Life of a S. Gigantea anemone in my care

[Anonymous]

Roughly four years ago I was given this anemone as a gift. It was labeled in the LFS as a 'blue carpet' anemone and was listed at $40. As you can see at the time it did somewhat resemble a haddoni spp. anemone. As it grew more healthy and mature in my systems, though, I realized it was most definitely not a haddoni and was most likely a stichodactyla gigantea sp. I was asked to put together a photographic history of it in my tank for an anemone research project, and I thought it would be cool to put the photos up here, too. We all take pictures of our tank all the time, but I don't think I've ever seen a contiguous series of shots of the same organism going through such dramatic changes.

-John

 

[Anonymous]

Next 3 shots...

 

[Anonymous]

Next 3 shots...

 

[Anonymous]

Next 3 shots...

 

[Anonymous]

Next 3 shots...

 

[Anonymous]

Next 3 shots...

 

[Anonymous]

Most recent shots...

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, you just HAD to catch up to me in post count, didn't you???

Oh, you just couldn't let sleeping dogs lie, COULD you???

Oh, you've awakened a posting BEAST, I assure you!!!



Great pics, John, as always. Really neat to see your baby grow up...



Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

Great shots. (I like #16 the best)

B

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, you just HAD to catch up to me in post count, didn't you???

Oh, you just couldn't let sleeping dogs lie, COULD you???

Oh, you've awakened a posting BEAST, I assure you!!!



Great pics, John, as always. Really neat to see your baby grow up...



Peace,

Chip

Hey I could've posted all those pics in individual posts! ;-)

 

[fishfanatic2]

It's, it's, it's BLUE!

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, John. That is a DRAMATIC change in appearance, isn't it? How could you have possibly identified it correctly from the outset? Very cool, thanks for sharing!

HD

 

[jamesw]

It looks like it goes through bleaching cycles Sharkky? How often does it do that?

Cheers
James

 

[Anonymous]

Basically it started bleached out, colored up when it went under MH, lost some color slowly as the MH changed spectrums (I was horrible about never changing bulbs), and now is a bit paler after switching it to VHO. Just last night I moved it way up near the surface in the 125, so we'll see if it colors back up all the way over the coming weeks.

 

[Anonymous]

What happened between shots 5 and 6? How much time elapsed between those pics?

 

[Anonymous]

It was temporarily moved from my system at home to a friend's system who had vastly better lighting. After about 3 months or so it went back to my system (with new lighting), so it kept its appearance. Slowly as the lighting shifted spectrum, the anemone faded somewhat. It's odd, because it stayed nice and tan/brown and still kept physically growing, but some of the blue faded away.

Now today it's lost some of its tan/brown coloration, but is still growing larger and larger and has regained a great deal of its bluish coloration.

 

[Anonymous]

How big was it when you got it, and how big is it (diameter of disc) now?

 

[Anonymous]

When I got it it was roughly the size of a teacup saucer--maybe 6" in diameter. Now when fully extended it's about 18" - 22". Also when I first got it it didn't really have much of a stalk at all--more like a haddoni sp., but now it has a good 7'-8' stalk when it rears up.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice pics! I have seen my H. crispa do the same kind of thing. I'll post the pics later (they suck, but I'll post 'em anyway)

 

[Anonymous]

early on...