syncro
10-20-2012, 07:28 PM
Selling this really nice Haddoni carpet anemone. It is an amazing animal that drew me into the hobby. However it places too many limitations on my relatively small 40g tank.
Species: Stichodactyla haddoni
Size: about 12" diameter
Price: $150
Lighting: high light - kept under 350w MH+T5 combo, previous owner kept under ATI (or Geismann?) T5+LED combo
Substrate: needs deep sand bed (3"+) to bury its foot in
Feeding: small, soft meaty seafood / plankton fed anywhere from daily to every other week depending on desired growth. Do not feed silversides or other large pieces - even though it will eat the food it may damage it internally. In the wild it is at the bottom of the water column with many hungry mouths above it so it's diet is fish poop rather than fish.
Compatibility: this individual will eat fish and cannot tolerate bubble tip anemones. Previous owner was selling becasue it ate several fish. It has not eaten Bengaii Cardinals or Occelaris Clownfish. Hosted sexy anemone shrimp and porcelain anemones crabs. Occelaris did not host. Did not tolerate being kept with a BTA even with aggresive carbon use. Health declined over several week each time the BTA was introduced (and re-introduced) to the tank. Health bounced back after removing the BTA.
Tank Requirements: Stable tank. Water chemistry remains unchanged for weeks at time. Tank has ATO. Established system (6mo+). Regular water changes. Smaller tanks should be dedicated to this individual (probably anything under 100g). You may be able to keep other animals but consider it a bonus. In particular other anemones and stinging coral may be problematic. Livestock, aquascape and equipment should be relatively static.
Owner Requirements: dedicated, methodical :)
Please consider buying this only if you are willing to go to great lengths to keep it alive and healthy. They are thought to live for decades, possibly over a century, and likely reproduce on that timeframe too. They are also a more demanding animal. I've found adding a few pounds of clean dry rock to the sump stressed the anemone out for two weeks. The next batch of dry rock was soaked in a separate tank for a few weeks before adding and that reduced the stress. So if you think quarantining dry rock is too much (I know, it sounds excessive), this might not be the right purchase for you. Their large size and slow metabolism mean you may have to wait weeks to see if a change you made in the environment is affecting the anemone. So you'll want to spread out changes to the tank (livestock, aquascape, equipment) over weeks and months. If you have a tank under 100g, consider dedicating the tank to this anemone. It is difficult to move once it has buried its foot so if you have problems you will need to move your other inhabitants. If you don't agree with these care requirements, I respect that but please don't purchase this individual.
If interested, let me know a bit about your tank.
Thanks!
Brian
See video on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianlow/6991606068/in/photostream/lightbox/)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6991606068_77921e407f.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8449/7952946534_c5d60eed9d_b.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/6991626202_534a7b13ab_b.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7090/6991615834_d49076f237_b.jpg
Species: Stichodactyla haddoni
Size: about 12" diameter
Price: $150
Lighting: high light - kept under 350w MH+T5 combo, previous owner kept under ATI (or Geismann?) T5+LED combo
Substrate: needs deep sand bed (3"+) to bury its foot in
Feeding: small, soft meaty seafood / plankton fed anywhere from daily to every other week depending on desired growth. Do not feed silversides or other large pieces - even though it will eat the food it may damage it internally. In the wild it is at the bottom of the water column with many hungry mouths above it so it's diet is fish poop rather than fish.
Compatibility: this individual will eat fish and cannot tolerate bubble tip anemones. Previous owner was selling becasue it ate several fish. It has not eaten Bengaii Cardinals or Occelaris Clownfish. Hosted sexy anemone shrimp and porcelain anemones crabs. Occelaris did not host. Did not tolerate being kept with a BTA even with aggresive carbon use. Health declined over several week each time the BTA was introduced (and re-introduced) to the tank. Health bounced back after removing the BTA.
Tank Requirements: Stable tank. Water chemistry remains unchanged for weeks at time. Tank has ATO. Established system (6mo+). Regular water changes. Smaller tanks should be dedicated to this individual (probably anything under 100g). You may be able to keep other animals but consider it a bonus. In particular other anemones and stinging coral may be problematic. Livestock, aquascape and equipment should be relatively static.
Owner Requirements: dedicated, methodical :)
Please consider buying this only if you are willing to go to great lengths to keep it alive and healthy. They are thought to live for decades, possibly over a century, and likely reproduce on that timeframe too. They are also a more demanding animal. I've found adding a few pounds of clean dry rock to the sump stressed the anemone out for two weeks. The next batch of dry rock was soaked in a separate tank for a few weeks before adding and that reduced the stress. So if you think quarantining dry rock is too much (I know, it sounds excessive), this might not be the right purchase for you. Their large size and slow metabolism mean you may have to wait weeks to see if a change you made in the environment is affecting the anemone. So you'll want to spread out changes to the tank (livestock, aquascape, equipment) over weeks and months. If you have a tank under 100g, consider dedicating the tank to this anemone. It is difficult to move once it has buried its foot so if you have problems you will need to move your other inhabitants. If you don't agree with these care requirements, I respect that but please don't purchase this individual.
If interested, let me know a bit about your tank.
Thanks!
Brian
See video on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianlow/6991606068/in/photostream/lightbox/)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6991606068_77921e407f.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8449/7952946534_c5d60eed9d_b.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/6991626202_534a7b13ab_b.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7090/6991615834_d49076f237_b.jpg