PETCO Anemone

[jlp.xiii]

Okay, so I went to my local Petco to buy a stand they sell for 40 gal breeders that was actually made out of real wood instead of particle board. In espresso! Pretty cool. Anyways, I was browsing (read: taking pity on) the saltwater tanks as I always do when I venture there and I saw this amazing specimen still floating in its shipping bag. I couldn't let the creature die in that horrible place so I bought him right away. It's a beautiful (Haddoni?) carpet, beautiful green tentacles, not bleached.. Measures 6-8" easily. Long story short, I get this guy home & acclimated to the water and he's been acclimating in the tank all day. I dimmed the lights way down to allow time to adjust since he was just shipped and all seems to be going well. The mouth isn't gaping like at first (never saw its guts) and it's super reactive to the touch and sticky as heck. I'm pretty sure i even felt a small shock.. Probably just my imagination, lol.
I was simply wondering if there was anything I can do to help this guy out with his acclimation process, seeing as how it's an amazing creature and my clowns are in love.

Sorry for the picture quality, some of that is the actual water. I added about 20 lbs of new aragonite sand and forgot to rinse it like an idiot so my water looks disgusting.

[jlp.xiii]

Picture 2

[jlp.xiii]

Picture 3. The mouth has closed more since this one.

[juniorrocketdad]

Nice anemone, if you don't mind me asking how much did it cost, the petco near me usually doesn't know what they have and way undercharge, I'm just curious

[bobbravo2]

Looking good. Nothing more to do except cover up your powerheads and don't feed it for a few weeks while it adjusts.

[jlp.xiii]

Thanks! It only cost me $36.00! That's the crazy part. I was amazed. And okay, but why not feed it bob? Just curious. I wanna get this one right, I had a nem before and it didn't make it. /:

[jlp.xiii]

Edit

[Thebigreefer]

I saw similar ones at my local petco, they had 3. Your is the same coloration too. I wish I could get one but my tank isn't mature enough yet. It's 20% off this weekend too!

[davocean]

Food is not their main source of energy, lighting is, and it's common that we just leave them alone till they find their happy place.
After that small foods like mysis are usually best.

[jlp.xiii]

I just saw something similar to what you just said about avoiding things such as silversides. How long should I wait between increases in the lighting, both in intensity and duration?
And yeah, they had three as well. One was pretty bad off and the other was simply way too large for my tank. I felt horrible when I saw them floating there. I know what happens to things that arrive at deathco...

[DasCamel]

I got the same exact deal/find last year at a local Petco.

Same exact color Haddoni also.

You can ramp up the lights fairly quickly, start at half and go up 5-10 percent every 2-3 days. Haddoni will contract naturally if they it's too much light. Getting him to find a spot he likes can be tricky.

Be ready to treat also.

[juniorrocketdad]

Nice deal on it, like I said the people at petco just get random things and guess the prices

[jaylensdad06]

Originally Posted by jlp.xiii

Picture 3. The mouth has closed more since this one.

sounds like u saved him.

[jlp.xiii]

Okay so I don't know if I should panic yet or not but I came home to the nem looking like the following.. Still reactive to the touch and seems to be moving around quite a bit. It's just got me worried.. Any advice?

[jlp.xiii]

Deflated nem

[davocean]

Probably fine, should open up more as lights are on.
Keep in mind it could easily take a week or more to adjust to your tank params

[videsilva]

These a VERY strong anemones and you would really have to try or be unlucky to have it die. They are FISH eater and WILL eat your fish if they get too close,especially at night when fish sleep near the bottom the nem will stay open and then its STICKY @@@@

If you feed them small amounts of frozen shrimp to start they will grow VERY fast. In a day or two put some food on it and see if it closes up and eats.

[ncaldwell]

My wife manages a petco and the biggest problem is lack of being able to QT things and the shipping companies. I wanted a carpet for the sale this weekend but the 5 carpets she got had no water in the bags (literally 0) and were at 58 degrees when received. Makes me mad to see how stressed out the animals arrive

[DasCamel]

It's not looking too good, if it keeps deflating like that I would worry. If it detaches diefinately treat. Especially if it starts to smell. It does take a lot to kill one, just don't ignore the signs.

[davocean]

Actually it looks pretty typical of a new hadonni to me, and foot is set, looks like about where it should be.
Best is to chill and observe.

[davocean]

Originally Posted by ncaldwell

My wife manages a petco and the biggest problem is lack of being able to QT things and the shipping companies. I wanted a carpet for the sale this weekend but the 5 carpets she got had no water in the bags (literally 0) and were at 58 degrees when received. Makes me mad to see how stressed out the animals arrive

It's actually pretty common to ship them w/out water, they hold their own.
Nems are exposed to air at low tides for quite a while and often, half a day easy.
I've had vendors ship to me this way.

[D-Nak]

Originally Posted by ncaldwell

My wife manages a petco and the biggest problem is lack of being able to QT things and the shipping companies. I wanted a carpet for the sale this weekend but the 5 carpets she got had no water in the bags (literally 0) and were at 58 degrees when received. Makes me mad to see how stressed out the animals arrive

This is how many exporters ship anemones. Totally a normal and accepted practice. The logic is that without water, the nems can't release waste into the water. Once they foul the water, it all turns to crap (literally). However, the opposite logic is that without any water, the nem holds the waste inside its body which could lead to internal issues.

Since no one has ever done a study to see which shipping method is better, and since the ones without water manage to survive, it's still done this way. I happen to think it's because water adds weight, and weight costs more money to ship. Why add water when there's no apparent benefit? Many times snails are shipped with only a wet paper towel or newspaper and they are fine.

I also know that some retailers ship nems with a lot of extra water, and these nems still come down with infections and die. So extra water is not the answer either.

Finally, many anemone species live in tidal lagoons where they are frequently exposed -- oftentimes fully exposed -- to air. They also live in very turbid water and thrive. So, we know that something is happening when the nems are collected and held that causes them to bleach, and/or develop infections. Healthy nems can typically take quite a beating and still manage to survive.

[D-Nak]

Originally Posted by davocean

It's actually pretty common to ship them w/out water, they hold their own.
Nems are exposed to air at low tides for quite a while and often, half a day easy.
I've had vendors ship to me this way.

Beat me to it!

[davocean]

Originally Posted by D-Nak

Beat me to it!

I see your beer and raise two more back at ya!
I'm sure OP will be toasting his success soon, meantime just leave that nem alone and let it be.

[jlp.xiii]

Yeah, this nem didn't have much water. But I just had to know so I can report that the nem is definitely still sticky, so I'll just let it do it's thing from here on out. He's actually looking a *little* better.. Fingers crossed. Lights have been dimmed towards off cycle now so we'll see what tomorrow holds! Thank y'all for the advice!