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FAQs on Anemone Identification 18

Related Articles: Anemones, Bubble Tip Anemones, LTAs, Cnidarians, Coldwater Anemones, Colored/Dyed Anemones,

Related FAQs: Anemone ID 1, Anemone ID 2, Anemone ID 3, Anemone ID 4, Anemone ID 5, Anemone ID 6, Anemone ID 7, Anemone ID 8, Anemone ID 9, Anemone ID 10, Anemone ID 11, Anemone ID 12, Anemone ID 13, Anemone ID 14, Anemone ID 15, Anemone ID 16, Anemone ID 17, Anemone ID 19, Anemone ID 20, Anemone ID 21, Anemone ID 22, Anemone ID 23, Anemone ID 24, Anemone ID 25, Anemone ID 26, Anemone ID 27, Anemone ID 28, Anemone ID 29, Anemone ID 30, Anemone ID 31, Anemone ID 32, Anemone ID 33, Anemone ID 34, Anemone ID 35, Anemone ID 36, Anemone ID 37, Anemone ID 38, Anemone ID 39, Anemone ID 40, Anemone ID 41, Anemone ID 42, Anemone ID 43, Anemone ID 44, Anemone ID 45, & Cnidarian Identification, Anemones 1, Anemones 2, Anemones 3, Anemones 4, Anemones 5, Invertebrate Identification, Aiptasia Identification, Aiptasia ID 2, LTA Identification, Bubble Tip Anemones, Caribbean Anemones, Condylactis, Aiptasia Anemones, Other Pest Anemones, Anemones and Clownfishes, Anemone Reproduction, Anemone Lighting, Anemone Feeding, Anemone Systems, Anemone Compatibility, Anemone Selection, Anemone Health, Anemone Behavior, Anemone Placement,

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Anemone Success
Doing what it takes to keep Anemones healthy long-term

by Robert (Bob) Fenner

Turkish anemone ID and Velvetfish info 2/2/08 Hello Crew, <Felicia> Thank you for your website. I go here every day, it is very helpful to me. <Ah, good> I have been trying to ID this anemone for months. These photos was taken by a friend in the Sea of Marmara. He asked me to ID it, and I have no clue! Can you help? <I wish I had my copy of Helmut Debelius "Mediterranean and Atlantic Invertebrate Guide"... Do look for this work: http://www.nhbs.com/mediterranean_and_atlantic_invertebrate_guide_tefno_131276.html am pretty sure I've seen this distinctive pedicle before...> And for your Velvetfish page, I thought you might like to post one of my photos. This is my Caracanthus madagascariensis. <Thank you for this. Will post with credit to you> He lives in my 55 gallon aquarium with some small gobies and pipefish and miscellaneous inverts like corals, small crabs, and a squat lobster. He hides constantly. I've heard they may eat small fish, but he hasn't eaten anyone, yet. He is very easy to feed, not picky, I feed Cyclops, mysis, etc. I don't feed pellets, but I bet he would eat them. I'm definitely more careful about where I put my hands, but I'm not overly worried that he will sting me. Even though he rarely moves, I really enjoy watching him. <Thank you for sharing. Bob Fenner>
Anemone identification -01/29/2008 Hello, I am trying to get identification on these anemones that came as hitchhikers on live rock I purchased; they don't seem bothered by light and close up when the lights are off. They appear to have two rows of tentacles one row on the edge of the disc the second more towards the center and perpendicular to the first row. They are tan in color and the center is green in color. I apologize for the quality of the picture it was taken with a laptop camera as the digital camera I have provides less than desirable photos. At any rate any help you could provide with identification would be appreciated. <Pics are blurry, but they look like Aiptasia. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/Aiptasia/aiptasia.htm> Regards
drafterdude
<Best,
Sara M.>

Anemone ID, E. Quadricolor or Majano -- 1/28/08 Hey guys! <Hello, Brenda here!> This little guy came in on one of my last shipments from Indo, possibly the last one. As I was removing some polyp rocks from being dipped I noticed a few polyps on the bottom of the pan so I just tossed them into the tank, well apparently not all of them were Zoa polyps like I thought. I was cleaning the glass with a mag glass scraper I noticed what I thought was a Zoa polyp on the scraper inside the tank. On closer inspection it appears to be an anemone. <It is definitely an anemone.> It is green and purple with a bright green foot; roughly 60 tentacles (don't remember which kinds have what number of tentacles). <This anemone appears to be starving. I can't be positive on the ID, but this anemone does resemble a starving, roaming, E. quadricolor. It may also be a Majano (pest) anemone. Both of these anemones have very similar features. I would move to quarantine and feed very tiny portions of food. Once this anemone recovers an ID will be much easier.> Thanks, Phreak <You're welcome! Brenda>

Re: Anemone ID, E. Quadricolor or Majano -- 1/28/08 It looks more like a green bubble tip then a quadricolor. <Green bubble tip is one of the names commonly used for the E. quadricolor. They are both the same species.> I forgot to mention this thing is tiny, like the size of an ink pen. <I have seen a few E. quadricolor anemones this size. However, there is still a good possibility that you have a Majano anemone. Brenda>

Re: Anemone ID, E. Quadricolor or Majano -- 1/28/08 I'm 90% sure it is not a Majano. <I hope it is an E. Quadricolor. That would be a nice hitch hiker! Please send me an updates on this anemone. Brenda>

Re: Anemone ID, E. Quadricolor or Majano -- 1/29/08 With it being so small, the only thing I can think of to feed it is Cyclop-eeze... Any suggestions? <I recommend tearing off the tiniest possible piece of silversides, krill or mysis shrimp, and feed once daily. Brenda>


My vote's on Anemonia. RMF.

Re: Anemone ID, E. Quadricolor or Majano -- 2/8/08 I've been feeding it Cyclop-eeze since its so tiny, and here are pics I took today of it. <Mmm, needs more than this. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/anemonefdgfaqs.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner

Anemonia

Powder Blue fdg., nitrates, anemone ID, reading This is my first post to this site, and I thank you for the help the information here had already provided. Had I found this site a year ago, instead of relying on a lot of bad advice from the LFS it would have saved many animals. I have three questions which I've split into separate sections hoping this makes it easier for you. First an intro to my tank Equipment (Plan/hope to upgrade to 150+ gallon with wet/dry, refugium, MH/PC lights, plenty of live rock, wavemaker, etc in 6 months as funds allow) has been running for a year, first as FO, then FOWLR, now moving very reefward, though we need to stop and catch up on equipment 65 gallon with All Glass hood lights (only 30-40 watts, I think); Fluval 304 with Bio-Max, carbon, Phos-Zorb and filter floss; 40 lbs live rock, 55 lbs substrate (crushed coral, aragonite sand, live sand), Prizm skimmer, 200W heater - will definitely add powerhead(s) in next few days, may make other upgrades but will likely save money towards better system and get my animals in there ASAP Parameters: NH3 & NO2: undetectable for > 6 months, NO3 40-50 ppm (20-30 ppm from using conditioned tap water, switching back to RO), <Good. NO3 issues are adequately addressed on WWM> Ca 410 ppm, Alk 14 dKH, pH 8.3, salinity 1.025 (a little too much fluctuation from evaporation here, will work to correct), temp 77-8 F, 24 gallon changes every 2 weeks Livestock: 4" Kole tang, 3" Powder blue tang, 2.5" Humu humu, 1" flame Hawkfish, 3" Blenny (tentative ID as black or brown Combtooth), 2x 3-Stripe damsels ~2", 11" Snowflake eel, urchin (sold as Christmas urchin, though I can't find anything similar - morphology similar to pincushion with purplish/brown body and white and orange spines), assorted hermit crabs (~20, mostly Clibanarius tricolor and Paguristes cadenati, but 1 each Dardanus megistos, Clibanarius vittatus and dwarf yellow tip hermit), Ophiarachna incrassata, serpent star (think it's still alive somewhere, but missing most of its legs, suspect Dardanus megistos), flame scallop (still alive after 10 months without target feedings, and doubled in size), orange tree sponge, tube anemone, Holothuria atra, 4 Nassarius snails, 2-3 limpets, and several coral hitchhikers, including an open brain (did have a period of decline, but not really improving or declining now) and several mushrooms 1) My powder blue was a recent purchase, and I knew I was taking a chance, since he was very thin, but he was cheap so I decided to try. (I had really good luck with the last three "bargain" tangs in my tank, a 4" yellow, 7" yellow and a 6" Regal, having cured Ich and HLLE in all specimens, before failure of the Fluval's pump suffocated all) After reading more on him, I realized just how much of a challenge I had ahead of me. He's active and eating and has gained some weight in the two weeks I've had him. Other than algae sheets with Selcon and Zoë and Spirulina brine shrimp, what can I do? <See WWM re New Life's "Spectrum" fish food line> I know, finally a QUESTION 2) This was an interesting find: a conch shell with 6 anemones, two small tubeworms and live barnacles. Trouble is the anemones were sold as curlicues, which from comparison to other pictures online, they are not. I was told they are nonphotosynthetic and just to feed a small amount of whatever animal based food I was feeding the fish (pellet, flake, frozen). Can you ID these guys, and give me any insight as to their care? <Mmm, am out in Hawaii, away from my in-print ref. works... but this species is "on the tip of my tongue"... ARE non-photosynthetic, or at least facultatively so... but can't recall much else re> They all have an orange mouth, which on most is surrounded by a thin purple ring. Also their colors didn't show up well in these pictures. One has a darker purplish hue to the tentacles and another has orangish tentacles. They are aggressive feeders of whatever drifts to them, even taking large pieces of krill intended for the eel. <I do hope BrendaF or LynnZ will respond in time re... Will place in there in-folders> 3) Switching back to RO (got lazy about packing 24 gallons at a time upstairs) should drop nitrates by half, but I'd like to reduce them further. I have quite a bit of nitrogen being produced in the sand bed, but not enough of it comes to the surface. I attempt to rake the sandbed regularly, but this is of marginal effectiveness at best. My Nassarius snails have survived quite some time in the tank buried in the sand, but I don't think they surface enough to really be effective. Seeing as my wife is set on another porcupine puffer (one died 9 months ago when heater was accidentally left unplugged after water change, another during suffocation mass extinction) what do you suggest as an animal that will provide good sifting to bring the deep nitrogen to the surface? Thank you so much David <Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marsiftfaqs.htm and the linked files above. BobF>

Re: Species List! and follow-up on Anemone ID 1/25/08 Thanks, Bob. Also, thanks for the "Outstanding" comment yesterday - it made my day! I really do enjoy the challenge that ID questions present . Unfortunately, when it comes to anemones, I'm somewhat lacking. I've been looking into the query you put in my folder, and I really don't know what kind of anemones those are. Brenda and I discussed them at length this afternoon and she believes that they might be "Jeweled Anemones", Corynactis spp. <Mmm... do look like this genus in some respects...> For my part, I've looked through every book I have, as well as all over the internet and can't come up with anything that "clicks". At first I thought that maybe they were a Calliactis sp. - based on this photo: http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/de/48/905/Calliactis/polypus.htm. Then I thought they might be Nemanthus sp. , Amphianthus, or even Dofleinia.. I just can't seem to pin it down. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help on this, but if you know of a good resource book for anemones (for the future), please let me know. I thought for sure those anemones would be in the Baensch Atlas, but no such luck (or at least I didn't recognize them). By the way, do you want me to put that query back into the main marine folder to give someone else a crack at it? <Methinks you two are about our only shots...> Regarding the species list, thanks, it's good to get this project off the ground! By the way, I'm close to finishing up the algae section, so once I do that and make a couple of corrections (I forgot to put crustaceans under Arthropoda - duh!) I'll send it on to you. Hopefully you'll have it on/by Tuesday. At that point, I'll go ahead and send a copy to Neale as well. I figured I'd hold off on that until it was complete. Take care and have a great week in sunny Hawaii! -Lynn <Thank you my friend. Cheers, BobF>

Re: Powder Blue fdg., nitrates, anemone ID, reading -- Brenda's Opinion 1/29/08 This is my first post to this site, and I thank you for the help the information here had already provided. Had I found this site a year ago, instead of relying on a lot of bad advice from the LFS it would have saved many animals. I have three questions which I've split into separate sections hoping this makes it easier for you. First an intro to my tank Equipment (Plan/hope to upgrade to 150+ gallon with wet/dry, refugium, MH/PC lights, plenty of live rock, wavemaker, etc in 6 months as funds allow) has been running for a year, first as FO, then FOWLR, now moving very reefward, though we need to stop and catch up on equipment 65 gallon with All Glass hood lights (only 30-40 watts, I think); Fluval 304 with Bio-Max, carbon, Phos-Zorb and filter floss; 40 lbs live rock, 55 lbs substrate (crushed coral, aragonite sand, live sand), Prizm skimmer, 200W heater - will definitely add powerhead(s) in next few days, may make other upgrades but will likely save money towards better system and get my animals in there ASAP Parameters: NH3 & NO2: undetectable for > 6 months, NO3 40-50 ppm (20-30 ppm from using conditioned tap water, switching back to RO), <Good. NO3 issues are adequately addressed on WWM> Ca 410 ppm, Alk 14 dKH, pH 8.3, salinity 1.025 (a little too much fluctuation from evaporation here, will work to correct), temp 77-8 F, 24 gallon changes every 2 weeks Livestock: 4" Kole tang, 3" Powder blue tang, 2.5" Humu humu, 1" flame Hawkfish, 3" Blenny (tentative ID as black or brown Combtooth), 2x 3-Stripe damsels ~2", 11" Snowflake eel, urchin (sold as Christmas urchin, though I can't find anything similar - morphology similar to pincushion with purplish/brown body and white and orange spines), assorted hermit crabs (~20, mostly Clibanarius tricolor and Paguristes cadenati, but 1 each Dardanus megistos, Clibanarius vittatus and dwarf yellow tip hermit), Ophiarachna incrassata, serpent star (think it's still alive somewhere, but missing most of its legs, suspect Dardanus megistos), flame scallop (still alive after 10 months without target feedings, and doubled in size), orange tree sponge, tube anemone, Holothuria atra, 4 Nassarius snails, 2-3 limpets, and several coral hitchhikers, including an open brain (did have a period of decline, but not really improving or declining now) and several mushrooms 1) My powder blue was a recent purchase, and I knew I was taking a chance, since he was very thin, but he was cheap so I decided to try. (I had really good luck with the last three "bargain" tangs in my tank, a 4" yellow, 7" yellow and a 6" Regal, having cured Ich and HLLE in all specimens, before failure of the Fluval's pump suffocated all) After reading more on him, I realized just how much of a challenge I had ahead of me. He's active and eating and has gained some weight in the two weeks I've had him. Other than algae sheets with Selcon and Zoë and Spirulina brine shrimp, what can I do? <See WWM re New Life's "Spectrum" fish food line> I know, finally a QUESTION 2) This was an interesting find: a conch shell with 6 anemones, two small tubeworms and live barnacles. Trouble is the anemones were sold as curlicues, which from comparison to other pictures online, they are not. I was told they are nonphotosynthetic and just to feed a small amount of whatever animal based food I was feeding the fish (pellet, flake, frozen). Can you ID these guys, and give me any insight as to their care? <Mmm, am out in Hawaii, away from my in-print ref. works... but this species is "on the tip of my tongue"... ARE non-photosynthetic, or at least facultatively so... but can't recall much else re> They all have an orange mouth, which on most is surrounded by a thin purple ring. Also their colors didn't show up well in these pictures. One has a darker purplish hue to the tentacles and another has orangish tentacles. They are aggressive feeders of whatever drifts to them, even taking large pieces of krill intended for the eel. <I do hope BrendaF or LynnZ will respond in time re... Will place in there in-folders> 3) Switching back to RO (got lazy about packing 24 gallons at a time upstairs) should drop nitrates by half, but I'd like to reduce them further. I have quite a bit of nitrogen being produced in the sand bed, but not enough of it comes to the surface. I attempt to rake the sandbed regularly, but this is of marginal effectiveness at best. My Nassarius snails have survived quite some time in the tank buried in the sand, but I don't think they surface enough to really be effective. Seeing as my wife is set on another porcupine puffer (one died 9 months ago when heater was accidentally left unplugged after water change, another during suffocation mass extinction) what do you suggest as an animal that will provide good sifting to bring the deep nitrogen to the surface? Thank you so much David <Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marsiftfaqs.htm and the linked files above. BobF> <<I'm not positive on the ID, but I believe this may be a Corynactis viridis, commonly referred to as a Jewel Anemone. Brenda>> >Thank you Bren. BobF<

Anemone ID, Epicystis crucifer -- 1/18/08 Hi there! <Hello, Brenda here!> I was wondering if you could help me identify this anemone. <Sure can!> I've searched and searched, on your website to, which is really awesome and helpful. Thanks guys! <You're welcome!> I just can't seem to find this one. <It is an Epicystis crucifer. It is commonly referred to as a Rock Anemone, and/or a Flower Anemone. More information found here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/atl_anemfaqs.htm > I've had him for little over a year now and everything was going great, until he started moving. I don't know why or if he could harm any of the others. <Do you mean other anemones? Mixed species of anemones do not do well together long term.> For now everything has gone fine, but I want to be sure. Help please. Thank you in advance.
<You're welcome! Brenda>

Unknown live rock ID... Looks Like Aiptasia 1/12/2008 Hi Bob and crew, <Hi Mark, Mich here apologizing for the delay.> and season's greetings to you all. <Thank you and to you and yours.> Firstly, congrats on a brilliant site full of info. <On behalf of Bob and the crew you're quite welcome.> I have attached a photo of an unknown critter? <Looks like Aiptasia to me.> that has appeared on my live rock. This thing does not move, however its legs? do sometimes pull in on themselves. I have searched through you website, and various others, but have not yet seen anything like it. The central body is about 3mm in diameter. I would be very grateful if you could shed light on it, and confirm it is a goody or baddy, <Does not look like a friend to me.> as I am very new to this marine tank malarkey and such. <Heehee! There is a lot of malarkey to learn!> I assume it be friendly, as it does not appear to move around the tank. <Well may be worth just observing but it does look like a pest anemone to me.> Keep up the good work. <We will try!> For info, I have a 94 litre tank, 2 Clowns (Nemo type for Daughter) <I would recommend avoiding the addition of any anemones until the tank is up and running for at least a year and you have gained some experience as an aquarist.> 1 turbo snail, 3 hermit crabs, 1 cleaner shrimp and 2 small emerald crabs (LR hitchhikers) <Watch these emerald crabs... can be predatory.> Mark, United Kingdom.
<Mich, USA>

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