Tube Anemone Tank!

[justahobby]

My BC 14 has been sitting w/ LR, BB for quite sometime. I went to R2U yesterday and found tube anemones for a great price ($7)!! I picked up two and added about 4" of sand I had laying around. It took me about 30 min and I'm happy as a lark :blushing:

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I may add one or two more. I'm thinking the back right corner needs one, and I would like to add another in the rock structure (by putting one in a pvc tube w/ sand and setting it upright). I may hold out and get one of the bright pinks w/ floppy tentacles that come in regularly.

As some of you know, they are Non-photosynthetic and require regular small feedings. IME they are quite hardy and not demanding as true anemones.

Since I have the sand bed for it, I am considering a goby/ shrimp pair, but I am hesitant.... wondering if the shrimp would mess with the "anemones" while tunneling. Anybody w/ experience?

[Mr Cob]

Looks great Justin! Wonderful idea. I definitely think you should add a couple more....or even better; several more!

[justahobby]

Agreed! More is better.

I'll try to get a video up this week. In still shots (w/ my phone's camera) they look aptasia-ish. The way they move in the current is hypnotizing. And since they are NP's I can leave just actinics on for a deep blue 20K look accenting their bioluminescence.

[tebstan]

I have a tube anemone with dark purple tentacles and bright green mouth. He's by far the most noticeable thing when you first glance at the tank.

My pistol/goby pair actually like to tunnel right next to him. They've been pretty smart about knowing where the current will take those tentacles, and seem to use him as cover. The sting must be pretty bad, nothing has ever gotten eaten though and my conch scurries past him in a hurry.

I don't even bother to feed mine anymore, he just get what passes his way. He'll eat a whole krill or cube if I would let him. He even eats flake food. He's like the cookie monster eating with all hands...er, tentacles. I freaked out one day seeing him fill his mouth with sand! But then the next week he was bigger. Guess he needed to work on his tube.

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[txav8r]

Cool idea Justin! Looking forward to the videos

[Europhyllia]

Very cool. Always makes me happy when I see 'not the same old' style of tank.

[justahobby]

I have a tube anemone with dark purple tentacles and bright green mouth. He's by far the most noticeable thing when you first glance at the tank.

My pistol/goby pair actually like to tunnel right next to him. They've been pretty smart about knowing where the current will take those tentacles, and seem to use him as cover. The sting must be pretty bad, nothing has ever gotten eaten though and my conch scurries past him in a hurry.

I don't even bother to feed mine anymore, he just get what passes his way. He'll eat a whole krill or cube if I would let him. He even eats flake food. He's like the cookie monster eating with all hands...er, tentacles. I freaked out one day seeing him fill his mouth with sand! But then the next week he was bigger. Guess he needed to work on his tube.

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Sweet, thanks for your input! You just talked me into getting a shrimp/goby pair! Yours looks a lot like my first one I got way back in the day. They are hard to come by with that coloring. These aren't as colorful, but hoping they will brighten with regular feedings of high quality food. But I'm not too concerned. Now that I have a direction with the tank I will hunt down some vivid ones.


Cool idea Justin! Looking forward to the videos




Very cool. Always makes me happy when I see 'not the same old' style of tank.

Thank you Jack and Karin. I almost bought a Large Polyped gorgonian I saw there, but glad I found these instead.

[Kristy]

Nice... I can't stop thinking about those tube anemones we saw in kkiel's tank on the Austin tank tour. Very eye-catching!

[Europhyllia]

So how dangerous are they? Do they eat fish?

[justahobby]

Kristy, They are rad, You have plenty of tanks to put one in....... just saying!

Karin, I expected someone would post that question. They are a filter feeder and its unlikely they eat any healthy fish. I'm on my phone so I can't post the link, but type in "tube anemones" and the first link debunks the myth (advancedaquarist.com I believe)


Edit:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2004/invert.htm


Fish eater:


However, none of the tube anemones studied so far appear to feed large mobile prey; some are non-feeding and live entirely off the symbiotic bacteria in their gut or tube, some feed on small zooplankton, and some appear to feed primarily on detritus. In the species studied in most detail, the guts were filled almost entirely with harpacticoid and calanoid copepods

Killer sting:


The "extremely poisonous tentacles" description seems especially unwarranted, in fact, because there are now a couple of studies on the stinging cells of tube anemones in comparison to other species. One study examined the toxins present within the stinging cells of Aiptasia and compared those to the tube anemone Pachycerianthus torreyi; the authors found that the toxin of Aiptasia was much more potent and complex than that of the tube anemone (Phelan & Blanquet 1985). Another study examined the toxic effects of 11 species of anemone-like animals - true anemones, mushroom polyps and tube anemones - to compare the toxicity and effectiveness of the stinging cells of these animals (Cline & Wolowyk 1997). The researchers found that the toxins of all species tested except for those from the tube anemone Pachycerianthus fimbratus had potent effect on a variety of test vertebrates.

[kkiel02]

I love all anemones but have had the bright orange with green center and the dark purple with the green center. Aquadome has great prices on the rarer orange ones. If you have small fish I wouldnt keep them together. As far as the sting I cant tell you as none of mine sting me what so ever. Another neat one you could add is the red rock/flower anemone. They are prety sticky like a carpet but easier to take care of. They also come in all different colors.

BTW the tube anemones make long mazes with their tubes when/if you ever decide to move them be gentle. Mine had "roots" bigger than my hand.

My dream tank is still a bubble tip mansion. There are just so many colors to choose from. My next will be the coveted lemon drop bta.

[justahobby]

Thanks for the input Kevin. I haven't seen a "root system", but will keep a close eye out if/ when I ever rearrange them.


I found this video and I think it is a great example of their abilities and inabilities. The anemone has a lot of trouble eating it, and it's tentacles really don't appear to be designed for bringing in even small fish.... But I still won't be dropping a clown goby in LOL! I am sure it is a lot of unnecessary stress for it to consume such a large meal.

Also, Keep in mind this is a feeder goldfish which is suffering from being dropped in SW (I would assume PH and salinity shock as well as temp shock) and chased by triggers.


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I was watching mine after lights out and noticed Their tentacles were tapping on the rocks and sand then bringing to their mouths ... almost like a porcelain crab would sweep the water w/ it's filter feeding claws (but more octopus like arms instead of netted claws). I suspect they are able to catch quite a few pods throughout the night in the ocean.

[Europhyllia]

Justin I trusted you! You said it was a filterfeeder.
I got one and it ate my MANDARIN!





j/k
(I'll definitely NOT get one now!)

[justahobby]

That looked like filter feeding to me :angel:

If I've learned anything on MAAST, it's not to mess w/ your mandarins! :nailbiting:

[tebstan]

Ack! That video was sad.. and intriguing... Like a trainwreck, hard to look away... around 1:45 you could see just a little goldfish eye peeking out, looking a little panicked. :(


I've always though of filter feeders as something that ate very small particles, 'filtering' it from the water. The article even stated that they would eat bigger, meatier chunks. I guess they 'filter' because they are sessile and cannot hunt, but I would call them opportunistic, not filters. They eat what fits in their mouths whether its good for them or not. Most fish aren't dumb enough to get close (or healthy enough to break away) so the anemones feed on little stuff they can catch.

I've never felt a sting when it grazed me, but I never feel a sting from anything, not even carpets, even electrical current doesn't bother me much. So I never knew if it stunned prey. But those little tentacles are definitely sticky. I've had bits of it stuck to my hand without realizing... they appear to regenerate very quickly.

[justahobby]

^^ That's a pretty good summary! You should be writing descriptions liveaquaria.com

[justahobby]

Nudis feeding on tube anemones! : O


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Skip to about 00:57 seconds..


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[tebstan]

That's nuts! I like the camera man looking to the other divers for reassurance that that actually just happened, ha ha ha.

[tebstan]

Justahobby, do your two tube anemones touch tentacles? I'm wondering if it would be a problem to put a pink one close to the purple one...

[kkiel02]

I had my orange and purple right next to each other. They were fine.

[justahobby]

My pink/ orange (the ones that have loose wavy tentacles) wouldn't settle in the CC (my fault) and stung/ killed my other tubey and a waratah anemone.

The two i have now didn't like touching the first day, but they are cool with it now. I read that different species will fight, but if they come from the same location you should be fine.

While speaking about the two different types, does anyone have a scientific name for each? I wish their was an easy way to say which we are talking about.


Here are pics for reference:

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[justahobby]

Here's a pic from the other day. Still trying to figure out how to upload phone video to youtube.


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I keep the flow pretty low so that their tentacle stay erect instead of flapping in the wind like a sheet. It's pretty neat watching each tentacle search for food.

Other tank inhabitants: GSP and Yellow polyps (thanks Jack). I still intend to get a shrimp/ goby pair, but I am waiting for the new sand bed to catch up before throwing in more bioload. I've been cleaning up diatoms and need add a few more snails.

[Mr Cob]

Very cool Justin. I need to check it out in person one day maen.

[kkiel02]

Here are some pics I dug up today. I had the species like the first one you posted.
The pics dont really show the color well but you get the idea. They first started out right next to each other then I decided to put the purple one back in a shaded cave and traded the orange for a rbta. They make great additions to areas without much light. When I moved the purple one thats when I realized they grow really long tubes. I wonder if what the purpose of it is? Anchor or would it maybe try to move to the other ends if it wanted to?

[justahobby]

My first one looked like the first pic. I'll be looking to add a purple one to this tank after I get the FW tank going.

[tebstan]

This thread gave me the inspiration to get my purple tube anemone a buddy.
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Anemone/TubeAnemonePair9-14-10.jpg

The purple one is a permanent resident since he's got quite a long tube firmly attached under my base rock. I've recently decided to make some changes to the tank and had to consider his presence first and foremost. So adding a second tube anemone, I decided to put him in a pipe to prevent it becoming permanent. Applied a little heat the pipe to bend it so the mouth would face up like I wanted it too, and slid the tube anemone in.
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And... he promptly crawled out. I'd read about this pipe technique, but never heard of a tube anemone rejecting the new abode. I was worried it would stress and reject it's own little leathery tube, if that's even possible, like a feather duster. So I buried it in the sand and waited to see what would happen.

It seems to be doing well. The pink and the purple one touch tentacles all the time with no ill effects.

[justahobby]

Looks great man. Great idea about getting one with an elbow. I had trouble getting one to take to a pvc too. They have their own minds made up unfortunately...

[justahobby]

Guess I'll go ahead and update too,

Still getting diatoms w/ the new sand so I'm holding off on the shrimp/goby pair. Maybe in a couple weeks...

I've been feeding every two or so days, but noticed they haven't been spending as much time out so I am cutting back and monitoring.

[tebstan]

Interesting.. mine are out constantly. I feed tons, but there's lots of other stuff to eat it too. Do you think they're receding into the tube because they're not needing to feed? That just seems odd, for creatures that don't know when the next meal is coming you would think they would be more opportunistic. Is there anything else in the tank that could be have them spooked?

[justahobby]

No spooking, my feeding directly correlates to them going into their burrow. Now, I feed directly once a week and let them catch cyclops daily. Updated shots of the tank:

[/URL][URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32571307@N03/5087433102/in/photostream/"]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/5087433102_63d4226f8e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32571307@N03/5087453674/in/photostream/)

After a WC so things are a bit sour

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/5087440354_97ece9f015_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32571307@N03/5087440354/in/photostream/)


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/5086860549_2b6494a05e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32571307@N03/5086860549/in/photostream/)

[kkiel02]

This thread gave me the inspiration to get my purple tube anemone a buddy.
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/TebstansTank/Anemone/TubeAnemonePair9-14-10.jpg

The purple one is a permanent resident since he's got quite a long tube firmly attached under my base rock. I've recently decided to make some changes to the tank and had to consider his presence first and foremost. So adding a second tube anemone, I decided to put him in a pipe to prevent it becoming permanent. Applied a little heat the pipe to bend it so the mouth would face up like I wanted it too, and slid the tube anemone in.
9541

And... he promptly crawled out. I'd read about this pipe technique, but never heard of a tube anemone rejecting the new abode. I was worried it would stress and reject it's own little leathery tube, if that's even possible, like a feather duster. So I buried it in the sand and waited to see what would happen.

It seems to be doing well. The pink and the purple one touch tentacles all the time with no ill effects.

My orange one and me got into a fight as to where to go when I first got it. It lost its tube so I let it go where it wanted. It found its own spot and quickly grew another tube. They are quite hardy. My purple has been living pretty much without sand just fine for about 6 months now.