anemone deflates...

[fishface]

i've got a beautiful condylactis anemone that seems healthy. had it for a few months now but for the life of me i can't figure out what's going on with it. seems like it deflates on almost a daily basis but otherwise seems very healthy. i feed it meaty food on a weekly basis but feedings don't seem to correlate to whether it's inflated or not.

anyone else have some advice or info regarding this?

[cprowler]

What lighting and how deep is it (the nem) in the tank?

How long have you had it?

[fishface]

Originally Posted by cprowler

What lighting and how deep is it (the nem) in the tank?

How long have you had it?

had it for a few months now...it's under 250w halides with luminarc reflectors and 4x54w T5's. sits just off the bottom of the tank. it's moved around on it's own and that's just where he settled. oh yeah, that's in a standard 120g tank.

[cprowler]

I'm just headding out for dinner, I'll check back in a couple of hours to see how your making out.

A water change might be a good thing.

I would check RC's anemone forum also.

[fishface]

Originally Posted by cprowler

I would check RC's anemone forum also.

good idea Bill, i just found the following over there and hope that all is well with mine.

"Additionally, anemones will go through cycles of
expansion and contraction, where they will puff up very large, and then shrink down to
almost nothing. This is their way of balancing internal water chemistry and flushing
wastes out of their system. Some anemones will expand and contract as often as once a
day, but anything more than this is a sign that something is annoying the anemone. For
the most part, the anemone should remain fully inflated almost all of the time, and
definitely during the daylight hours when the light is brightest. If an anemone spends too
much time contracted, there is something bothering it."

[cprowler]

I just got back and then tang daddy came by to swap corals.

When you say deflate do you mean flat as a pancake or it's contracted like in my avatar?

When I moved up to my 120g the added depth was a problem for my 250w MH's to penetrate and my anemone started roaming. When I upgraded to 400w it hasn't moved and is fat and happy, that was a year ago.

[Quagmire]

Deflate would be flat as a pancake.Like your avatar would be would be prey capture or a sudden change in the environment,like maybe adding too cold of top off,or something spilled into the tank.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Don't anemones do this when they expel all the water they're holding in exchange for new water? I remember reading that this was normal.