Bubbletip Anemone's health

George Patterson wrote:
KurtG wrote:

Perhaps I'm extrapolating from working with Orchids, but neglect is
part of the equation.

I've kept both fish and orchids for long periods. I wouldn't go
overboard drawing similarities there. You can't give an orchid food and
expect it to avoid eating it if it's not hungry. You *can* do this with
animals.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.


touché

"KurtG" wrote in message ...
??? Where do you get "the food is toxic" thing from?

Overeating is always bad. Doesn't matter which animal it is (even
humans). It results in all sorts of inflammation and chronic illnesses
that are best avoided. I just can't imagine that anemone in the wild
would gather food that efficiently.

It can get great amounts of food on the reef...
Water is FULL of planktonic animals, especially at night time.

Nothing like a newbie that is overreaching (me), but I have to admit a
recoiled in horror when I read that people feed their anemones every few
days. All mine are doing great on a much sparser diet. (Even the
bubble anemone is back in great shape. It just needed a few days of
light and better water quality). But, 2 months don't make me a expert.
:-)

These animals live hundreds of years in nature...
They die very, very slowly in our tanks if not properly taken care of.
Two months of observation is simply too short period to draw ANY conclusions.
Similar slow death issue applies to many marine animals: sea cucumbers,
urchins, sea stars and some corals. They simply deteriorate too slowly for
an aquarist to know what is the cause of death.

Pszemol wrote:

These animals live hundreds of years in nature...
They die very, very slowly in our tanks if not properly taken care of.
Two months of observation is simply too short period to draw ANY
conclusions.
Similar slow death issue applies to many marine animals: sea cucumbers,
urchins, sea stars and some corals. They simply deteriorate too slowly for
an aquarist to know what is the cause of death.

Okay, I deserved that. but, I'll stick to what works for me.

"KurtG" wrote in message news:4O_hh.786$_X.354@bigfe9...
Pszemol wrote:

These animals live hundreds of years in nature...
They die very, very slowly in our tanks if not properly taken care of.
Two months of observation is simply too short period to draw ANY
conclusions.
Similar slow death issue applies to many marine animals: sea cucumbers,
urchins, sea stars and some corals. They simply deteriorate too slowly for
an aquarist to know what is the cause of death.

Okay, I deserved that. but, I'll stick to what works for me.

Of course - your tank, you have the say what to do with it...

You will know for sure you take good care of your bubble tip anemone
if you notice it is growing, and after 6-8 months it will double in size.
If you do not see it growing than you know you do something really wrong
because it is very fast-growing animal.

Pszemol wrote:
You will know for sure you take good care of your bubble tip anemone
if you notice it is growing, and after 6-8 months it will double in size.
If you do not see it growing than you know you do something really wrong
because it is very fast-growing animal.

My notes were almost prophetic. I got home yesterday, and looked at my
shriveled up bubble tip anemone, groaned, and fed it. :-)

Sorry, for getting carried away. Owning a tank is good character building.

My other ones look great. It's hard to tell if they are growing because
they change size/shape every day, but I'd say they are. The bubble tip
has grown considerably, so hopefully, I just need to work through this
period.

--Kurt

"KurtG" wrote in message ...
My notes were almost prophetic. I got home yesterday, and looked at my
shriveled up bubble tip anemone, groaned, and fed it. :-)

I am not sure if you are supposed to feed it when it is deflated...
I feed mine when it is fully inflated.

Sorry, for getting carried away. Owning a tank is good character building.

Hey, these animals go cyclic through inflating/deflating stages - so
do not be alarmed if you see it completely deflated for a day or even two.
Larger anemones take considerable time to fully inflate from zero.

When it feeds it basically dissolves food inside its "belly" with digestive
enzymes and uses what it needs - than everything else: undigested
parts of the food items together with anemone own waste (poop)
gets out when the anemone deflates itself - this nasty water gets
out from the interior of the anemone and makes your skimmer crazy :-)
Then anemone inflates itself with "fresh" water, waits for new food
and process repeats...

My other ones look great. It's hard to tell if they are growing because
they change size/shape every day, but I'd say they are. The bubble tip
has grown considerably, so hopefully, I just need to work through this
period.

You can compare size when anemone is fully expanded...
You can notice how far does it reach now and how far will it
reach with its oral disk in two months. Mine was small, like 2-3in
in diameter when fully expanded two years ago - now it is more
than a foot diameter when fully expanded... Impressive how fast
can it grow if well fed.

Thank you all for the great info. But, I have an update... Not really
sure yet, but it looks like the anemone is actually splitting. I fed
it a piece of a minnow and it looked like the small deflated side was
actually branching off from the main trunk. That would be cool if it
is. So far in my new tank, I have had a starfish (really small, dime
size) split and a cleaner shrimp has molted like twice in a week or
twos time, and the cleaner shrimp has real nice colors and seems happy.
Not sure if the molting a lot thing is good or not but Im guessing it
probably is.

Anyway thanks again.

"nacree" wrote in message ups.com...
Thank you all for the great info. But, I have an update... Not really
sure yet, but it looks like the anemone is actually splitting. I fed
it a piece of a minnow and it looked like the small deflated side was
actually branching off from the main trunk. That would be cool if it is.

yes, it would be cool :-)

So far in my new tank, I have had a starfish (really small, dime
size) split and a cleaner shrimp has molted like twice in a week or
twos time, and the cleaner shrimp has real nice colors and seems happy.
Not sure if the molting a lot thing is good or not but Im guessing it
probably is.

I had a pair of "skunk cleaner shrimp" (Lysmata amboinensis)
and they were mating in my tank regularly (hemaphrodities).
Each of them molted regularly once every two weeks synchronously
to each other, so when one was molting, the second was acting as
a male and fertilize its mate, then after about a week situation
reversed and the shrimp carrying eggs from a week ago acted
as a male to the shrimp which molted and received fertilization
from her/his friend... Ocean creatures are weird :-)
I do not know what kind of cleaner shrimp you have and how good
or bad it is molting so frequently - if I had to guess it is generally
not good unless they are small, not adult yet and growing very fast...