can someone help me to ID my anemone?

[jadran]

I bought that guy 15 months ago.. It was in sad shape and I felt sorry for poor thing so I brought it home.. It was completely bleached at the time and it was sold to ma as BTA (E.quadricolor). I was feeding it heavily with squid, shrimps.. so with time it regained color and today finally looks healthy. I'm happy that I managed to bring it back fom the dead but now I doubt about ID.. I personally think it's ritteri.. Not only that i never saw their bubbles inflated, but it's tendency to wonder around (had a 6 months of drama with that girl walking over my corals :x till i finally learned how to keep it on the spot where I wont it to be..), than also all the pics. of Heteractis Magnifica I saw on the net, her preference of extreme light and water movement,and so on

15 months ago

OK, I know it's hard to identify that guy with 100% certainty but some help and pointers would be greatly appreciated


thx,

Mario


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[Anonymous]

From those pictures it looks like an E. quadricolor.
Is the oral disc the same reddish brown color as the base, and does the column of the anemone have any verrucae (bumps) or is it smooth?

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[jadran]

Hi Dave, thx for your answer

-for the anemone's column I'd say its smooth, no bumps..

-oral disc is same in color as tentacles (so there is color difference from base), when I got it it was also bleached, only around mouth it was bit brownish, it regained colors slowly in same fashion as tentacles did..

can you please elaborate, why do you think it looks like quadricolor?
After some reading I came to conclusion that my anemone looks more like member of Stichodactylidae family than Actiniidae..

 

[Anonymous]

Stichodactyla spp. will have verrucae (bumps) on it's column, E. quadicolor is the only anemone that doesn't, which is why I asked. Also Stichodactyla spp. live in the substrate, yours is in (on) the rock. The only anemone that yours remotely resembles in Stychodactyla is S. gigantea and the structure of the base, column, number of tentacles, etc. is all wrong. Are the tentacles sticky on your anemone?
I have to go to work, I get back to you later.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[jadran]

thx.

Yes, it have sticky tentacles...

Another thing that make me wonder about that anemone is E. quadricolor's tendency to seek and find suitable place to hide its foot. On the other hand my animal love the highest point on the rock structure/aquascape. Column's extreme exposure doesn't seems to bother it at all...

 

[Anonymous]

thx.

Yes, it have sticky tentacles...

Another thing that make me wonder about that anemone is E. quadricolor's tendency to seek and find suitable place to hide its foot. On the other hand my animal love the highest point on the rock structure/aquascape. Column's extreme exposure doesn't seems to bother it at all...

Ok I have a little time. Do clumps of tentacles pull off the anemone when they adhere to your skin?
Can you post a picture of the anemone from the top with the circulation turned off, that way I can see the oral disc, also if you can get a closer picture of the column I may be able to spot if it has verrucae.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[jadran]

hi Dave

Can you post a picture of the anemone from the top with the circulation turned off, that way I can see the oral disc, also if you can get a closer picture of the column I may be able to spot if it has verrucae.

unfortunately that will have to wait till the end of the week... girlfriend took digicam to vacation with her.. ..

Do clumps of tentacles pull off the anemone when they adhere to your skin?

No. definitely not..

Mario

 

[jadran]

i found that top pic, not the best one.. hope it helps

 

[Anonymous]

Beautiful anemone regardless of the species and nice work getting it back to health.

 

[Anonymous]

The last picture sealed the deal.
Looking at all the pictures and your description, I would say you have a Heteractis magnifica.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[jadran]

8) thx for the help and compliments of course it was interesting how it was seeking a most exposed place to light and water movment. Had to rearange aquascape to meet its desires, it looks more or less like that

I have another ritteri related question (sorry guys for bothering you so much)I didn't notice any growth with that animal, OK it was half dead when I got it and that can may explain it... On the other hand I understand magnifica gets quite big in nature.. What is normal growth rate per year (when fed good) and is there a way to improve it?


thx

Mario

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure what the growth rate per year would be in nature but they can attain the size of 3 1/2 feet in diameter. Anemones tend to flux in size depending on the amount of food available.
I'd continue to do what you've been doing as it looks healthy and not knowing the size of your tank I wouldn't overfeed as you'd constantly be upgrading your tank size.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

Wow! H. maghnifica was what I was thinking when I saw this shot...

Congrats on keeping a very difficult anemone! Your tank looks nice...can we see some more shots?

 

[jadran]

...they can attain the size of 3 1/2 feet in diameter.

Yes, and live over 100 years, (Joyce. D. Wilkerson in her "Clownfishes book" speculates about 300) and looking from that perspective keeping such creature seems like damn waste of animal life..
Friend of mine have 20 year old one in his fish shop ....in dedicated aquarium, with a pair of A.clarkii in it.. Impressive display!
I''ll continue to feed it with squid and shrimps + all the mysid that end in it's tentacles when I feed my fishes...

Congrats on keeping a very difficult anemone!

Thx, I have had some limited success with some hard to keep animals such as flowerpot coral, blue linckia, now ritteri anemone...

Your tank looks nice...can we see some more shots..

thx, sure..


Its 18 months old ZEOvit driven SPS/LPS dominated 120g tank

some info:
Specific Gravity: 1.026
Ca: 425-450 (Salifert)
KH: 9 (Salifert)
pH: 8.1 – 8.3
Mg: 1300 ppm (Salifert)
Phosphate: 0 (Salifert)
Nitrate: 0 (Salifert)

Lighting: giesemann 2x150 moonlight260, Its a great lamp but why o why haven't I bought 2X250Watt, + 2x t5 attached to canopy

filtration: LR, heavy duty H&S skimm (dreaming about bubble king) zeovit filter active carbon

water circulation: return pump, Turbelle stream Kit TS07, +powerhead in dead corner

H&S calcium reactor, top off, bla, bla..

current issues: pyram snails and flatworms

I don't feed my corals at all..

Aquarium is Ok, I'm happy with it but planing to change filtration method. Idea is to stop with zeovit and to build 50-60g refugium, for filtration and display puropses... Plan is to fix it to wall next to the tank and overflow it to same sump.. But sump is to small and space disallows me to place bigger on under the tank.. still working on that one.. :roll: Its still in planing, have to look nice too (without pipes all over the living room.) I'm limited with time and money, hope to make it happen this year..


Mario

 

[bam20747]

it is very beautiful whatever it is, you have a very lovely tank

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, I missed all those pics first time around... very nice tank!

And to both you guys...
:welcome:



Matt