anenome question

[Dubge]

Ok I have a small pink anenome that came from Petco. It has been in my tank for a little while with no problems and eating great. Every now and then it closes up and opens up, I assume is normal, it moves around the corner overflow area a good amount always letting its tenticles hang in the bottom slots of the overflow. Well I got home from work a few days ago and it had its self 3/4 of the was INTO the little overflow slot. It had compressed itself and slid through during the day! Once he was fully in there he expanded again 8O Now he has been just sitting in there moving around very little (but still moving)

What do I do???? Will he come out himself? Will he die in there and if so how would I get him out? A cloths hanger maybe?

thanks
Ray

 

[Len]

How big is the overflow? I'd take him out because you don't want to see an anemone being sucked into a pump or overflow pipe. Although it might find its own way out, it might not ever happen and is more likely the anemone will stray too close to the pump or downpipe (not sure how your overflow is set up). Most overflows are large enough to get your hand in there to manually extract an anemone. Cloth hanger or any sharp objects is not recommended. A small net can do if you can't get your hands in the oveflow.

 

[Anonymous]

It sounds to me like the anemone needs a higher flow environment than what you're providing in your tank. Anemones are notorious for finding their own 'comfort zone'.

Several questions immediately come to mind as well... How long has your tank been set up? What other inhabitants are there? How much lighting do you have? What were the parameters for your most recent salinity, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and pH readings?

 

[Dubge]

Ok I got home today and he has come out! As for sticking a net down there....there is a 1/4 inch space between the 2 walls so there is no way I could get a net around him as he was fully open inbetween the 2 walls. If he went over the wall he would have just sat in the 2 inches of water in the overflow till I removed him. there is a sponge preventing anything large from going into the hose.

The tank is about 4 months old. With a couple damsels(to be removed soon) a couple clowns, a couple peperment shrimp, a blue tang and a yellow tang some xenia and a handful of herit crabs and snails, I did add some GSPs a couple days before. as for my parameters all was normal 0's, PH was 8.2 salinity is 1.023/.024

I know the lighting is a little bad (I only have a 50/50) but new lights should be here this weekend (4x55, 2antic-2 10K)

Here is a pic just after he came out and of the little slots he went through

Ray

 

[Dubge]

pic

 

[Anonymous]

Whew, thass one bleached out anemone! He'll be much happier with higher lighting!

 

[hdtran]

Looks a little like a Condylactis (Haitian or Florida purple or pink-tipped anemone).

Hardy, as anemones go, and needs only moderate lighting (e.g. VHO or PC ok). They will wander until they find a spot they like. They do need to be target fed. A small (green pea or BB size) chunk of raw shrimp, fish, etc. about 2x/week, in addition to whatever they get leftover from your feeding your fish. Skip a feeding rather than overfeed if you go on vacation.

When they choose to poop, get ready to panic, because they'll look dead. But they'll come back to life in about 6-12 hrs.

 

[Dubge]

he is more pinkish purple not white....it is just the way the pic looks.

thanks for the tips

Ray