Trio of Anemones

[Samw]

http://www.hyperdream.com/~samw/reef/2002-06.Album/sebaebubbletips.jpg

[terryp01]

Nice picture. Always comical to see this, the clowns are not sure which one to use.

[Delphinus]

Stick in the mud mode: ON

It is great to see your anemones doing well. HOWEVER, and having had this exact same combination myself so I speak from direct first-hand experience ... mixing non-clonal specimens of anemones in one tank is not always in the best interests of the anemones. They can start exhibiting diffuse competition, and the behaviour can lie dormant for a long time but suddently and inexplicably the behaviour can become overt. I lost my sebae to mysterious circumstances. It just up and died one day. It was not weakened from a recent collection/retail process; I had had it for two years and the guy I bought it from had had it for several years himself. It was not starvation; it was well fed. It was not water parameters; they were within acceptable tolerances. It may perhaps have been a bacterial infection; however it did not exhibit any signs of such. It looked fantastic one day, the next day it closed up and never re-opened. I will never really know for sure. However, over the years I have started to see a pattern. ANY anemone in with my BTA's eventually starts to decline. My most recent observation of this went something like this. I kept my ritteri in with my BTA's for about a year. My BTA's of course split every so often so one becomes two becomes three and so on. Well, the ritteri started showing signs of stress. Wasn't the light, wasn't the food, wasn't the water parameters. Again, just a mysterious inexplicable decline. Having now formed a beginning of a suspicion by this point, I pulled my BTA's out of the tank and put them in a different tank. Nothing else was changed. Guess what. The ritteri was looking better within a week. I am still not convinced I have pulled it through. I am, however, now convinced as to what was ailing it in the first place.

I was speaking to Dr. Ron about this. He warned me that this could happen, although at the time he was more concerned that the ritteri would exhibit the overt aggression towards the BTA's, not the other way around. Something he said to me has really stuck in my mind. He told me "Multi-species assemblages are neither natural nor desirable." This really hit home for me. Nowhere have I ever seen, while snorkeling or diving, or seen in pictures, of two Indo-Pacific hosting species within 2', 3' of one another unless they are clones to begin with.

So. What to make of this? Well, the theory of diffuse competition is just that, an unproven theory. It is, however, one that I have no doubt of in my mind. And as such I implore everyone to consider keeping just ONE anemone per system. Your luck may be different than mine. I hope it is. However, it is something I myself will never try again, in the interests of the anemones themselves.

I don't suggest you go out and get rid of the BTA's or the sebae. Unless, of course, you WANT to set up a new tank, I'd totally support you in that decision :D What I do ask of you though, is keep a close eye on the anemones. If one or the other starts to look a little weak, or outright starts to decline for no other apparent reason, give this theory a thought.

Like I said. Maybe it won't happen for you. I hope it doesn't. But if it does, forewarned is forewarned, or something like that. [No wait that's not right. Forearmed is forewarned? Forwarned is forearmed? Aaccck! You know what I mean!]

Sorry to be such a stick in the mud. It is a great photo, and the anemones look to be doing quite well for you right now. Good zooxanthellae in them...

[ 02 July 2002, 13:06: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[Samw]

Thanks Tony for sharing your experiences. How long did you have the Sebae together with the BTA before they started declining? I've seen several tanks on the internet with mixed species and even with my combination. I might email those guys and gals and see what kind of data they can provide me as well.

[ 02 July 2002, 15:27: Message edited by: Sam W ]

[Delphinus]

They were in the same tank for about about 18 months. Unfortunately I didn't log the additions and departures, which now that I think about it, would have been a good idea... so I can only go on memory, and can't give an exact figure. Let's see ... it passed away in early 2001 and I think it was late 1999 that I purchased the anemone, ummm, I think, so yeah, about 18 months I'd say.

I would be interested to hear what any of those other guys would have to say, too. I would like to think that I'm wrong on this one...

[Delphinus]

And dang man, that is a nice looking sebae, BTW. Not sure if I mentioned that. (If I did, well it can't hurt to say it again.) Boy, do I miss mine. :(

[Samw]

Originally posted by delphinus:


I would be interested to hear what any of those other guys would have to say, too. I would like to think that I'm wrong on this one...<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">After a quick search, I found 3 people who kept BTA's with Sebae's. I've emailed them all and hope to get some more data for us.

They are DragonLady from ReefCentral (no website), Deb H and Marc Q who might be a member of Canreef already since he wrote a paper in the Canreef library.

If you want to checkout their sites:
http://members.rogers.com/dbh/dh.html
http://www.four-hands.com/Marc_n_Renee/fishtank/fish_frameset.htm

I know there are many more people out there with similar set ups. I'll gather more info.

[ 03 July 2002, 22:53: Message edited by: Sam W ]

[Samw]

Originally posted by Sam W:
[QUOTE]I've emailed them all and hope to get some more data for us.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm happy to report that I have received replies from all 3 aquarists. In short, all animals are doing fine so far. Dragon Lady's pair has been together 8 months. Marc's pair has been together for 2 years. Deb use to have BTA and Sebae together but moved them because BTA was getting too big. Now she has a Sebae and LTA together for 2 years. Good to hear.