Gigantea, magnifica and other difficult anemones

[~Flighty~]

So lets hear about some advanced anemone keeping. I know a few of us in the club have taken on some of the large rarer and delicate host anemones like the S. gigantea or the H. magnifica.

Paul (reefkeeper2) Has one of the most beautiful, healthy giganteas in captivity that I know of. Before the last meeting I brought over 6 small tank raised pink skunks to add to his breeding pair. They jumped right into the huge anemone and started working out the hierarchy of this new family group. In the wild there are often more than two pink skunks in a gigantea possibly because they need a group to defend it. Not much is known about how those family dynamics translate to the tank where predator and food pressures are so different.


So far he reports that 2 of the new clowns wander the tank durring the day with 6 mostly keeping to the anemone. At night they all seem to pile into it for sleeping.

 

[~Flighty~]

Here they are in the anemone

 

[~Flighty~]

It is great to see both the anemone and the clowns behaving as they do in the wild

The little ones just get lost surfing through the tentacles.

 

[Joel A]

I'm currently keeping a large nearly 12" in diameter Stichodactyla sp. A green one... it may be a Stichodactyla haddoni though, i'm not really sure how to tell the difference?


Not quite sure how difficult these are considered to maintain, but from reading i guess most places list them as difficult to maintain. Don't believe they are as difficult as the S. gigantea or H. magnifica though.

I don't really do anything to special, it has plenty of light, water movement, and 2 clowns that host in it.... i feed it once a week or so.

The guy i got it from in NH said it was extremely hardy, and had thrived for him under a variety of lighting conditions, which is odd because from what i read they need very strong lighting and do not generally speaking do well in aquariums even under the right conditions. Maybe this one individual specimen is just exceptionally hardy?

My anemone looks good, and is large... but not to the extent of pauls! Oh my god is that thing beautiful.

both of my clowns jump into the anemone at night for sleeping as well... very cool to watch.

 

[~Flighty~]

All hosting anemones are considered "difficult" But they range from the pretty easy to keep bubbletips up to the most difficult gigantea. The biggest problem with any anemone, but especially the large ones is getting a healthy one to begin with.

You can tell the three carpets apart by the underside. Haddonis are one smooth color, the giganteas have purple spots near the edge and mertains have (usually) orange spots that get thicker closer to the foot. Hadonis are on the easier end of the scale to keep but still can be challenging to get settled in and need an established tank.

 

[~Flighty~]

Here is my magnifica in my display. It was about 8" when I got it and is growing fast.

Today

Hard to get a good pic, the lights just went off. It has about doubled in size.

 

[Mike A]

Beautiful.

 

[~Flighty~]

I feed my magnifica quite a bit. It gets some mysis every time I feed the tank, and about 1-4 times a week I feed it a good sized shrimp or other seafood from the grocery store.

This big shrimp disapears in a few seconds.

 

[Joel A]

very cool cindy.

I'll have to check the base of my carpet.. i'm not sure which it is. My bet is haddoni.

 

[reefkeeper2]

I wish I had room for a magnifica too. It looks beautiful Cindy.

 

[jbishop]

Very nice looking.

 

[penguinsix]

Cindy, you're making me want to sell off everything in my tank so I could fit a magnifica.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Magnifica

I have kept a Magnifica with breeding ocellaris clowns for 6 years.

In my experience, these anemones are not difficult to keep at all. My tank has been through it all: Red Bugs, AEFWs, algae blooms, calcium reactor mishaps, high temp swings, etc.. I have lost Acros, fish, shrimp, etc.....but the Magnifica has not shown any ill effects whatsoever over the years. It was a MUST for me to get ocellaris clowns with an anemone when I started my tank and the anemone and clowns are still my favorite and hardiest animals in the tank. In my experience, some of the more delicate acropora are much more sensitive to water parameter changes.

A few years ago I moved some rock around and as a consequence moved the anemone which ripped and subsequently separated into 3 anemones! Two of these went to Flighty (BTW how are they doing?) and I still have a healthy Magnifica with the clowns.

In my experience the keys to keeping these are:

1. Find a healthy specimen with a tight mouth and sticky foot!
2. Place it directly under MH lighting (When I moved mine it went right back to the original placement under a MH).
3. To keep it from moving you can direct flow towards it which will keep it from moving in the direction of the high flow.
4. Dedicate the room in your tank specifically for the anemone. I had to give up prospective real estate for corals but it is worth it in my opinion.
5. I read that it is beneficial, though not necessary, to keep clowns with the Magnifica.
6. Place it at the high point in your tank, not nessecarily the highest point in your tank but the highest point in the immediate surrounding area.
7. Never force feed anemones. Actually I almolst never target feed my Magnifica. It does get some of the fish food I feed but that's it.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Cindy, very impressive photos.

Joel, one thing about a haddoni...they tend to capture and eat a lot of the fish in your tank.

 

[~Flighty~]

Chuck, I'm sad to report that I had a disaster with all of the anemones in my tank about a year ago. I had manually (with a razor) split one of your clones into two and then again leaving me with four clones and my large purple base specimen. All of the splits were healed up and growing, but I added a new magnifica from a LFS. This new anemone looked to be in great shape, but quickly deteriorated over the next few days (as magnificas often do after shipping stresses) The horrible part was that all of the magnifica anemones in the system (both upstairs and downstairs) caught whatever pathogen took down the new addition and I couldn't save any of them. They all turned to brown goo from the inside out. No corals or BTAs in the system were effected. It just about drove me out of the hobby, I don't think I cleaned the glass for three months after that.

 

[Greg Hiller]

A common problem...new marine specimens taking out established marine specimens with a pathogen. I lost most of the seahorses I raised when I introduced some wild collected alligator pipefish (closely related).

 

[Joel A]

Cindy, very impressive photos.

Joel, one thing about a haddoni...they tend to capture and eat a lot of the fish in your tank.

Really, i had never heard that before..

I'm not positive it is a haddoni, as i can't really get to good of a look at its underside, but the underside appears as if it would all be a solid light grey in color.

It doesn't bother the clowns obviously, but if i were to get a smaller fish that isn't a clown, like anthias would this be an issue?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Haddoni

Having kept a Haddoni for around 5 years, I can vouch for Greg's warning. This anemone will absolutely catch and eat small gobies, mandarins, and other fish that stay low in the tank. It can also eat free swimming fish as well, though not as common. I lost a mandarin, Blue Jaw Trigger, Lawnmower Blenny, and others too numerous to mention. They are beautiful animals, especially when hosting clowns appropriate for that species. But I had to remove mine since I wanted to include a more diverse fish population in my tank that includes a mandarin and soon a goby or two.

One way to minimize their hunting of fish is to build a circle of rocks around the anemome. This will minimize but not prevent the anemone from grabbing fish off of the sand. That's the other thing - this anemone needs a deep sand bed to bury its foot.

Joel, one thing about a haddoni...they tend to capture and eat a lot of the fish in your tank.

 

[Joel A]

Having kept a Haddoni for around 5 years, I can vouch for Greg's warning. This anemone will absolutely catch and eat small gobies, mandarins, and other fish that stay low in the tank. It can also eat free swimming fish as well, though not as common. I lost a mandarin, Blue Jaw Trigger, Lawnmower Blenny, and others too numerous to mention. They are beautiful animals, especially when hosting clowns appropriate for that species. But I had to remove mine since I wanted to include a more diverse fish population in my tank that includes a mandarin and soon a goby or two.

One way to minimize their hunting of fish is to build a circle of rocks around the anemome. This will minimize but not prevent the anemone from grabbing fish off of the sand. That's the other thing - this anemone needs a deep sand bed to bury its foot.

hmmm interesting that doesn't sound very good

Especially since i had been looking into a mandarin latley...

The foot is halfway buried in the sand, and halfway attached to a large piece of base rock..

i suppose my clowns don't need an anemone to host in, but it would be a shame to have to let it go... hmm

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Mags

Cindy, that is horrible. So sorry to hear that the clones perished. The mother is still doing extremely well. If I ever decide to split it up, I'll let you know and I'll make sure you are first on the list.

I know what you mean about quitting the hobby. I have come really close over the last 2 years, but I really do love the hobby as I know you do.

Chuck, I'm sad to report that I had a disaster with all of the anemones in my tank about a year ago. I had manually (with a razor) split one of your clones into two and then again leaving me with four clones and my large purple base specimen. All of the splits were healed up and growing, but I added a new magnifica from a LFS. This new anemone looked to be in great shape, but quickly deteriorated over the next few days (as magnificas often do after shipping stresses) The horrible part was that all of the magnifica anemones in the system (both upstairs and downstairs) caught whatever pathogen took down the new addition and I couldn't save any of them. They all turned to brown goo from the inside out. No corals or BTAs in the system were effected. It just about drove me out of the hobby, I don't think I cleaned the glass for three months after that.