Mother colony feeding on mysis shrimp first and then the daughter colony.
I also purchased a nice colony of clavularia, clove polyps, that have awesome coloration, a bright green middle with orange highlights on the pinnule. This stuff is really growing fast in my tank and so will be fragging up this stuff as well.
And last but not least, I took some pictures of the anemones during feeding time and also some pictures of some colonies feeding in my main tank. About 45 minutes after feeding all of the anemones were back to looking like nothing had happened. I have also noticed that 2 days after feeding they are ready to eat again. I have also not noticed much rejection of the food (PE mysis and Hikari mysis) that I am feeding and so I will continue this feeding regime. I have tried krill and chopped up silversides to no avail and so I am sticking with mysis shrimp for now.
During Feeding
After 45 minutes, back to business!
I also have been testing the amount of food that I offer the anemones and have noticed that if the mysis shrimp are not attached to a tentacle that the anemone will not feed on it. They seem to "know" how much they want and if I pile it on the oral disc they reject most of it. I will have to fine tune this technique since I want to maximize feeding and reduce metabolic costs so these anemones will grow quickly.
Examples of too much food given. Notice the "pile" on the oral disc.
Here is a good example of the right amount of food given, it is the same picture as above. Notice all of the mysis shrimp are surrounded by tentacles and all of them are being pulled towards the mouth. Of course this is my personal experience and opinion, take it as you will.
My trachyphyllia colony at the beginning of feeding.
The same colony with a nice picture of the mouth starting to envelope the shrimp.
Random pics of a nice sized acan colony and a favia colony eating. The acan colony spreads out so much that its polyps get pushed up against the tank glass, that is why it looks so weird. :)
4 comments:
Things have been moving on nicely for you.
What is the Diameter of the RBTA's you have on the Pictures, it is hard to tell?
How many RBTA's you have now?
Well..some range from around just about 1.5-2" diameter to the large one in the picture about 6-7" diameter. I bought four but one had a bud on it and so now I have 5 total in the anemone tank in the garage, all by themselves. I took the other anemone out of that tank since I wanted to have only exact clones. I think the other cuttings did not heal up just right and never were super healthy due to some chemical allelopathy going on with the healthier/larger non clone/not cut anemone. I will be waiting for a bit to get these ones into a feeding routine and then plan on cutting them once they are all ready and large.
They all came from the same person/tank and so I am really excited for these 5. I know for a surety that these are clones and not just a mix and match like last time. :/
It looks like your RBTA's efforts have shown some fruits! Those cuttings are nice looking! What is the diameter of your anemones pre and post cutting? And are they taking the food you are feeding quite readily? I have never tried squid and mussels before. Do you buy them just at the supermarket or from the LFS?
Now they are about 4-5" after the cut, before the cut he was about similar size, maybe a little bigger.
Regarding the food, I feed them now every 2nd day with 1 large mysis and then mix it up Squid/Mussels/Artemia etc...They are savages when it comes to food, as soon as it touches 1 of the tenticals it get drawn in and then consumed.
These are just Frozen Blister packs that I get from my LFS. Sometimes I get fresh from the Harbour fishing boats when we make it to there, it is about 2 hours away...
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