Novice Owner of a New Sebae

[Xanthus]

I went looking for a nice anemone for the clown I got a few months ago when I got my tank established. I have an ocellaris clown, and asked the LFS guy what he suggested. He pointed out the bubble tip, he had green and rose, and some long-tentacle ones.

Unfortunately the long tentacle ones were really too big for my tank and the bubbles were bought by another customer just as I came in. He has a small gross-looking bubble tipped that he said budded off from the main one that was bought, but he wanted full price for it and it was small and very sad looking. This didn't seem a good deal to me.

Fortunately (or not?) for me, the local PetCo has an extensive and always extremely healthy-looking saltwater section, which I find strange to see in a chain store like that, but I'm not one to complain. I attribute it to Travis, the guy who works there, he's ALWAYS there, spends a ton of time obsessing over the tanks and really seems to like saltwater a ton, I think he mentioned he had 3-4 tanks at home as well.

Unfortunately, I've found Travis, while well-meaning and generally getting good results, isn't always the best info source. He'll often steer you in the right direction...but for the wrong reason/explanation.

So, I found some really good looking but super small bubble-tips in Travis' care, and a few medium-sized and good-looking Sebaes. Based on looks and ease of getting them out (the bubble tips were rooted into big rocks, while the Sebaes weren't, I grabbed up a nice-looking Sebae anemone.

Based on photos on this site and others I THINK it's an H.Crispa, and it seems to be in good health: tight mouth, no inflate/deflate, mobile tentacles, responsive to stimuli, sticky (not very though), and it's got a decent tan color in it's tentacles, rather than that sickly bleached white.

HOWEVER, it refuses to attach to anything. It doesn't seem to be any worse for the wear, 2 days after acquiring it, it's reactive, sharp-looking and seems healthy...but refuses to attach to anything! Rocks, sand, coarser sections of substrate...nothing.

I have heard this can be a sign of poor water quality, but my pH, alkalinity/hardness, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and salinity all seem to be nearly perfect! What else can I check? Is there another reason this anemone might be unhappy attaching in my tank?

I've attached some pictures, but they're taken with the tank darkened as the lights are on timer and it's past 8pm atm. I will take more pics later, if needed. Some of these are with flash, some are not.

[Tmoriarty]

You can try clearing a section of the sand down to the glass and gently burrying the foot in the sand. Try to do a section near to a rock as they seem to be happy there. Keep the flow in the tank low and give it some time to attach by not blowing it around a lot.

Best of luck.

Also Ill ask the questions someone else will eventually ask, how long has the tank been setup?

[Xanthus]

The tank has been setup from start about 4-5 months, it was running for about a month before anything was put in, with consistent clean water checks for about a week. I check the water about 2x a week and nothing's every off by more than a little bit. The only consistent thing I need to do is add pH buffer to keep the pH/alkalinity up.

We started with just crabs and 2 fish (clown & coral beauty angel). Eventually added 2 more fish and a couple feather duster worms. We've recently added the anemone a pom pom crab and some snails and that's all we plan to add as it's a fairly small tank.

The kits we have are water test strips and a refractometer. We have a big chemical test kit, but we only have the test read cards for freshwater. The company is sending us the proper cards for saltwater, but it's taking forever. We've taken the water in to a LFS to be tested a couple times and they say our water is very nice.

Oh, should have said: tank is a 28gal bowfront with a 2gal CPR backpack skimmer and 5gal CPR refugium. We set the main tank up with a deep sand bed as recommended by several guides and the LFS. the lighting is T5 HO that the LFS recommended for anemones, as we ran the intended setup past the guys there (and at PetCo) before buying anything.

The refugium is set on an alternate cycle to the main tank with the same lighting (smaller fixture). Macro algae in the refugium is chaetomorpha and caulerpa. We put Miracle Mud in the refugium, again based on testimonial from the LFS.

So far the only 'tip' the LFS has given on the anemone is to supplement the water with small doses of iodine on a monthly to bi-monthly basis as the anemones use it for growth? I was going to attempt researching this more first, of course.

[garygb]

I have an H. crispa that would not stay put until I put it's foot in a hole in the rock. It attached and has stayed there.

[Xanthus]

This is a fairly recent picture of the tank (taken last week I think?).

[jwoyshnar]

Sebae's will get quite large. I have 2 of them. One is 18" across the other is 15". These are pretty tough anemones to keep.

[Xanthus]

Originally Posted by jwoyshnar

Sebae's will get quite large. I have 2 of them. One is 18" across the other is 15". These are pretty tough anemones to keep.

Yes, I had read this, however the difficulty in keeping them seemed to be directly related to what horrible condition they're usually found in in stores. I didn't find any sort of info indicating that keeping a healthy one was difficult at all, given proper water conditions and lighting.

As to growth, after about another 6mo to a year we'll be moving and I'll probably be setting up a much bigger tank. We may be able to bring our livestock with us, but likely it'll end up donated to our LFS. So, with that time constraint in mind, I didn't think it would likely outgrow the tank by then, based on estimates on growth I'd read.

[westohooligan]

Water looks a bit cloudy; micro bubbles? I bought a very stressed/bleached H. Crispa that didn't attach for nearly 2 weeks. As mentioned, dig a hole out near the base of your rocks and put it there. Keep flow low so as not to blow it around the tank, or getting stuck in a powerhead. Try feeding very small bits of meaty food to see if it takes it, if not, wait a few more days and try again. Be sure to remove ANY uneaten food.

[Xanthus]

The day we got it, I used a feeding syringe to drop some frozen mysis shrimp mixed with phytoplankton powder onto it and it ate that right away. That was 2 days ago. It's actually more reactive now, by a lot. The tank looks cloudy in that picture possibly due to some micro bubbles, but likely smudged glass and glare from the nearby window. Usually we don't have a bubble problem.

The water has been slightly cloudy since we got the sebae, because I moved some rocks a bit to make room on the sand in the front of the tank for it, but that's settling out and it's nearly clear now.

I heard silver sides suggested as food, but some people said they had issues with that, what a better (best?) food?

[jwoyshnar]

Mine eat krill.

[Xanthus]

Ok, I'm at work right now, so my wife at home checked the water levels for me, still pretty spot on, and attempted "planting" it in the sand at the edge of a rock. It dug itself out and is sitting on it's side again. :/

She's put it in the corner now, maybe that'll work? I'm going to bring a water sample to the LFS tonight for some more detailed testing. Maybe they'll pick up on something I can't. Also, to get some krill or something.

[Xanthus]

Took some more pictures of the tank and the anemone, and a video, in case any of this helps. I believe the little white dots on things are bits of a white sponge that's been growing in my skimmer and refugium. As far as I've read/asked, it seems to be harmless and/or beneficial. The tank, as noted is still slightly clouded from kicked up sand both from moving rocks on Sunday and trying to 'plant' the sebae today.

The glass is still is little dirty, as the bowfront is somewhat hard to scrape due to the curve...and the handle on my scraper's shorter than I'd like.

[Xanthus]

Just finished at the PetCo. Did the full chemistry set style water testing: results same as always, my water's fantastic. So, just gonna keep an eye on the little guy and give him a krill when I get home. He seems to like that little white rock in the corner...but that's obviously too small to be a good place to root.

[Xanthus]

So, got home and the thing gave up on clinging to that little white peice of rock. I don't blame it. I'm giving planting it another shot. Dug it a little hole in front of a big piece of rock, put it in, filled it back with sand up to it's oral disc and then surrounded it with some smaller bits of rock. Maybe that'll help it feel secure?

Dropped a half of a krill on it since it's been about 2 days since we fed it and I don't know how much it needs to eat yet? I imagine the little bit of mysis shrimp and phytoplankton powder it ate won't keep it full for too long.

[Xanthus]

Looks like it pushed the krill out and is digging itself out again.

This is one ornery nemmie.

[garygb]

I recommend (again) putting it on a piece of liverock that has a hole where the foot and column can fit. That was the only substrate mine would attach to and stay put.

[Xanthus]

The only rock I have that has a suitably-sized hole in it, the hole goes all the way through and out the other side, so his foot would be nearly dangling out of the other side of the rock, which doesn't seem good?

[rhdoug]

His foot won't dangle out, but should attach either somewhere in the hole or it may reach around and attach to the back of the rock. They are quite mobile and flexible animals. You can also stick him in a crevice between some rocks. Mine does not like the sand but seems to prefer the rocks.

[Xanthus]

Ok, so I repositioned some rocks again, scraped a little of the glass I couldn't reach before (there's a plus, I guess), and put the little guy in the hole through one of my rocks.

The bristleworms that live in it are checking out his foot, which I hope doesn't indicate any problems. The anemone still reacted quickly to my motions, and looks pretty healthy, but it seems less sticky and it wasn't super-sticky to begin with. Is this a problem?

Anyway, since it didn't eat the previous krill bit I gave it another, which it hasn't reacted much to, but it looks like it's more busy trying to figure out what to do about being in the hole. Its foot is going all over looking like it's either trying to find a way out, or something below it to grab, I dunno which.

Anyway, pictures:

[rhdoug]

It is hard to tell from pics, but mine has been living in a similar rock formation for ALMOST 10 years. It did recently move a short distance (back to where it used to live about 6-7 years ago) for whatever reason, but it is still anchored in between large rocks.

[garygb]

Until your anemone attaches stop trying to feed it. In the unlikely event it ingests it, a bit later it will just expell it. Anemones won't keep food down when they're unattached, from what I've observed.

[westohooligan]

Originally Posted by garygb

Until your anemone attaches stop trying to feed it. In the unlikely event it ingests it, a bit later it will just expell it. Anemones won't keep food down when they're unattached, from what I've observed.

^ This. When I bought mine, it would not eat anything until it started to anchor. I could tell if had foot damage. It would only partially anchor when it finally did after 2 weeks. I had to give it some serious TLC. It's been about a month and it is browning up, fully attached, and has grown about an inch or so. Just be patient and GENTLE. Keep the water super clean, but don't go overboard with water changes either.

[Xanthus]

So, nemmie's still in the hole, but I dunno if he's "rooted" yet. I took some shots of his perch, and a new one of the whole tank, since the sand is settled now and it's nice and clear again. Cleaned the glass and tried to minimize glare to get a good shot.

The hermit crabs are frolicking around the sebae, I think waiting for it to spit out another krill like the other day, but I haven't fed it again, so tough luck on them.

[garygb]

I hope it attaches. Mine is in a hole similar to that, but it doesn't go through. If it happens not to attach, I would suggest you either chisel a nice hole into a rock, or try and find a piece of liverock with a natural hole in it. Thanks for the pics, those are helpful.

[Xanthus]

Yeah, if you look on the left behind the holey rock the anemone's in, there's sort of a 'shelf' on that rock, I might relocate it to there if it's not attached in another day or two.