Sebae Anemone

[Ocyurus]

I have recently aquired a white sebae anemone and I was wondering about the care for it? What do they eat? How much current do they prefer? How much light? Any info would be appreciated?

 

[Len]

Derek,

Unforunately - in most cases - white hermatypic invertabrates (those that acquire some/all nutrition via photosynthesis) means the invert has expelled most of its symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae). Until it regains it's zooxanthellae population, you'll need to subsidize its nutrition requirements with frequent feedings. Feed it any fatty/meaty food sized about 1". Examples include raw ocean fish, scallops, squid, clams, and shrimp. Silversides are also an option. Food should not be frozen, and rejected foods should be removed and discarded. Vary what you feed to ensure proper nutrition. Place the food in its tentacles, preferably in proximity (but not directly on) its orafice. Feed two to three times a week until it has regained a healthy coloration (actual color will differ from specimen to specimen).

Sebae anemones (Heteractis crispa) require a sandy substrate. Put it next to the tank's bottom; It'll burrow its foot into the substrate, exposing only its tentacles. In my experience, H.crispa prefers to settle between where sand and rock meet.

Water motion should be moderate to strong. H.crispa anchors its foot deep in the substrate, and holdes it's body down with sticky verracue under it's oral disk. Strong current will be no problem for it.

Lighting should be moderate to strong too. Place in direct light; remember: anemones have the ability to move if light is either inadequete or too strong.

It's also my experience that giving the host anemone a clownfish improves its vigor. Perhaps it's simply the fact that clownfish bring the anemone food ... but in any event, this is my general observation.

Good luck. I hope your specimen regains its zooxanthallae (after which, care is extremely easy).

[ September 05, 2001: Message edited by: Leonard ]

 

[Minh Nguyen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Derek Black:
<STRONG>I have recently aquired a white sebae anemone and I was wondering about the care for it? What do they eat? How much current do they prefer? How much light? Any info would be appreciated?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
White anemone=Anemone in poor health.
You will need to feed it well and hope it will brown up. If it regain its zooxanthellae it will be easy to keep. Feed it small bits of fish and shrimp (mine tank pieces up to about 1 cubic cm in size. If I feed mine sebae with a larger piece, it usually regurgitated it up later. Try to feed it every day to every other day until it regain color.
These anemone prefered to be in the sand at the base of a piece of LR. They requires bright light. Mine is under 400 W MH of center. There is gentel current straght down to the anemone from above. He is doing great. I try not to feed him too much so he won't growth too fast. I got him all bleached about 1 dolar coin size fully extended. This was about 6 months ago. Now he is green with purple tip and about8 inches across fully extended. He never moved from the place I initially place him.
Good luck with your's

 

[Anonymous]

i purchased my sabea anemone before i discovered these boards. i got the pretty white one at the LFS along with two small perculas. the percula never took to the anemone so i ordered a couple of clarkii's from where my SO buys her birdfood. i say all this to assure you that my theoretical knowledge of this animal is even smaller than my direct experience.

anyway, the sabea is fine. has found itself a nice hole to bury it's foot in a piece of LR above the quarter inch of CC. and seems happy there in the 1X55watt PC and 2X175watt MH's.
the clarkii sleeps in him and brings him food. little pieces of dethawed shrimp that the the clarkii steals of the prong when i'm trying to feed my snowflake eel.

i get the impression that a good place to attach important to the anemone. the next one that i get (green carpet), i plan to let roam around and find a comfortable rock and then i'm gonna tilt/twist the rock to my viewing pleasure.

this probably seems ignorant, but it's where i'm honestly at in the learning curve. if anybody can straighten me out, then flame away

thanks in advance,
po

 

[Len]

Carpet anemeones (Stichodactyla sp.) are bad ideas. S.haddoni is your best bet, but is still a bad buy (especially for new anemone keepers).

The tilting of the rock idea is not a good one. The anemone will orient itself to optimize light availability. Leave it be once it settles.

With the amount of feeding you're offering to the anemone and your eel, I recommend frequent water changes. 20% every other week or so.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the quick reply Leonard!

i'll start dripping a garbage can full of RO water tonight. the refractometer should be here in a few days and then i'll start those %20 water changes twice a month.

i'm afraid the carpet anemone is a given since my SO feels sorry for the percula because he gets bullied by the clarkii. and "flipper needs an enema too".

wait, unless there's some really cool coral that i could get to host the percula. seems like i've read about these hosting corals somewhere. anybody know off the top of their heads what might work for a percula?

somehow i want these factors (givens and variables) to equal out into an beautiful reefscape.

btw, leonard your website and tank pics rock!

po

 

[Grandczar]

Lighting is only important if you plan on starving the anemone. They recieve only "carbs" from the zooxanthellae. In essence, it is nothing more than a candy bar to hold them over(i.e. Snickers). Feeding is the real "key". They can get plenty of carbs, and the other nutrients it needs, from direct feedings. Anemones can live with no light if fed alot directly. They can NOT however live off only light.

I really wish folks would stop treating anemones like plants. They are animals and need to be FED!

You can have a "pale as a ghost" anemone that is perfectly healthly. With proper direct feedings ofcourse.

From what you folks are saying would lead me to believe people with darker skin are healthier than lighter skin. Think about it!

 

[jamesw]

Grandczar,

Are you paraphrasing directly from the Dr. Ron forum on Reefcentral?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Lighting is only important if you plan on starving the anemone. They recieve only "carbs" from the zooxanthellae. In essence, it is nothing more than a candy bar to hold them over(i.e. Snickers). Feeding is the real "key". They can get plenty of carbs, and the other nutrients it needs, from direct feedings. Anemones can live with no light if fed alot directly. They can NOT however live off only light.
I really wish folks would stop treating anemones like plants. They are animals and need to be FED! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Believe it or not, there are many people who disagree with Dr. Ron on this one, so the jury is still out. One thing I think everyone agrees on though is that anemones need to be fed.

Anemones basically get carbohydrates from their symbionts. In case you didn't know, carbs are an important part of just about EVERYTHING's diet. They are a quick and "at the ready" source of energy.

Since most host anemones (the kind we like to keep) are found in the top 20 meters of water where light is brightest, I am led to believe that they evolved to fit that niche. Doesn't that go along w/ Dr. Ron's theories about inverts and evolution?

Cheers
James Wiseman

[ September 06, 2001: Message edited by: jamesw ]

 

[Len]

As I remember, Ron's got some interesting opinions on applied evolutionary principles. Of course, this is only from memory, as I have no way of visiting his forum in Reef Central anymore

 

[Keith wants a Reef]

Derek you will want to cover the intakes on your powerheads, I don't know about Sebae's but many anemones will wander around looking for that perfect spot. Often they will wander into the powerheads

.

good luck

 

[Anonymous]

Leonard,
the percula is removed. thank you and everyone for the advice and for sharing your experience and knowledge.

to tell the truth, now that the mail order option and this forum have opened my eyes to a more healthy and diverse tank possibility, i didn't really like the idea of having two clowns. especially when i'm limited to just about 6-7 fish. now if i could only catch that blue damsel

btw, my sandpaper just came in from Knight Industries. the instructions warn of possible acrylic partical contamination. does anyone know if my sabae anemone will fare better if i just do a little at a time or do the whole tank at once? i recall that the thread i read where i got the info to call Knight in the first place and someone then had reported no problems. any new information?

thanks in advance,
po

 

[Minh Nguyen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Grandczar:
<STRONG>Lighting is only important if you plan on starving the anemone. They recieve only "carbs" from the zooxanthellae....
..........
I really wish folks would stop treating anemones like plants. They are animals and need to be FED!

You can have a "pale as a ghost" anemone that is perfectly healthly. With proper direct feedings ofcourse.

From what you folks are saying would lead me to believe people with darker skin are healthier than lighter skin. Think about it!

</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Anemone and corals need to be fed. That much is true. However, I have no luck in keeping either coral or anemone that stay in the bleached state for very long it they don't regain their zooxanthellae.
The brown color corals and anemones got from their zooxanthellae is not at all similar to the pigment we human got on/in our skin. Your last statement makes no sense at all.

 

[Len]

Grandczar,

It is true that anemones require fleshy foods (protein and fat) and are not obligated to use light. But light energy isn't as frivilous as "candy" that you suggest. The energy derived from photosynthesis is a large component of metabolism. Although it does not provide material for tissue growth and maintanence, it does provide energy for life processes. A hermatypic anemone void of photosynthesis shouldn't be considered "on a diet" - it is, in every sense of the word, unhealthy. It may survive a lifetime if fed enough, but I'm sure you'll admit that this is an impossible scenario in our closed systems. Photosynthesis is a faculative function only if we're able to provide proper alternative nutrition - which, as stated, I believe is not possible in our small ecosystems.

BTW, same things can be said for most corals capable of capturing prey (this is almost every species). Acropora sp. have exhibited awesome growths in public aquariums lit only by a few standard flourescent tubes. These aquariums were fed very heavily. Of course these aquariums were not closed sytems (they were partially open to fresh seawater). We aren't afforded the same luxory.

[ September 06, 2001: Message edited by: Leonard ]

 

[Len]

pojohnny,

I suggest you remove the A.percular. It's a much simplier option then finding it a proper host. And no coral would make a good host for an anemonefish.

 

[davelin315]

I was under the impressin that there were certain species of anemones that were actually white or very close to being white, the sebae being one of them. Don't know if this is just an anemone that has bleached, but I have seen white ones with the purple tips, and always thought they were just white anemones. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this, as I have never bought a white anemone, as I always had a suspicion they were bleached (kind of like those "white" mushrooms some of my LFS try and pawn off as rare), but was always told they were fine, that was their natural coloration. As an example, (forgive me if it's more colored than I think, I'm a bit color blind my wife tells me), look at the flying fish express website picture for a sebae anemone. That one is more or less white, with maybe a tinge of yellow (at least to me).

[ September 07, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]

 

[Grandczar]

An anemone has many ways to get its food.
Regardless of the path choosen...
It must meet 100% of the animals needs for it to be "healthy",IMO. The zooxanthellae cannot do this for the animal. Does not matter how much light you give it.

Direct feedings can give the animal 100% of its needs.

Unless you determine that you will not keep an anemone in a tank. That you know you can't properly directly feed it in, and export nutrients properly. Then you will have to supply other food route(s)for the animal.

*Just dont fool yourself!*

Just because an anemone has healthy zooxanthellae. Does not mean the animal itself is healthy. That is why they MUST be fed!This would not make anymore sense than my reply previously. (hence, the stupid statement...)

If you choose a small tank then be ready to compensate, and meet the animals needs. I must ask though why you would do this to an anemone, but not a tang(small tank)?

*IMO* With the advice seen above I *might* be able to keep an anemone alive. Healthy though, is a whole 'nother ballgame. Just cause something is alive does not mean it is healthy.

Here is analogy for ya...
Zooxanthellae are like a UPS(backup power supply) for a computer. Sure it can run it if you lose power(how long though?. Does that mean you should do it on purpose? Why not, just do things right and use it for what it was meant?
HTH

side note: I do read Dr. Ron's posts. So alot of my thought process is along the same lines. I do not use the post to reference what I say. If this is what you mean.

Please tell me why with the "current" methodology, we as hobbiest, have such a difficult time keeping these animals in our aquariums. They are very hardy and live very long life's in the wild.
Could it be the "current" methodology is wrong?

[ September 07, 2001: Message edited by: Grandczar ]

 

[Minh Nguyen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by davelin315:
<STRONG>I was under the impressin that there were certain species of anemones that were actually white or very close to being white, the sebae being one of them. Don't know if this is just an anemone that has bleached, but I have seen white ones with the purple tips, and always thought they were just white anemones..........
...look at the flying fish express website picture for a sebae anemone. That one is more or less white, with maybe a tinge of yellow (at least to me).
</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

All hermatypic anemone or other inverterbrates should have a base color of brownish due to their symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae)
H. crispa (commonly called sebae anemone) often bleached by place in the dark before selling by collector. Often they also dyed with bright color dyes. These anemone invaribley died after a few weeks. Please stay away from them. It doesn't matter what Dr. Ron said about light requirement. He keeps his anemone under MH. It is very true that they need to be feed to growth and be healthy. My anemone will not growth and maybe shrink in I don't feed him directly.
With direct feeding and with good quality water, many anemone are not hard to keep. Still they are harder to keep than many corals and fishes.

 

[jamesw]

Here's a picture I took at about 30' of a healthy sebae anemone in it's natural environment:

Compare that to a pure white or even yellow anemone that is typically what you see at an LFS.

Yes, there are white anemones in nature, but they are not host anemones. If you've ever been to the northwest or an aquarium hosting those critters, the Anthropleura sp anemones they keep are a good example.

HTH
James

 

[Dragonlady]

http://netpets.com/fish/reference/reefref/heter.html

This is an excellent article by Albert Theil on Heteractis anemones. Perhaps it will help you in keeping your sebae anemone.

 

[Mike106]

Hello,

I have a BTA that I have had for over a year now that is whitish/yellow with pink tips with a dark brown base. So, I disagree that white always means unhealthy...but most of the time true. He has moved to a indirect lighting location (400W MH) that gets low current. I feed him meaty foods about once per week....whatever the cleaner shrimp doesn't steal! It is a beautiful animal, I just wish he was in a more viewable spot. I have no way to post pictures so if someone can post them for me I will e-mail them.

Mike