Novice Owner of a New Sebae

[westohooligan]

That's pretty much what mine did and how its foot looked, all puffed out, but mine was completely bleached and stressed so I just assumed that was most of the problem. Yours doesn't look bleached at all. Since I only have experience with the one H. Crispa I have; I'm wondering if not attaching is fairly common when introduced into a new environment?

[Xanthus]

I'm wondering that too. The only thing I read was that they might not attach if the water quality is poor or there's too much or too little current. I've put it in places both on and out of direct current, and tested my water and had it tested and it's great. I'm testing again today when I get home, but I can't seem to find any easy direct reason it's not attaching.

[garygb]

I tried to rescue a crispa over a year ago, it was bleached and all that. I was under the assumption they like to be in the sand. So, that's where I kept trying to get it to attach. Unfortunately, the anemone would attach for a day or two and then let go. Eventually, the anemone just began to look so bad I had to remove it. So, in November I saw another crispa that was partially bleached and was on sale. I decided to try it again. This time I researched crispas in the wild and in successful owners here on RC. Much of the time, the crispas (both in the wild and healthy, well established ones in aquarist tanks) were attached to live rock. So, with this second one, I went that route. It attached in a hole, almost reminiscent of how Entacmaea quadricolor attaches, but the hole in the rock is facing up more than you would expect with E. quadricolor. Anyway, I also let the anemone settle for over a week before I began to feed it. Just my experience, but the anemone is now established and has almost doubled in width in 7 mos or so. I feed it maybe once a week to once every other week--pe mysis, squid, table shrimp, it will even eat Life Spectrum fish pellets.

Keep us posted.

I particularly like this species. They look like a mop with all their tentacles. I have a orange skunk (natural commensal with crispa) and it loves to wallow around in it.

[Xanthus]

I did a water change this morning as the nemmy still isn't rooted to anything.

Then, based on this thread, I realized that my water chemistry may be a little on the 'unknown' side, so I went to the LFS and grabbed dKH, Calcium and Mg test kits. I also snagged a peice of LR out of their curing tank that looked suitable for the little guy.

I found out my Mg is pretty spot on in the upper 1200s to 1300 range (~1260ppm).

My Calcium is too low at the 320 mark.

My dKH is SUPER high at ~13, which surprised me, because my pH is always spot on around 8.4, or even a little low if anything.

EDIT: Pic uploader not workign right now. I'll try again later.

I tested the Saltwater I got from the LFS while I was there (filled up my saltwater and RO 5gal jugs), and their KH was too low at just over 7 dKH.

So, not sure what to make of all that other than I should do another water change to lower my dKH and get a calcium supplement maybe?? Any thoughts here? I assume I should wait a couple days to do this though? I was thinking Tuesday?

Anyway, he's some pics of the nemmy on the new rock I bought, hopefully he likes it. He's still a little scrunched up from me touching him.

[Xanthus]

Dunno what's going on, pic attach still isn't working. It'll attach the pics, but they don't show up, they're just broken links.

[Xanthus]

Working now.

[garygb]

I've never found Ca to be of any real concern with anemones. I've had low Ca and the anemones didn't care. I don't dose anything, just depend on water changes for Ca and Mg. I do believe natural saltwater strength salinity, e.g. 35ppt is important (i.e., specific gravity of 1.026-1.027). Likewise low to undetectable nitrates is important, though higher nitrates won't kill an established anemone, from my observations.

If it were me, I would probably put that rock it is on beside another rock, so its foot will have a crevice to attach in. You're to be commended for all your efforts. I hope it settles in for you soon.

[Xanthus]

Originally Posted by garygb

If it were me, I would probably put that rock it is on beside another rock, so its foot will have a crevice to attach in.

That rock actually has a huge crevice in it with a bunch of curved bits which is why I picked it up. The nemmy is wriggling his foot all over in the crevice, but I don't think he's found his 'sweet spot' yet, but he's definitely looking a lot more 'settled' than he was before.

I tried giving it a piece of krill again because it's been about a week, and it reacted instantly, moved it to it's mouth and ate it.

How long does it usually take for them to digest a food item and spit out the waste?

Even if I don't up the calcium level as suggested in the chemistry guide, I think I should lower my dKH. 13 seems super high and that's can't be good for things.

[Xanthus]

So, over the night, the nemmy decided I guess that the device it was settling into is actually horrible. It's now sitting on the sand next to that rock. Out's right side up and still looks happy, but it's still not attached to anything.

[garygb]

I would probably place it back on the rock. If not securely attached, I would hold off on the feeding, myself.

[Xanthus]

Yeah, I probably would have waited a few more days, but my wife was worried about it starving or something. I think based on how slow anemone metabolism is said to be that it would take a long time though.

[garygb]

The vast majority of anemone's nutrition is derived from the zooxanthellae in the tissue. Your anemone isn't bleached, so I wouldn't worry about feeding it. Many don't target feed their anemones at all. Once yours takes a hold, then you can feed. Meanwhile, it may actually be better not to feed at all.

[Xanthus]

Good to know! Thanks, man. I think it did finish digesting that bit of Krill, my wife said she saw it spit out something like a shell at one point. Anyway, it's hanging out around the base of that rock. I figure I'll do a water change in a day or two to try to lower than dKH number and do all the retests. I'll put him back on the rock then, if he hasn't rooted himself by then, barring him getting into a bad spot, then I'll do it sooner.

[Xanthus]

I'm not sure the nemmy is doing so hot. When I got home from dinner tonight, he was still next to the rock where I left him, but his tentacles were all 'shriveled' looking. I picked him up and put him back on the rock, turned the rock a little so the crevice was positioned differently.

But his foot felt kinda 'hard' and his mouth didn't look quite as tight as it as before? He tentacles almost look like they're in some sort of distress? What's going on? Help, please!

[Xanthus]

Oh, pictures might help:

[Crkbaby]

I have had my sebae for over 4 years now. It was baddly bleached when I got it. It keeps its foot under a shelf to a cave so it stays upside down and reaches its tentecles to the light. I have moved this rock to several tanks and it or its clowns will stay where ever that shelf is. I always recomend keeping them where they have the ability to keep there foot away from the light and also are able to reach for more light if they need. It split once for me and is very healthy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFK2hVA_ReY at 1 min 36 seconds you can sort of see what I mean. Some days it's alot further out.

[garygb]

Crkbaby, nice aquarium in the video. You said your crispa split. That species is not known to split. Perhaps you have a BTA (I could barely see the anemone in the video), as BTAs and H. magnifica are the only two species of hosting anemone that split.

[Crkbaby]

well honestly I was told it is a sebae after trying to identify it for a long time. The tips are not bubbled like a bta and I have to think it's healthy since when I got it it was bleached and then it colored up. The tips have a florescent orange which I though was weird but I have seen thousands of bta and it isn't like any of them.

[Crkbaby]

Here is a few more pics maybe I was told wrong. let me know what you guys think.

[Xanthus]

My wife is thinking that the anemone may just be stressed out from the hermits in our tank that keep poking and prodding it. I don't know if that's a valid issue, but I'm worried about it because its tentacles are intermittently looking shriveled and sometimes stubby.

[Xanthus]

so, checked my water, alkalinity was still very high >10, and PH was starting to creep up >8.8, so I did a quick 5gal water change and got the alk down to 9-10 and the PH back to 8.4-8.5

Nitrates still undetectable (meaning <10 for my test).

Salinity still 1.0265 or so as always.

[Xanthus]

Ugh, I think these crabs are a problem. Sitting the anemone back on the rock which is seems just short of attaching to, the crabs keep coming over and shoving it off the rock. :S What do I do?

[bigben2057]

Have you tried making a hole for it to put its foot in the live rock? You need to make a hole big enough for its foot but not too big and put it their.If you dont have enough rock you may need to buy more. They dont attach like others they like to be wedged between rocks or in the sand.

[bigben2057]

Originally Posted by Xanthus

Oh, pictures might help:

Move that rock up against the others and make a crevice to put the anemone in. In the photo above it didnt copy.

[Xanthus]

Originally Posted by garygb

If it were me, I would probably put that rock it is on beside another rock, so its foot will have a crevice to attach in. You're to be commended for all your efforts. I hope it settles in for you soon.

Originally Posted by bigben2057

Move that rock up against the others and make a crevice to put the anemone in. In the photo above it didnt copy.

I know, I know. But as I said last time, that purple looking rock is just one big crevice, like it's shaped like a taco almost. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I could almost stuff the whole anemone inside the crevice in that purple rock.

The problem I'm having now is every time it starts settling into that crevice, the damn crabs come and shove it around and it falls out.

So, I rotated the rock around and I'm trying positioning it differently to try to protect it from the stupid crabs, but I dunno if it'll work. I might need to place the rock against the others, like you said, but less to make a crevice and more to make a sort of 'pen' so the crabs can't shove it out.